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OUSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
EX-UNION LEADER SEEKS RE-ELECTION

Monday February 12, 2008
By Roger Graham


St. Louis, MO – While elections loom across the nation, only one is more important to the flight attendants of American Airlines. They have begun casting their ballots for the president of the nation’s largest independent flight attendant union the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA).

Former APFA president John Ward has thrown his hat in the ring for the coveted seat. As the incumbent in the 2004 National Officer election, he was declared president in the heated run-off election with his opponent Tommie Hutto-Blake amid false fire alarms during the ballot count; ultimately beating out Hutto-Blake by as little as five votes.

Later that year, Tommie Hutto-Blake was installed president on August 25, 2004, by unanimous resolution of the APFA Board of Directors following the close review of an August 17, 2004 letter to Ward from John H. Heaney, Chief of the Employment Standards Administration Department of Labor, Division of Enforcement. The Department of Labor had stepped in following formal DOL election complaints in March 2004. District Director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards, DOL, Kermit Perkins and Investigator Ann Woodward, validated, opened, counted and certified 16 ballots of APFA members who had been denied the right to vote on August 12, 2004. These additional counted votes brought the previously recorded tally which had been certified on March 12, 2004, to be recertified on August 27, 2004 with Hutto-Blake declared the true winner by seven (7) votes.

In a letter dated August 17, 2004 to the union, John H. Heaney, Chief, Division of Enforcement, U.S Department of Labor had stated “it is the OLMS position that APFA should immediately install candidate Tommie Hutto-Blake to the position of APFA president”. In doing so, Chief Heaney’s letter further states it would remedy the violations that occurred during the runoff elections giving APFA an August 26, 2004 deadline.

Other issues have surrounded the ex-union leader and candidate in the past. In 2004, Mr. Ward was also brought up on charges of improperly terminating an APFA staff employee without the knowledge and approval of the Executive Committee; a violation of the union constitution and policy upheld by arbitrator Francis Quinn. “The actions surrounding the termination of (said staff member) have all the appearances of arbitrary and capricious political retaliations”. Mr. Quinn further stated “The claim that he (Mr. Ward) did not act intentionally or that there was ignorance of the contractual mandate is without merit”.

“It’s time we unite, bring about change and restore our credibility as a union”, stated Toni Delia. Delia a furloughed flight attendant recently assisted in spearheading a grassroots effort to extend the recall rights of those currently laid off. “I am casting my vote for Laura Glading”, she stated.

Mr. Ward’s opponent is long time trade unionist Laura Glading who joined him in the run-off after last month’s primary. The successor to the current president will undoubtedly have their hands full as union members are demanding pay increases and better working conditions. American’s flight attendants suffered huge pay cuts, furloughs and reduction in benefits in 2003 through a restructuring agreement signed by Mr. Ward and the airline which is now in Federal court over the voting approval process of that agreement.

Nearly 19,000 flight attendants will be waiting in the wings to see who their next union leader will be as ballots are counted on February 26, 2008.

copyright 2007 Roger Graham

NEARLY 600 TO BE DROPPED FROM RECALL LISTS!

MASSIVE EFFORTS EXPAND FOR RECALL EXTENSION, AS HUNDREDS MORE DROP OFF RECALL LISTS IN THE NEXT TEN DAYS!

Unions and the public support McCaskill proposal to extend recall rights of airline workers.

Thousands call the Congressional Switchboard in Washington D.C.
Contact the Congressional operator in the Nation's Capital. Please ask to be connected to YOUR Senator's office!
TOLL FREE NUMBER 800-828-0498!

An online petition to the U.S. Congress has collected more than 11,400 signatures in support of the legislation. To sign the petition, PLEASE VISIT: www.petitiononline.com/911AID/petition.html

Washington - Support is growing in organized labor for a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that would extend the recall rights of airline workers laid off in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The proposal Senate Bill 1992 would extend recall rights of airline workers to 10 years if the air carrier received more than $100 million after the attacks or future government bailouts. Former TWA flight attendants are elated with the legislation because more than 1,000 of them have been terminated from the recall list and thousands more will be receiving their termination letters between now and July 2008 from American Airlines, which bought Trans World Airlines in 2001.

Former TWA attendants have been campaigning since June 2006 to have their recall rights extended because of the extenuating circumstances of 9/11. “We should not be allowed to become the collateral damage of 9/11 or corporate greed,” said longtime attendant Toni Delia. “American Airlines has the ability to sign a letter of agreement with the Flight Attendants union to extend the recall rights,“ Delia said. “They have already gotten a government bailout and wage concessions and have saved millions since the terminations began, while the executives collected million-dollar bonuses. “Now they have the audacity to want something in exchange for extending the recall rights,“ she said.

After 9/11, thousands of airline workers were laid off and a proportionate number have been terminated from the recall list, with more to follow. Without the McCaskill proposal, industry veterans will be terminated from their jobs placing their pension, insurance and benefits in peril. “The taxpayer has bailed out this industry, and airline executives are collecting multi-million dollar bonuses as workers are being terminated from the recall list,“ said industry veteran Roger Graham. “It is time for Congress to take a stand.“

McCaskill's bill has the support of unions representing almost 4 million members. The unions, the Association of Flight Attendants, Association of Professional Flight Attendants, Communication Workers, Teamsters, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Jobs with Justice, Sheet Metal Workers Local 36, Transport Workers Local 530, Central Trades and Labor Council, Greater St. Louis Labor Council and the Uniform Fire Fighters Association of Greater New York.

“Prior to 9/11, five-year recall rights were considered the norm and acceptable within the airline industry,“ Graham said. “However, in a post-9/11 era, they are not. America is only as strong as its ability to preserve jobs.”