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Mr. David P. Berry, Inspector General, National Labor Relations Board
Ms. Jennifer Matis, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, National Labor Relations Board

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Message:	Mr. David P. Berry, Inspector General, National Labor Relations Board Ms. Jennifer Matis, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, National Labor Relations Board Dear Inspector General Berry and Assist. Inspector General Matis: I am writing you today as a flight attendant with American Airlines represented by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA). As you may know, the flight attendants at American recently rejected a proposed contract offer from management by a margin of just 16 votes. The tentative agreement was voted down because the proposal fell short on the promises made by both the airline's former CEO, Tom Horton, and its newly elected Chairman, Doug Parker. What the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) may not realize is the fact that Doug Parker and APFA President Laura Glading entered into an agreement referred to as the Conditional Labor Agreement (CLA) on April 12, 2012 based on discussions the two had during a dinner meeting in Manhattan — a meeting hosted by Ms. Glading's cousin, who just so happened to be a senior executive (treasurer) at U.S. Airways and is now a senior executive at American Airlines Group (AAG). That agreement was never ratified by the APFA members even though it made changes to their collective bargaining agreement known as the Last, Best & Final Offer (LBFO). What the CLA also did was outline the process by which the flight attendants at American would negotiate a post-merger contract with Mr. Parker when he became chairman. Why the April 12, 2012 date is important is because Mr. Parker was considered a "non-employer" at the time of the CLA's creation and therefore Mr. Parker was not legally able to reach an agreement with the flight attendants at American because APFA was negotiating outside the scope of the union's representational bargaining authority: the APFA Constitution mandates that the APFA can negotiate an agreement between the flight attendants at American and their employer; Mr. Parker was the CEO of U.S. Airways and therefore a non-employer. What has happened is something that others and myself feel is unprecedented: APFA essentially agreed to circumvent all of the protective layers that would ensure that the flight attendants would receive fair and equitable treatment during negotiations with American in a post-bankruptcy, post-merger environment, and did so simply to get a contract that was quick, easy, and favored management on every contract issue. In short, APFA agreed to binding arbitration in the event of a failed ratification and placed parameters on those arbitrated talks that would ban arbitrators from allowing the flight attendants a contract based on the company's performance by forcing them to accept the "industry aggregate" of United Airlines and Delta Airlines. To be blunt, APFA allowed Doug Parker — a non-employer — to secure fixed costs on American’s flight attendants that would ensure that American had the lowest flight attendant labor costs amongst the airline's network peers once Doug Parker became chairman. Simply put, Doug Parker and Laura Glading created a form of price-fixing of employees that gives American an unfair advantage over United and Delta and forces American's flight attendants to accept a non-ratified contract for an unspecified duration while forcing United and Delta to have to compete with American's flight attendant costs through traditional channels of negotiations — Section 6. I should note that the APFA Constitution also mandates that changes to rates of pay, benefits and work rules must be ratified by the APFA membership, meaning that in the event of a failed ratification, APFA would return to the negotiating table to negotiate a new tentative agreement. American and APFA are treating the failed tentative agreement as an impasse and are bypassing the guidelines mandated in the Railway Labor Act. The reason for doing this is so that American can offer flight attendants $82 million less in arbitration than what they offered them in negotiations even though the tentative agreement was viewed as cost-neutral by the majority of American's flight attendants. In the words of both management and APFA, the arbitrated contract is guaranteed to be valued at 42% less ($82 million annually) than what the majority viewed as cost-neutral to begin with. That said, I call on the NLRB to investigate how this situation happened and to place an injunction on the arbitrated talks scheduled for December 3rd so that American’s flight attendants aren't forced into accepting more concessions through a process that violates the rights afforded them by their union constitution and also denies them their inalienable right to vote on changes to their wages, benefits and work rules as mandated by the Railway Labor Act. To not take action would mean that an employer and union president can simply circumvent these two valuable documents with an agreement outlined on a dinner napkin. Your prompt attention in this matter is most appreciated.