Q: Management has lawyers at the negotiating table – why don’t we?
Management’s regular negotiating team (Jenny Wetzel, Carmen Williams, Matt Prainito, Mike Link and Karen Themelis) does not include any lawyers.
The Flight Attendants on our Negotiating Committee are supported at the table by AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo and AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput. Both have a combined total of approximately 50 years of experience negotiating Flight Attendant contracts, including several previous negotiations with Alaska Airlines.
We have full support of the AFA International Legal Department, which includes eight full-time attorneys. These attorneys provide legal, strategic, and policy advice from industry-wide legal and bargaining strategy to the latest legislative and regulatory policy initiatives.
The last two contracts are far from Industry Leading. We need someone new at the table.
The current Negotiating Committee members are a brand new team.
As far as the chair of the NC is concerned, I’m sorry you’re stuck with me again for another round of negotiations. MEC officer elections were just held a few weeks back, and once again I ran unopposed. It’s challenging to replace the MEC president if nobody else will step forward. However, I will certainly do my best to achieve a contract that you deem as industry leading.