Management can't take away A-days

Every airline has a system to cover last minute Flight Attendant staffing in the event of operational issues, sick leave, or other unplanned events. Most airlines call this “Reserve,” but at Delta we call it “A-Days” with the unique feature that no one has a schedule of pure A-Days. Management loves to threaten Flight Attendants by saying if we vote for our Flight Attendant union we’ll lose A-Days and be on straight reserve.

FALSE.

Management cannot unilaterally change anything we have today when we vote for our union. That would be considered retaliation and that’s against the law. So, the things we like today are secured when we vote for AFA, not subject to the whim of management like they are today.

When we secure our union and negotiate our first contract, we — Delta Flight Attendants and only Delta Flight Attendants — decide what’s negotiated. Nothing will change unless we as Delta Flight Attendants want it to change. Could we improve A-Days and make the system even better? Absolutely. But that’s up to us, and only us as Delta Flight Attendants.

Having a contract means securing work rules in black-and-white. A contract means these rules don’t change because we're in an IROP or for “operational needs.”

We can lock in the things we like about A-Days and improve the parts of the system that aren’t working for us. For example, we can gain protections that require management to run preferences by a specific time, no matter the operational situation; eliminate 24/7 shortcall; increase original bid schedule value for A-Days; and more.

So let’s put this one to rest once and for all. Management’s claim just isn’t true. It’s our union and our choice as Flight Attendants to keep and improve A-days. Sign a card today, then sign up to become a DeltaAFA activist so we can lock in the things we like and improve others in our first contract.