ExpressJet Flight Attendants, please be aware of hotel policies re: smoking and incidentals.  The company contracts with hotels to have non-smoking rooms available.  If you need a smoking room, please ask for one when you check in.  If you smoke in a non-smoking room, there is a minimum cleaning charge of $250.  The cleaning charge is passed on to the company and then will be passed on to you by the company.  Prevent the company from getting involved by paying for all of your incidental charges (room service, movies, long distance tel. calls, internet charges, etc.) prior to check out.  As always, please contact your Hotel Committee Chairperson for any concerns. Forms are available in each crew room.

Reminders, ExpressJet Flight Attendant Holiday Pay – "A flight attendant who works on Christmas Day or New Years Day shall receive $5.00 per hour add pay for each hour (pro-rated for partial hours) she/he is away from domicile or performing airport alert duties occurring on that day.  For purposes of this paragraph, the date will be determined using local time at the departure station."  If you worked on the holidays, please verify your pay registers to insure you are being paid correctly.  Also, all reserves are "Ready Reserve" (24 hr reserve) until January 4th. Please plan accordingly.  This information can be found on page 26, Section 4.Q., and page 52, Section 5.T.4d of your contract.

Wind gusts noted in DIA crash report – Winds were gusting when a Continental Airlines plane veered off a Denver International Airport runway and caught fire, but they weren't strong enough to keep the pilot from being able to take off.  The National Transportation Safety Board says winds were at about 27 miles-per-hour with gusts of up to 37 miles-per-hour when the Houston-bound plane crashed Dec. 20 and injured 37 people.  The Denver Post reported today that the wind speed would trigger limitations set by the Houston-based airline for 737-500 aircraft taking off under crosswind conditions on a dry runway.  The plane traveled about 2,000 feet before coming to rest. The newspaper says the wreckage will be moved from the ravine where it is now to a nearby hangar for more investigation.  Federal investigators are still trying to determine what caused the accident.

URL:  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6190533.html

A Plan to Revive the American Economy – With grim economic news coming from many directions, it's easy to get discouraged about our ability to repair the damage of years of failed economic policies.  And yet, there are pragmatic solutions to our biggest challenges, including ways to restore health care and retirement security, to create family-supporting jobs, and to reestablish a leadership role in the global economy.  Collaborating with some of the nation's top progressive thinkers, EPI researchers have been exploring and refining solutions for the better part of two years.  Now, just in time for national debates on economic direction, EPI has compiled the best of these proposals into a small, easy-to-read Policy Handbook called A Plan to Revive the American Economy.

Download a PDF of the plan here

URL:  http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/plan_to_revive_the_american_economy
 

We would like to encourage all members to attend your Local Lodge business meeting.  Each Local Lodge must have a quorum to conduct business.  The following is a schedule for upcoming meetings: