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Instructions
Download and print the form.
Send in with your signature or please collect signatures from other members and send it back in.
Please mail completed recall petitions back to 4348 Waialae Ave, PMB 239,c/o Melissa Chinery, Honolulu HI 96816 (Note: Petitions must be handwritten.)
Click here for the Recall Larry Salas Page
Top Ten Reasons For Recall
1. Allowing the Company to Steal our Sit Rig
Julie Hedrick knew as early as March that the Company was stealing the sit rig above guarantee for our reserves. Despite repeated demands for her to address the issue, she refused to confront the company or provide an update to the membership. Rather than let the Contract Implementation Team or legal deal with it, she engaged in private backroom talks with management. Julie Hedrick refused for months to file a grievance and had to be shamed by the membership into finally filing a Presidential Grievance, 101 days later.
Incredibly, Hedrick recently told the EC, as reported in the official minutes, that the sit rig issue only impacts a few flight attendants. That is simply not true and shows how out of touch and dismissive towards our concerns Hedrick truly is. There are thousands of Reserves during that period and many of us did not break the guarantee. Not to mention thousands of line holders forced to repay for the company's mistake.
2. Failure to Defend Staffing
Hedrick reluctantly arbitrated the staffing issue but did not even conduct a time study as APFA had done in the past, even though this was the most important arbitration in years at APFA. The arbitrator even commented that APFA was relying on the Company's study. You can guess how well that worked. Now that she has lost that arbitration, she will have an excuse to never file a staffing grievance again. One of only two contract arbitrations in five years, and her administration just dialed it in.
3. Failure to Address Corruption within APFA
Julie Hedrick has not taken steps to address corruption within APFA. She has refused to enforce an arbitrator's award in the Bob Ross and Eugenio Vargas arbitration, changed language that weakened the policy manual, and covered up ongoing concerns. Julie Hedrick has continued APFA's policy of sweeping corruption under the rug. When members raised concerns about the APFA-provided apartments, rather than address them Hedrick appointed an attorney to look at it and then just buried the issues without any report to the membership. Members have concerns that her retro payments are too high but she won't let dues paying members see the books. It is same old, same old at APFA.
4. Not Defending Our Contract
Julie Hedrick refuses to file and arbitrate Presidential Grievances. In the last two calendar years, Hedrick did not file any presidential grievances. Then once the recall process started she reluctantly filed two. Too little, too late. Hedrick has filed the fewest of any administration in memory.
In five years in office Hedrick and Salas have only arbitrated two cases and lost both. A union our size should be arbitrating dozens of cases a year. We have had five years of the company knowing Julie Hedrick will not enforce our agreement. Is it any wonder they keep violating the contract?
5. Closing the Financial Records
Hedrick has closed the financial records to membership review even though the law and the APFA constitution are clear that members have the right to see the financial records. Among the records she is concealing are meal and parking expenses of her close ally APFA VP Larry Salas as well as her salary and retro payments. She spent tens of thousands on an audit of prior National Officers but has buried it without explanation. In the past, we were allowed to see some records but now she has completely closed off the financial records to the membership.
6. Forcing Terminated Flight Attendants to Fend for Themselves
This administration simply does not defend terminated flight attendants. Earlier this year, Salas responded they had only arbitrated three discharge cases in five years. Hundreds of flight attendants have been terminated over the past five years while Hedrick was in office but they have only arbitrated a handful of cases. A union this size should be arbitrating dozens of cases per year. Right now, the company is engaging in mass terminations of flight attendants without a word of protest from APFA.
APFA members are forced to fend for themselves. Many are forced to sign harsh last chance agreements because Hedrick and Larry Salas don't believe in arbitration. Remember, this could happen to any of us as flight attendants with clean records and twenty or thirty years of service are being terminated without following progressive discipline.
7. Raiding the Negotiations Fund
Julie Hedrick is illegally raiding the negotiations fund. This fund was set up by membership vote to be devoted solely to negotiations. Yet Hedrick has been spending money for non-negotiations pins, officer retro pay, and even to fund her push to make us vote again on her dues increase. This is not allowed by the APFA Constitution and not even formally approved by the Board. Much of this is being done in closed door Board meetings not open to the membership. Since Hedrick will not allow Article VII charges a recall is the only way to protect our negotiations fund.
If AA ever goes into bankruptcy or we need money for our next round of bargaining, the money may not be there as Hedrick is using it as a piggy bank for her administration. This is even after the members overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to let the Board dip into the negotiations fund at will. Negotiations funds are for our negotiations!
8. Lack of Transparency
Julie Hedrick has not been following the Constitution which requires open meetings. Instead she uses zoom calls closed to the membership and relies on straw polls with a show of hands rather than recorded votes. Hedrick has conducted witch hunts in the national office over alleged leaks. On issues such as the sit rig, the company's mass terminations and her misuse of the strike fund, she has not been open with the membership. Julie Hedrick is afraid of the membership and wants to keep us in the dark.
9. Julie Hedrick is Not a Reformer
For years, APFA members have demanded accountability, transparency, and a more aggressive stance with the Company. For a while it appeared that might happen during negotiations but it is now clear how little Julie Hedrick had to do with it. Rather than attempt to reform APFA she has reverted to her old ways. Remember she was a base officer in the early 2000s, then Laura Glading appointed her to the JCBA committee, and later she became JSIC Julie on company payroll for years as they dragged out implementation of our last agreement. She has not flown the line in years.
10. Destroyed the Internal Charge Process
As flawed as it was, at least on paper APFA had an internal charge process where common members could file charges against National Officers or others who were violating the APFA Constitution and/or the law. We used that to go after a prior administration with absolutely no assistance from Julie Hedrick. Julie Hedrick has politicized and destroyed the internal charge process at APFA. Now, unless it is her political opponents, charges are dismissed on timeliness grounds with no explanation or open discussion. So the question we face is when Julie Hedrick will not follow the rules, what can we do? The main vehicle the membership has is to recall her and send a strong message that leadership must be held accountable to the membership and follow the rules.
Recall Process
In order to get a recall ballot we need 30 percent of the membership to sign a recall petition. That means for a recall vote to go through we need approximately 7000 -8000 signatures.
Once we get the required signatures, they will be submitted to the office of the National Treasurer for verification within 30 days.
Once certified a ballot of the membership will begin within 30 days following certification. A 2/3 vote of those voting is required to remove a National Officer.
Why Recall?
A recall is only part of the answer at APFA. We understand we need fundamental change. For a brief period, it looked like the current administration might make meaningful changes but we were soon disappointed.
The simple answer is we must recall Julie Hedrick because we can't afford having her in office any longer. But it is only a step in the process because the problems here run deeper than just one bad union leader. We will use the momentum from this recall to build a powerful movement for member driven reform.
For More Information on Reform at APFA visit the Checks and Balances Facebook page which is restricted to AA flight attendants. To join please click on the icon below
Recall Language from APFA Constitution
Section 1. REMOVAL OF NATIONAL OFFICERS: The National President, National Vice President, National Secretary or National Treasurer may be removed from office by action of the membership.
A. A removal balloting shall be caused to be taken: (1) within thirty (30) days following a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the Voting Board of Directors, or (2) by a petition(s) carrying signatures numbering thirty percent (30%) or more of active members in good standing. The office of the National Treasurer must, within thirty (30) days following receipt of such petition(s), verify that the names on the petition(s) are of active members in good standing and must issue written certification to the National Balloting Committee (NBC) authorizing a special balloting of the membership to begin no later than thirty (30) days following such certification.
B. The time limit for the return of the ballots (the balloting date) shall be thirty (30) days after the sending of the ballots.
C. In the event that the removal request is for the National Secretary, the National Treasurer shall assume the duties of the National Secretary for the purposes of this Article VIII. In the event that the removal request is for the National Treasurer, the National Secretary shall assume the duties of the National Treasurer for the purposes of this Article VIII. In the event the removal request is for both the National Secretary and the National Treasurer, the Executive Committee shall appoint a person or persons to oversee the procedures pursuant to A of this Section 1.
D. In any removal balloting, an affirmative two-thirds (2/3) majority vote by those active members in good standing who return valid ballots shall be required to remove a National Officer.
