The AirTran Flight Attendants empowered the AFA negotiating committee with their tremendous support during negotiations and have inspired Flight Attendants at other AFA carriers currently in negotiations http://www.afacwa.org/negotiations/. The AirTran MEC’s targeted communications strategy reminded AirTran Flight Attendants on a regular basis that they held the key to successful negotiations; but equally important in their success was the grassroots member leadership, as exemplified by members like Howard McGee. “Howard is all about serving the union. Howard stepped up and committed himself to mobilizing other members in support of our contract negotiations,” said MEC President Alison Head. “Howard is genuinely interested in the well-being of his flying partners: He really gets what being a member of AFA is all about.”
Going into negotiations, AirTran MEC officers knew they had to rally members in support of the negotiating committee. They began by explaining the basics of what AFA does at the bargaining table and why members need to support the union in negotiations. They urged members to wear their AFA pins and to become member mobilizers. The pool of member mobilizers grew and the MEC reported every development in negotiations to them via blast email. In turn, the mobilizers posted the information to Facebook, tweeted and printed copies the emails to have on hand at all times. They wore mobilizer badges so that other members knew they were a resource for information and talked with their flying partners about supporting AFA on trips, in crew lounges, in airport vans and at every opportunity.
AFA met with other ITF affiliates representing workers in the Oneworld Alliance in Washington, DC, April 21-22 to leverage our strength on a global scale. American Eagle MEC President Robert Barrow (pictured at far left) attended the 
On a Workers Memorial Day event on Thursday at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, Kevin Creighan participated in an expert panel discussion on labor history. Kevin described the tragic events surrounding the loss of AFA member C.B. Lansing in the Aloha Airlines flight 243 decompression event on April 28, 1988, and also explained to the labor activists in attendance that Flight Attendants are first responders who lack OSHA protections while working in the cabin. Other panelists included Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Rich Fairfax, AFGE Health and Safety Specialist Millie Rodriguez, and AFL-CIO Director of Safety and Health Peg Seminario. Kevin fielded several questions which revealed that, even in the labor community, there is little awareness that the aircraft cabin is not regulated by OSHA. Kevin had a chance to speak directly with OSHA Director David Michaels, who gave a keynote speech after the panel discussion, about furthering AFA’s continued campaign to extend OSHA protections to Flight Attendants.