Your Voice Deserves a Response

The Problem

An email address is not a system.

Right now, flight attendants are told to send their negotiation proposals, questions, and concerns to an email address. It doesn't matter how many people have access to that inbox. Without a system behind it, there is no confirmation, no tracking number, and no way to know if your email was read, categorized, or acted on.

Think about what happens in practice:

What happens to your email today

1 You spend 20 minutes writing a thoughtful negotiation proposal and send it.

2 No confirmation. You don't know if it was received, filtered to spam, or lost.

3 Days pass. No response. No acknowledgment. Nothing.

4 Meanwhile, 50 more emails land on top of yours. Your proposal is buried.

5 You have no idea if anyone ever read it. No tracking. No accountability. No record.

This is the same problem as a WhatsApp group with 900 members. You post something important, and 24 hours later it's buried under 40 other messages. The format itself makes accountability impossible.

An email inbox with no tracking, no confirmation, and no accountability system behind it is not transparency. It's a black hole. It doesn't matter if one person reads it or ten people read it. If there's no system, there's no accountability.

The Solution

Every submission confirmed, tracked, and accountable.

What if every time a flight attendant submitted a negotiation proposal, a question, or a concern, this is what happened instead:

What should happen with your email

1 You submit your proposal through a structured form. Instant confirmation with a unique tracking code.

2 Your submission is automatically categorized: pay, scheduling, hotels, grievance, benefits, or whatever topic it covers.

3 It enters a searchable database, not just an inbox. It can't get buried. It can't be lost.

4 You can check the status anytime using your tracking code. You see exactly where it stands.

5 When a union official reviews and responds, you get notified. There's a permanent record that it happened.

This is not complicated technology. Every customer support system in the world works this way. When you email an airline about a delayed bag, you get a case number and status updates. Your union should give you the same respect.

What It Looks Like

A system built for accountability.

Here is exactly what a member would see after submitting a negotiation proposal:

Member Submission Portal

Submission Received

Tracking Code BRZ-2026-0847

Category Negotiation Proposal: Hotel Standards

Submitted May 8, 2026 at 2:14 PM

Status Under Review

Received and confirmed May 8, 2:14 PM

Categorized: Hotel Standards May 8, 2:14 PM

Under review by negotiations team May 9, 10:30 AM

Official response

Every submission is logged. Every status change is recorded. Every response is documented. The member knows they were heard, and there is a permanent record of engagement.

Leadership can also see the full picture: how many submissions came in this month, what topics members care about most, and which ones still need a response. That is how you run an organized operation.

The Bottom Line

Members deserve to be heard. Not ignored.

If we expect management to take us seriously at the bargaining table, we need to take our own members seriously first. That starts with the basics: confirming receipt, tracking submissions, responding, and keeping records.

An email address with no system behind it tells members their input doesn't matter enough to track. A real accountability system tells members their voice matters, their proposal was received, and someone is responsible for responding.

This is not about technology. This is about respect for the people we represent.

Keith Fallon, Candidate for AFA Secretary