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Health and Wellness
By Louie Key, National Director
 This issue of the Association's Grapevine publication is following a theme that we sometimes take for granted or do not pay close enough attention to, our very own Health and Wellness. With October being breast cancer awareness month and November being used for awareness campaigns on men's health issues such as prostate and testicular cancers (with crusades like "Movember"), we thought it would be a good opportunity to extend those themes and raise awareness among our members as well.
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Member Aging Program
By Aaron Hansen, Assistant National Director
 Not only are our aircraft aging, but our work force is as well. A majority of our people have over two decades in this career. With that said there comes a time when we must think of our future and our family's future.
The big question is.... Are you Prepared? Sure, men have the recommended age checkups and women have yearly exams, but there is another aspect of protecting yourself that most forget about or wait until it's too late. Regardless of age and health, we all have an expiration date. We don't know when that time will come, but inevitably death will always catch up to us.
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Shift Work
By David Brooks, National Safety & Standards Director
At some time in our career most of us have had to work on the night shift, or as it is sometimes appropriately known as "graveyard shift." A shift of work schedule from traditional daytime (9 to 5) to untraditional night time or rotating between night and day is known as "shift work." It is estimated that shift work is performed by over 20% of working people in the US and Western Europe. In aviation that number is much higher. This shift work disrupts the normal human sleep-wake pattern and the body's circadian (from the Latin circa, meaning "about" and dian, meaning "day") rhythm and sometimes causes undesirable consequences. Our sleep-wake habits are controlled not only by external light and darkness, but also by our internal body clock. The two most significant problems with shift work are excessive sleepiness during work at night and the inability to have quality restorative sleep during non- working hours. A major effect is excessive sleepiness and fatigue at work due to a combination of an inadequate amount of sleep during daytime and increasing sleep pressure accumulating during the nighttime. This shift work is also more difficult for older workers (around 50 years or older) than younger workers. Keep Reading > |
Around Region II
By Michael P. Nelson, Region II Director
 Well we have passed the one year anniversary of the amendable date to our AMT's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), closer to two years including the proposal process. During this first year of negotiating, excluding the three months that were spent on the station closure issue in-lieu-of AMT negotiations, a large amount of our time has been spent related to the accretion of the Maintenance Controllers and Technical Instructors, specifically their Article 4 "Job Classification" language.
Although these sections may be relatively small in the CBA, they are the heart of these work groups' livelihood. Also important to remember is that their Article 4 language is all being newly created. Unlike most items being negotiated, there is no existing language to adjust, as the past observers can attest, one single word can be debated for hours.
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Wear Pink & Grow a Mustache
By Justin Madden, National Secretary/Treasurer
 If you have not already noticed, many articles in this issue of the Grapevine touch on the theme of health and wellness. As September is prostate cancer awareness month, October is breast cancer awareness month, and November has become "Movember," we felt the time was right for your National Officers to discuss these issues in their articles.
After the theme had been established and articles were in work, we were surprised and saddened to learn of the deaths of two individuals who helped AMFA become what it is today: Mr. Jim Young and Mr. Kevin McCormick. Jim served as Vice President of Local 33 as well as the Region II Director. Kevin was a business man who owned and operated the McCormick Advisory Group, a firm who handled the administrative activities of AMFA National until 2006. Both of these men had a passion for our Association that was selfless and uncompromising. Unfortunately, these men passed away too early due to cancer and they will be missed.
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