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[L-AS] JCTE Contractual Waivers Not Installed

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This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

Yesterday, AFA released a communication regarding JCTE contractual 48/7 and out of base waivers that were supposed to be installed in an update to JCTE last night.  Early this morning, we were advised by management that the update to the JCTE software was not successful and these waivers have not been installed.  As of now, management has been unable to provide us with a timeframe as to when we can expect the software to be successfully updated.

Please be mindful when grabbing or trading trips that JCTE continues to lack these waiver notifications. If you have any questions about JCTE contractual waivers, please contact your Local Scheduling Committee.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

[L-AS] JCTE Contractual 48/7 and Out of Base Waivers

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This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

AFA was advised that JCTE will be receiving an update on the evening of May 8, 2018, that will include the contractual 48/7 waiver (Section 8.L) and out of base warnings that previously existed in eMaestro.  It is important to remember when picking up or trading, you may be required to waive or accept provisions.  If you waive a provision when processing a direct trade, you will also be waiving the contractual protections for the Flight Attendant receiving the trip.   Prior to processing a trade, it is important that you discuss any contractual waivers with the Flight Attendant who will be receiving the trip and determine whether s/he agrees to any contractual waivers.  If you choose to accept the waivers when processing a trade, this acceptance will be noted in the system and pay protection and/or rest requirements may not apply.  Refer to Section 8.N of the CBA for waiver of contractual rest.

If you have any questions about JCTE contractual waivers, please contact your Local Scheduling Committee.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

[pmAS] Follow Up to April Bid Re-Award

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This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

On Tuesday, March 13, AFA released information about the April bid re-award that recently took place.  The initial need for a re-award came about after several bid protests were filed based on the original April line awards.  After further investigation, the protests were found to be valid and the error occurred due to programming in the new web app user interface of Navblue PBS.  The programming error affected the bids of 22 Flight Attendants which required that action be taken to properly honor those bids. Resolving the bid protests was bound to have an impact on the previously awarded lines of Flight Attendants beyond those who initially filed bid protests.

After Navblue corrected the necessary programming but prior to running the bid re-awards, Crew Planning and the PBS Committee had the need to perform some administrative work in PBS to ensure that Flight Attendant bids properly reflected those that were originally entered prior to bids closing on March 10th.  Performing this work required that PBS be switched back into the normal bid entry mode so that the necessary work could be done.  The system does not contain the ability to be switched into a “maintenance” or “offline” mode where administrators can work in the system while preventing Flight Attendants from also making entries.  As a result of this, it was also possible for Flight Attendants to log in to the system and make bid entries during the period of time that the administrators were in the system verifying the integrity of original bids.

Section 10.J.4 of the Flight Attendant collective bargaining agreement states that a Flight Attendant must submit her/his bid by 9 AM Pacific time on the 10th of the month prior to the bid period.  Management’s failure to have PBS properly programmed to prevent additional bid entries while the administrators were working in the system has resulted in a clear contractual violation.  At no time did AFA agree to an exception or waiver to this contractual provision.

The MEC had substantial discussion regarding what transpired, including the possibility of requesting that a full re-bid be conducted for the month of April.  The option of a full re-bid was determined to be unfeasible as it would have had a greater negative impact on Flight Attendants, especially those who would be unable to participate in the re-bid (on vacation, etc.) as well as those who had planned their schedules around the F/A-to-F/A and Open Time trading timeline.

AFA will be pursuing resolution to the contractual violation through the grievance process and every other avenue at our disposal.  The MEC Grievance Committee has already filed grievance number 36-99-2-116-18 addressing management’s failure to comply with the contractual bidding timeline.  We will also be calling for a meeting with inflight management to have additional conversation about the new Navblue PBS user interface, the associated programming errors, and the necessary steps that need to be taken to prevent reoccurrence of a similar situation.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

April Bid Re-Award and Trading Timeline

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This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

On Monday, March 12, management advised AFA that a programming error was discovered with the new user interface of NavBlue PBS.  The error, related to the programming of the “Duty On” preference in the new user interface, resulted in trips being awarded incorrectly to Flight Attendants despite bid preferences that were submitted properly.  As a result of the programming error, NavBlue was immediately contacted by management and the necessary programming was corrected.

NavBlue made necessary corrections to the PBS programming which were completed earlier today.  Management subsequently worked to re-award bids with the NavBlue programming having been corrected.   Bid awards will be posted at 5 PM Pacific time today and F/A-to-F/A and Open Time trading will begin as originally scheduled.

Bidding and Trading Timeline

All times based on Pacific time

Bid Re-Awards Posted Tuesday, March 13 @ 17:00
Bid Protest Begins Tuesday, March 13 @ 17:00
Bid Protest Final Wednesday, March 14 @ 17:00
F/A-to-F/A Trading Begins Thursday, March 15*
Open Time Trading Begins Friday, March 16*

*Please note that there is no change to the F/A-to-F/A and Open Time trading timeline.

It is AFA’s positon that management has an obligation to ensure Flight Attendant bidding and scheduling systems are fully functional and free of programming errors.  AFA will be meeting with management to review the programming error with NavBlue PBS and discuss the future plans for roll out of the system.

If you have any questions about the bid re-award or trading timeline, please contact your LEC Officers.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Management Strands Multiple Crews on the East Coast Due to Winter Storm Riley

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Your Master Executive Council (MEC) is incensed that management has chosen to strand multiple crews on the East Coast tonight due to Winter Storm Riley. AFA has repeatedly reminded management over the past several extreme weather events that the Association is more than willing to enact CBA §8.S [Natural Disasters…] in order to turn Boeing crews out of affected stations. Instead, executive operations management (i.e. the Director of System Operations and System Operations Control) is consistently waiting to make decisions until too late in the day when all crew recovery options are essentially lost. This goes for Boeing and Airbus crews.

Crewmembers going into a layover are not going anywhere once they have been picked up by hotel transportation and/or the departing aircraft takes off. Note to management: Any beverage cart jockey can tell you that waiting until 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET to ‘call the ball’ won’t cut it—the vast majority of East Coast flights are long gone. When flights are subsequently cancelled for the next day(s), all stranded crew are along for the ride—for better or for worse.

AFA has made numerous attempts in the recent past to get management to be more proactive when assessing potential extreme weather events. We have tried conducting the appropriate conversations going through the proper channels. Obviously that approach isn’t working, so now we’re going to resort to public shaming. Believe us, it’s not what we prefer.

AFA sincerely hopes everything works out for our stranded crews on the East Coast. Please know we would have supported getting you out if we had been consulted in time to do something about it. Now that AFA has been asked about enacting §8.S on the Boeing side, we have approved the provision in anticipation of Winter Storm Riley. Unfortunately, it’s way too late to make any difference.

Just remember: This stranding has been brought to you courtesy of Alaska Airlines management.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

Latest News

Dynamic Contractual Waiver Due to ANC Earthquakes Extended

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The Master Executive Council (MEC) has approved an extension to the dynamic contractual waiver due to the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in Anchorage, AK yesterday and today. The contractual duty day and rest requirements are waived ‘down’ to Federal Air Regulations (FARs) for the narrow purposes of facilitating avoiding ANC layovers and to keep the […]

Dynamic Contractual Waiver in Effect Due to ANC Earthquakes

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The Master Executive Council (MEC) has approved a dynamic contractual waiver due to the earthquakes in Anchorage, AK today. The contractual duty day and rest requirements are waived ‘down’ to Federal Air Regulations (FARs) for the narrow purposes of facilitating avoiding ANC layovers and to keep the ANC operation running through 5pm AST tomorrow: December […]

Large Earthquake Strikes Anchorage, AK

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A large earthquake (preliminary estimates around 7.0 in magnitude) struck Anchorage, AK at approximately 9:29 PST (8:29 AST). There are initial reports of damage to infrastructure. So far AFA is receiving reports that crews overnighting at the layover hotel are okay, and we have been in contact with several Flight Attendants living in the area […]

Air Quality Information & Update

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Due to the recent spike in cabin air fume events, your AFA Air Safety, Health, and Security Committee (ASHSC) has been working diligently to assist with all fume events by continuing with our normal procedure of contacting the affected crews, offering support, educating, and providing tools and resources for responding to these events. Resources Available […]

MEC Grievance Update – Quarter 3, 2018

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The Master Executive Council (MEC) has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf.  Section 20.N.2 of the Flight Attendant Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) allows for 10 arbitration dates per year to argue discipline/termination cases and contractual issues.  The ratified Joint CBA increases this amount and provides for […]

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