Remembering 9/11/2001
Hurricane Dorian
AFA leadership has been in contact with Alaska Airlines management all weekend as we actively monitor Hurricane Dorian’s path. Management has just announced the first Dorian-related cancellation, which is AS 1074 SEA-FLL tomorrow morning (Monday, September 2, 2019). More cancellations and re-routes are likely in the coming days. As a precaution, AFA and management have agreed to enact Section 8.S [Natural Disasters…] in order to turn crews out of Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and in anticipation of re-starting operations to FLL once conditions have returned to normal.
If you are currently laying over in FLL, Crew Scheduling will be reaching out to you tonight to arrange a deadhead first thing tomorrow morning. It is imperative that you are responsive to their efforts to contact you tonight.
If you are a registered commuter in an area projected to be directly affected by Hurricane Dorian and you are concerned, AFA encourages you to discuss your options with management as soon as possible. All crews with flying to Florida and the south eastern seaboard over the coming days are encouraged to monitor the Scheduling alerts on the Inflight webpage and to be responsive to contact from Crew Scheduling.
If you need assistance from AFA, please feel free to contact your respective local leadership, local Scheduling Committee chairperson(s) or EAP. This will be a constantly evolving situation, so stay tuned!
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
SFO Co-Terminal Negotiations Update
Back in January, AFA communicated that management had approached AFA regarding their desire to negotiate a co-terminal agreement for the SFO domicile.
The Master Executive Council (MEC) then conducted interviews for three Special Negotiating Committee (SNC) members and appointed them in February.
The SFO Co-term SNC met in early April for negotiations training and preparation. During that session, the SNC determined that a proposed SFO Co-terminal Agreement would have to contain significant improvements for all Flight Attendants (not just for those in the SFO domicile) in order for a tentative agreement to have a chance of ratification by a majority of the membership. With that prerequisite in mind, the SNC developed a conceptual proposal (a non-binding proposal, or “supposal”) and passed it to management for their consideration.
Management recently responded to the conceptual proposal:
Thank you for sending us AFA’s conceptual proposal to consider while negotiating co-terminals for SFO. It is our understanding that the Special Negotiating Committee strongly believes we would need to implement many of the items listed in the proposal in order to have the SFO co-terminals voted in by AFA membership.
As you know, the difference in savings is relatively small between opening a SJC FA base, and opening SFO co-terminals. Given that, we have very little to play with in order to implement items in AFA’s Conceptual Proposal, while still achieving savings and efficiency for the company greater than (or equal to) those that the company would gain by opening an SJC base.
As such, it would appear that continuing to negotiate a deal between the two parties in order to achieve SFO co-terminals is not productive. Please let us know if you’d like to continue the discussion, or if you agree that the parties should respectfully walk away at this point and acknowledge a deal could not be reached at this time on SFO co-terminals.
The MEC concurs with management’s assessment that the parties should respectfully walk away from further negotiations. We sincerely thank the SFO Co-Terminal Special Negotiating Committee members for their service.
The MEC has been holding off on publishing these details in deference to management’s desire to take the lead on communicating plans for a San Jose Flight Attendant base. However, the MEC has become aware via social media that Inflight executive management has been openly talking to line Flight Attendants about such plans. Consequently, we feel an obligation to get in front of potential rumors and confirm to our members that the reports are true: Management intends to open a SJC base in the next year or so.
We know our members will have many questions. Once management provides the MEC with more concrete information, we will pass those details along to you.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee
AFA Alaska eJCBA 2018-2021
The Master Executive Council (MEC) is very pleased to announce the electronic version of the AFA Alaska Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) 2018-2021 is now available on the AFA Alaska contract page.
Click here for the AFA Alaska eJCBA 2018-2021 >
For those of you who wish to have a print version of the contract, AFA and management are actively finalizing the details in preparation for publication and distribution as soon as possible.
The MEC greatly appreciates Negotiating Committee member Kristy Stratton’s invaluable assistance in optimizing the contract for electronic access and for formatting the print version. We anticipate the prep time for publication to be relatively short.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee
Open Time TA is Canceled
The Master Executive Council (MEC) is canceling the Open Time Tentative Agreement 2019. Voting will be discontinued as soon as AFA Membership Services at the International Office has an opportunity to pull down the ballot.
Why?
AFA representatives and management have been collaborating on the development of “user stories” in preparation for the programming of new trading rules into Crew Access if the TA were to pass. This ‘pre-work’ was being done in order to get a head start on implementation. User stories guide the programmers by describing the various trading scenarios and expected behavior of the system.
During a review of proposed user stories, a dispute arose regarding which trips count towards the Daily Count and therefore the closing of Open Time. The parties were very close to settling the dispute by agreeing to AFA’s position. However, management was also requiring that Jeppesen take another look at the implementation timeline before management would agree to resolve the dispute.
The implementation timeline reassessment is estimated to take several weeks, which would definitely not be completed until well after the ballot closing date of May 31. Although the MEC could choose to extend the balloting period, Department of Labor rules do not allow a vote to be changed once the ballot is cast. In light of the fact that two major issues are technically unresolved while the ballot is live (which trips count towards the closing of days and the implementation timeline), the MEC strongly believes it is in the best interest of the Membership to pull the TA and voted unanimously to do so.
What’s next?
The MEC, the Negotiating Committee and management will meet to discuss next steps as soon as possible. Stay tuned for further developments.
In Solidarity
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee
Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Attorney/Negotiator Kimberley Chaput
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