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Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian

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Open Time Trial Cancellation

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has surveyed Flight Attendants’ satisfaction with Open Time for several months (May, June and July), and it is very clear from the survey results that the new system is strongly disfavored. (See “Open Time Trial Survey Results – July 2016” for the latest results.) In our opinion, dissatisfaction with Open Time has been made worse by the disappointing programming challenges leading up to full implementation of the new system combined with the continuing connectivity problems in eMaestro.

Consequently, the MEC has notified management that we are cancelling the Open Time Trial pursuant to CBA §12.F.9 [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial: Cancellation of Open Time Trial].

As outlined in §12.F.9.a., Open Time will revert “back to book,” which was the system in place in the 2006-2010 contract as modified by the “Withholding Open Time” arbitration award (AFA No. 6-99-2-18-11 [“Withholding Open Time”]). The roll back will occur when Jeppesen is able to program the new Jeppesen Crew Tracking Enterprise (JCTE) Crew Exchange with the old Open Time trading rules.

Management’s estimate for going “back to book” is sometime between February and July 2017. We are anticipating a specific estimate from management in the near future. In the meantime, Open Time trading will remain under the new system.

Based on overwhelming feedback from the members, the MEC is requesting that we begin negotiations on a successor Open Time system as soon as possible. Negotiations will proceed with your current Negotiating Committee: MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston and Christina Frees. The MEC sincerely thanks Jake Jones for his service on the past two Negotiating Committees. Jake recused himself from the committee. AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput will join the committee for Open Time negotiations.

Keep in mind the recently selected Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) is a different committee that will negotiate a combined contract pursuant to the Alaska Airlines-Virgin America merger.

“It’s painfully obvious the Open Time Trial is not working for the Membership,” said MEC President Jeff Peterson. “Let’s keep in mind this new system was always designed as a trial, which is why the parties agreed to an ‘opt out’ clause. The MEC sincerely thanks everyone for taking part in the surveys and sharing their comments, which has given us a lot of material for upcoming negotiations. Flight Attendants want a simplified system without all the confusing codes and a much-improved ability to trade day-for-day or greater that is not necessarily tied to day-of-departure. AFA is committed to delivering a workable Open Time system to our Flight Attendants that is supported by a comfortable majority of our group.”

You will be hearing a lot more about Open Time in the coming months as negotiations progress.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact your Local Executive Council (LEC) president.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Open Time Trial Survey Results – July 2016

The Open Time Trial survey results for July 2016 are now available.

Survey completion information

458 surveys were completed and 7 were partially completed. If a Flight Attendant submitted more than one survey, only the last submission was counted. This is a substantial reduction in the number of participants compared to past surveys.

Survey overview

The results continue to show a clear need to improve general understanding of the Open Time Trial and a strong dissatisfaction for the current system.

Understanding of the Open Time trading codes

62.5% of respondents do not understand or are still learning the Open Time trading codes (TO/DD/CP/TX/no code) and how to trade sequences in Open Time based on those codes. This is a significant drop from past months.

AFA Alaska has produced an Open Time trading codes quick reference guide (see “Understanding Open Time Trading with the Codes” for additional information.)

>>> Click here to view the “Open Time Trading with the Codes” quick reference guide in a Portable Document Format (pdf). <<<

Understanding of the estimated time frame for making any programming changes to Open Time

A majority (57.7%) reported they understand the time frame involved for making any programming changes to the Open Time system.

Based on membership feedback the MEC has made a determination to go “back to book”:

  • Reverting to the former Open Time system could take approximately one year. This is because the new JCTE crew management system would need to be reprogrammed with the rules for the former OT system. (It is currently programmed with the new OT rules.)
  • AFA will start negotiating a new system as outlined in CBA§12.F.9 [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial: Cancellation of Open Time Trial]. Implementation of a replacement OT system would likely take a minimum of nine months after reaching an agreement with management.

Strong dissatisfaction with the Open Time Trial

74.5% indicated they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the Open Time Trial. 81.6% of respondents would prefer to revert “back to book” to the old Open Time system (based on IT limitations) and begin negotiations on a new system; whereas 18.4% would prefer to keep the current system.

Detailed survey results

>>> Click here to view the detailed AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey Results for July 2016. <<<

AFA Alaska has informed management of our intent to go “back to book.” More information to follow!

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey for July 2016 Results Summary

Trip Trading Freeze

As you probably have heard by now, Alaska Airlines management is planning to phase out the old Jeppesen Maestro/eMaestro system and switch to the new Jeppesen Crew Tracking Enterprise on the evening of September 30th. Management recently announced all trip trading will be “temporarily” suspended for up to 78 hours during the cutover. Yes, you read that correctly: more than 3 days! (Full disclosure: Management plans to open up trading as soon as they believe it is safe to do so.)

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) and management have been discussing the impending transition in detail for many months now. The parties have thoroughly explored alternative options for trip trading during the cutover—including manual trading—and we’re all in agreement there is no viable method of keeping trip trading open during this period. That is where our agreement on the issue ends.

Although the MEC recognizes that Maestro/eMaestro is antiquated, the MEC also knows that having trading completely suspended for that length of time is unacceptable to our members—and unprecedented. It is also a contractual violation: CBA §12.C.1. [Exchange of Sequences: Trading Procedures] “The Company will provide and maintain a real-time electronic system for processing sequence trades, pick-ups, drops and give-aways.” Additionally, your AFA leadership anticipates the transition has the potential to significantly and very negatively impact the operation.

The MEC has spent months attempting to negotiate provisions that would help take the sting out of such a major contractual violation and benefit the operation. As of this writing, the MEC regrets to inform you that the parties have been unable to reach an agreement on the cutover. In the MEC’s opinion, the tentatively agreed to provisions do not go far enough to acknowledge such a significant contractual violation, nor to make up for the disruption to Flight Attendant’s flexibility of schedule (which has been lacking these days anyway). Consequently, negotiations have stalled.

Your AFA leaders are sure you will agree that a simple “We apologize for the inconvenience” from management is not nearly enough. Although management is taking steps to minimize the impact, the MEC is also concerned the cutover could easily become an operational nightmare—unless additional measures are negotiated to supplement the existing staffing. Therefore, AFA Alaska calls upon Alaska Airlines management to renew negotiations with us as soon as possible.

Be assured the MEC is continuing to passionately advocate for your interests, and we will not let this issue rest. Stay tuned for further developments!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey July 2016

[Note: The Open Time Trial survey is out slightly late this month. In order to keep the survey results “clean” from month to month, the survey will close prior to Open Time for August trading opens this coming Saturday morning. That means the survey will be live for a little bit less than three days, so it is important that you do not delay taking it. Going forward the MEC will be taking additional steps to ensure the survey opens just after PBS bids are due on the 10th and close on the 16th at 9am PT.]

 

Pursuant to AFA Alaska Collective Bargaining Agreement §12.F.8.D.5 [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial], the Master Executive Council (MEC) is conducting a monthly poll of membership regarding your satisfaction with Open Time. Your candid responses will help the MEC determine the course of the Open Time trial.

 

It is important to focus on Open Time functionality, not the technical issues with logging into the system, when answering the questions.

 

You must enter your Arctic number in order to take the survey. We’re asking for your Arctic number to ensure each Flight Attendant receives one vote per month and is not for tracking purposes. If a survey is submitted more than once with the same Arctic number, all responses using that Arctic number will be excluded for this month.

 

> > > To take the AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey for July 2016 click here. < < <

 

The survey will close on Saturday, July 16th at 9am Pacific Time. Once again, there is a free form comments field at the end of the survey, and the LEC presidents will review the comments.

 

Thank you in advance for your feedback. The MEC will publish a summary of results once the responses have been tallied on Monday, July 18th.

 

In Solidarity,

 

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Introducing Your AFA Alaska Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC)

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews last week for the two open Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) member positions. The MEC would like to thank the 15 candidates who demonstrated a willingness to represent our Flight Attendants in joint contract negotiations. After thorough deliberation, the MEC has appointed Jennifer Wise MacColl and Lindsey Steele to the positions. Your full AFA Alaska JNC is MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jen Wise MacColl, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo.

MEC President Jeffrey Peterson

Jeffrey Peterson grew up in Anchorage, AK, and graduated from A.J. Dimond High in south Anchorage. Jeff achieved a Presidential Scholar Award in 1991 and went on to attain a BA in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego. Prior to becoming a Flight Attendant, he spent several years in hotel management working for Marriott International and a franchise company associated with Marriott Hotels. He started out his Flight Attendant career 15 years ago in Los Angeles. Jeff has also been based in Seattle and now San Diego. Jeff’s term as AFA-CWA Alaska MEC president began on July 1, 2011, and he is in his second term of office, which ends December 31, 2016. Jeff currently splits his time between his apartment in San Diego, his family’s condo in Puerto Vallarta and the AFA office in Seattle.

Jennifer Wise MacColl

Jen Wise MacColl started flying in July of 1996 and was based in Anchorage for her first year.  The rest of her career has been spent in the Seattle base.  She is the current MEC Grievance Chairperson and has held that position since 2010. Jen has participated in many AFA committees over her career including Government Affairs, EAP/CIRP and Voice. She earned her BA in Political Science from the University of Washington and is supported through all her endeavors by her husband Scott and two kids Landon and Riley.

Lindsey Steele

Lindsey Steele has been an Alaska Airlines flight attendant since 2012. She chose to start out her career in Anchorage in order to fully embrace the Alaska culture, much to the surprise to her classmates and trainers. Lindsey later transferred to Los Angeles to reside with her family in the suburbs of Azusa She comes from a family with strong union roots dating back to the 1940’s with her grandfather. Lindsey’s mother has been a Union member all of Lindsey’s life, and now Lindsey continues the tradition as a proud AFA member. Her goal for the forthcoming merger between Alaska Airlines and Virgin America is to instill a renewed faith and unity in the membership through a strong contract.

Paula Mastrangelo

Paula Mastrangelo, AFA Senior Staff Negotiator, was the bargaining representative and chief spokesperson for AFA at Alaska Airlines in the 1990s.  She resumed that role after taking time off, and has been involved in negotiating contracts with Alaska, including the current agreement.  She has started her career with the F.A.S.T. division of the AFL-CIO and has negotiated many international union agreements.

 

The Joint Negotiating Committee works to obtain interim safeguards including a fence agreement with management (which maintains separate Inflight operations for a specified period of time) and merge the collective bargaining agreement(s) and/or respective work rules into a collective bargaining agreement for the combined airline. Additional information about the JNC can be found at http://afaalaska.org/merger/jnc.

 

Current news from AFA Alaska about the Alaska Airlines/Virgin America merger can be found at http://afaalaska.org/merger.

 

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Your Joint Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jennifer Wise MacColl, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

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