Grievance Committee

AFA Update – January 22, 2021

January 22, 2021 12:00

In This Edition

Letters of Agreement and Memorandums of Understanding
REMINDER: Reserve Availability & Commuting
College Scholarship Opportunities

Letters of Agreement and Memorandums of Understanding

Grievance Committee

Our Master Executive Council (MEC) occasionally enters into letters of agreement (LOAs) with management to address situations that were not anticipated or did not exist during contract negotiations. The MEC also enters into memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with management in order to clarify existing contractual language. Both LOAs and MOUs are binding agreements and are fully enforceable documents.

LOAs and MOUs are accessible on the current contract page of the AFA Alaska website and can also be accessed on the IMD through the Goodreader app (ASFA Supplemental > Collective Bargaining Agreement).

Recent LOAs and MOUs

Fatigue Risk Management Plan (FRMP) – outlines how the company’s FRMP will be structured, including how reports will be coded and handled as well as disciplinary protections. Also guarantees AFA representation on the Fatigue Review Board (FRB).

Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) – renews the ASAP program (FAA requires that the ASAP MOU be renewed every two years).

COVID-19 Agreements Extension – Through March 2021 – extends the Temporary Waiver of Discipline Delivery Confirmation MOU (04/14/2020) and Commuter Policy and Utilizing Other Airline (OAL) Carriers During COVID-19 Schedule Disruptions LOA (04/07/2020). Both will remain in effect through March 31, 2021.

Boeing 737 MAX 9 Proving Activities – outlines Flight Attendant involvement in FAA-required proving activities for the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft and ensures AFA participation in the process.

Questions?

If you have questions about LOAs or MOUs, please contact your LEC President or Local Grievance Committee.

REMINDER: Reserve Availability & Commuting

Reserve Committee

There have recently been some instances where Reserve Flight Attendants were disciplined for not being physically present in their domicile during their entire availability period. Contractually, reserve availability periods run from 00:00 to 14:00 for AM reserve, 10:00 to 23:59 for PM reserve, and 00:00 to 23:59 for ER reserve. During these times, a Reserve Flight Attendant must be present in their domicile, contactable, and available to report for an assignment within two hours.

Even if a Reserve Flight Attendant has self-assigned or otherwise already been given an assignment, this does not relieve them of the requirement to be in their domicile during their entire reserve availability period. There are certain circumstances when they may be removed from the assignment and given another assignment as indicated in the CBA. Crew Scheduling has the right to utilize this contractual language and does so on a regular basis.

Example: Reserve Flight Attendant has a 4-day block of PM reserve days starting on the 20^th of the month. On the 19^th, they self-assign a 4-day trip with a report time of 21:00 on the 20^th. The Reserve Flight Attendant is still required to be contactable starting at 10:00 on the 20^th and be able to accept an assignment and report within two hours. Even though the F/A has self-assigned a trip, Crew Scheduling retains the right to contact the F/A at or after 10:00, remove the self-assignment as indicated in the CBA, and give the F/A another legal assignment.

Release on Last Day of Reserve Block

Section 11.C.5 of the CBA provides Reserve Flight Attendants with the right to request release from the remainder of their reserve obligation on the last day of a reserve block after the last Company-operated flight that the Reserve would be legal to fly has departed the domicile. In order to take advantage of this contractual provision, a Reserve Flight Attendant must call Crew Scheduling and request to be released from the remainder of their reserve availability period. Once released by Crew Scheduling, the Reserve Flight Attendant is free from further duty and may commute home. If a Reserve Flight Attendant does not request release, they are still considered on duty and are obligated to physically remain in domicile until the end of their reserve availability period.

Questions?

If you have questions about commuting while on reserve, please contact your Local Reserve Committee.

College Scholarship Opportunities

AFA International

As an AFA and CWA Member, you and/or certain eligible dependents have the opportunities for at least three different scholarships, and the ability to earn a degree with no out of pocket expense for tuition, fees, and e-books. The time for applying is now!

Brought to you by our Union, these benefits of union membership have become very popular with members. Please see the respective links for detailed information, and good luck in obtaining financial assistance.

AFA Scholarship Fund

The Association of Flight Attendants Scholarship Fund is intended to provide financial assistance to dependents of our active members who will be attending a college or university. The deadline for applications is April 10. Details are available on the AFA International website at http://www.afacwa.org/scholarships.

CWA Joe Beirne Scholarship

The Joe Beirne Scholarship is offered by CWA. The deadline for applications is April 30. Details on this scholarship are on the CWA website at http://www.cwa-union.org/pages/beirne.

Union Plus Scholarship Program

Union Plus provides a suite of scholarships, educational discounts, and loans available for union members. You can find information at https://www.unionplus.org/college-education-financing. One additional “click” brings up the scholarship applications that may be submitted online by the deadline of January 31.

Union Plus Free College Benefit

In addition, there is a free college benefit available through Union Plus for active and retired Members and their families with the opportunity to earn an associate degree completely online – for FREE. Details and an application are online at https://www.unionplusfreecollege.org. This benefit can save you thousands of dollars.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact your LEC Officers

AFA Update – November 20, 2020

November 20, 2020 12:00

In This Edition

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf. The contract requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues. Termination cases are typically prioritized in order to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases. AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors.

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination. COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in the FA’s file for 18 months, and then are removed. If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation. Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline. If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD). A ROD is not considered discipline. There is no middle ground for certain violations.

Subject of Most Recent Discipline

Theft. Anything other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed from the aircraft will result in termination. (Temporarily there are COVID-19 exceptions).
Sick leave and FMLA abuse—Terminations on the rise due to travel audits among other things. Anything written in the comments posting of trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted. If management determines abuse it results in termination.
Timecard fraud—For example: Holding the door open to obtain sit pay or picking up additional trips to inflate pay protection after notification of a COVID-19 exposure. Management has terminated for these violations.
Drug/Alcohol violations
Harassment
Reserves commuting during reserve availability period even if self-assigned a trip. Management has terminated for this reason several times.
Social media violations, including “friending” or “following” passengers on social media from information gained from the IMD
Commuter Violations
- Flight Attendant was released from deadhead and used D8Y (commuter boarding priority) to travel home from an outstation
- Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base
- Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities
- Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel
Lost IMD or other required items
Failing to complete CBT—even if FA just forgets to hit the close out x at the top to switch it from in process to complete.

Recent Arbitration/Mediation

Arbitration	July	Contractual Grievance
Arbitration	August	Contractual Grievance
Arbitration	September	Disciplinary Grievance

Recent Arbitration Awards

None

Recent Grievance Settlements

None

Grievances Pending Final Settlement

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-144-19-Violation §13.D.1 Uniform Allotment and Optional Pieces. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §13.D.1 [Uniforms: Uniform Allotment/Credits], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it refused to give Flight Attendants the ability to purchase Luly Yang inspired by Alaska Airlines optional uniform pieces (which are or will be available for purchase at the Alaska Airlines Company store) with their contractual uniform allotted funds.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-170-19-Violation of §19.A Investigatory Meetings. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement § 19.A [Grievance Procedures], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about October 29, 2019, at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), it conducted an investigatory meeting related to a slide deployment with all Flight Attendants assigned to work flight 623 (IAD-SFO) while they were on duty, without providing adequate opportunity to obtain Union representation in the form of an AFA Grievance Representative, and without providing the option of conducting the meeting on their day off with accompanying pay of four (4.0) TFP.

Grievances Recently Granted by Management

Grievance 36-99-2-275-20-Violation of §30.A.2 Training Hours. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.A.2 [Training: Hours], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about July 23, 2020, Flight Attendants attending Recurrent Training (RT) in Seattle were released at 5:07pm, seven (7) minutes past the contractual release time of 5:00pm.

Details: Flight Attendants who attended in this particular class will receive an additional 1.0 TFP.

Grievance 36-99-2-279-20-Violation of §30.A.2 Training Hours. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.A.2 [Training: Hours], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about August 11, 2020, Flight Attendants attending Recurrent Training (RT) in Long Beach (LGB) were released at 4:03pm, three (3) minutes past the contractual release time of 4:00pm.

Details: Flight Attendants who attended in this particular class will receive an additional 1.0 TFP.

Grievances Recently Filed

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-320-20-Violation of §30.C.4 Computer Based Training (CBT). This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.C.4 [Training: Training Pay/Computer Based Training (CBT)], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about September 28, 2020, it added a 5^th Computer Based Training for Flight Attendants to complete for 2020. Prior to adding the 5^thCBT, it issued Quarter 1 CBT, training videos CBT, Quarter 2 CBT and Quarter 3 CBT.

Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-301-20-Violation of §3.D Scope of Agreement. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §3.D [Scope of Agreement: Scope], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it announced beginning October 2020 through July 2021, it will operate flights with cargo in cabin seats; although such flying will occur without passengers, the Company intends to staff the flights with non-Flight Attendant employees, who will be trained to perform Flight Attendant duties, specifically including but not limited to: Firefighting duties, cargo stowage in the passenger cabin and aircraft door operation in normal and emergency mode.

More Information

For more information, including the status of previously filed grievances, please visit the Grievance Committee Activity Page.

Questions?

Please contact your Local Grievance Committee if you have any questions about the Grievance Committee update.

AFA Update – July 24, 2020

July 24, 2020 12:00

In This Edition

REMINDER: Call Congress to Extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program
Onboard Service Expansion
Free Online Learning Course—African American History: From Emancipation to the Present
REMINDER: Flight Attendant COVID-19 Survey
Grievance Committee Update

REMINDER: Call Congress to Extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program

Government Affairs Committee

Keep up the pressure on our lawmakers to do the right thing and extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program. The House of Representatives is scheduled to break for recess on July 31st and the Senate on August 7th. Make your calls today and every day!

House – (888) 907-9365
Senate – (888) 848-4824

Sample Script:

Hello, I am a constituent calling to ask [Representative]/[Senator] to help save my job as an essential worker. Take legislative action in July to extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program for aviation workers in order to avoid massive job loss in October. Keep us connected to our jobs, our paychecks, and our healthcare. Thank you for your urgent attention to this.

Onboard Service Expansion

Master Executive Council (MEC)

Last week, management implemented an expansion of onboard service by increasing beverage choices for passengers and re-introducing hot beverages as an available menu option. This expansion of onboard service took place despite vocal objections by our Master Executive Council (MEC), Inflight Service Committee, and Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC). Among these objections are management’s failure to adequately address the increased risk of exposure that our Flight Attendants are facing due to the additional time being spent interacting with passengers to offer the prescribed service. In light of the recent nationwide increase in COVID-19 cases and many jurisdictions postponing or rolling back plans to reopen businesses, the expansion of onboard service seems counterintuitive and does not indicate that management is serious about “owning safety”.

The MEC is currently developing a survey to gather more information about the specifics of how the expanded onboard service has impacted our Flight Attendants. More information will be available in soon in another AFA update.

Free Online Learning Course—African American History: From Emancipation to the Present

Human Rights Committee

Yale University is currently offering a free course on African American history taught by Jonathan Holloway. Professor Holloway was Professor of History, African American Studies, and American Studies at Yale University and Dean of Yale College.

This course represents a unique opportunity to assist in fulfilling our union’s promise to redouble our efforts to seek out, listen to, and amplify the voices of black and brown Flight Attendants within our Union and to address the systemic racism in our Union, our industry and our nation.

Additional information about the course can be found in the excerpt below from the Yale University website. You can access the course directly by clicking here.

About the Course

The purpose of this course is to examine the African American experience in the United States from 1863 to the present. Prominent themes include the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction; African Americans’ urbanization experiences; the development of the modern civil rights movement and its aftermath; and the thought and leadership of Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

Warning: Some of the lectures in this course contain graphic content and/or adult language that some users may find disturbing.

Course Structure

This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Spring 2010.

REMINDER: Flight Attendant COVID-19 Survey

AFA International

As a reminder, AFA International is currently running a Flight Attendant COVID-19 Survey to collect Flight Attendants’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to our work with our airlines, the federal government, and Congress to get your feedback.

Is there available PPE at work? Have you tested positive for COVID-19? How many trips have you worked since March? What’s your experience with aircraft cleaning? Are you on leave?

Click here to take the survey

All individual responses will be de-identified, kept confidential and only utilized publicly in the aggregate.

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf. The contract requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues. AFA typically prioritizes termination cases in order to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases. AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors.

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination. COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in a Flight Attendant’s file for 18 months, and then are removed. If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation. Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline. If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD). A ROD is not considered discipline. There is no middle ground for certain violations.

Subject of Most Recent Discipline

Theft. Anything other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed from the aircraft will result in termination. (Temporarily there are Covid-19 exceptions).
Sick leave and FMLA abuse—Terminations on the rise due to travel audits among other things. Anything written in the comments posting of trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted. If management determines abuse it results in termination.
Timecard fraud—For example: Holding the door open to obtain sit pay. Management has terminated for this violation.
Drug/Alcohol violations
Harassment
Reserves commuting during reserve availability period even if self-assigned a trip. Management has terminated for this reason several times.
Social media violations Including “friending” passengers on FB from information gained from the IMD
Commuter Violations
- Flight Attendant released from DHD and used D8Y home
- Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base
- Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities
- Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel
Lost IMD or other required items
Failing to complete CBT—even if FA just forgets to hit the close button within Cornerstone to switch the CBT from in process to complete.

Recent and Upcoming Arbitration/Mediation

Arbitration	April 21	Disciplinary Grievance
Arbitration	May 27	Contractual Grievance
Arbitration	June 15	Contractual Grievance
Arbitration	June 25	Disciplinary Grievance

Recent Arbitration Awards

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-52-17-Violation of §§11.H.3.b & 11.H.4 JCTE Denying Unlimited Trading of Reserve Days Due to Classification as a Reserve Block Split. This grievance alleged the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §§11.H.3.b & 11.H.4 [Reserve: Reserve Exchange of Days, Pick-Ups and Trades/Reserve Day/Blocks], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) trading system denied unlimited trading of reserve days pursuant to §11.H.4 due to JCA incorrectly classifying such trade as a reserve block split pursuant to §11.H.3.b.

Arbitrator’s Decision: The grievance is denied. Alaska Airlines did not violate Sections 11.H.3.b & 11.H.4 and/or any and all related sections of the collective-bargaining agreement or past practice when its Jeppesen Crew Access trading system denied transactions where Reserve Flight Attendants sought to give away less than an entire block more than once per month. Alaska Airlines properly classified these transactions as a reserve block split pursuant to Section 11.H.3.b.

Recent Grievance Settlements

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-30-19-Violation of §28.G.2 Ground Commuting Policy. This alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §28.G.2 [Domiciles: Commuter Policy/Ground Commuting Policy], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when during the February 2019 Pacific Northwest snowstorms, it did not allow Flight Attendants to use the ground commuter policy because the Company did not consider a snowstorm-related ground commuting failure to be unanticipated.

Details: See the July 13, 2020 AFA Update for more information.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-159-19-Violation of §11.F, §11.F.13 and §11.D.2.c Airport Standby Reserve and On Duty at 4:29 am. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §11.F [Reserve: Airport Standby], §11.F.13 [Reserve: APSB on Duty at 4:29 am] and §11.D.2.c [Reserve: Notice of Time to Report], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to or inconsistently compensated Flight Attendants when they were: 1) Sitting airport standby (APSB) prior to 4:29 am; 2) Sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am and while on said APSB was given a flight assignment prior to 4:29 am; and 3) Sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am and while on said APSB was given a flight assignment after 4:29 am.

Details:

Reserve Flight Attendants sitting airport standby (APSB) prior to 4:29 am local domicile time who do not receive a flight assignment during APSB:
1. Will be compensated pursuant to §11.D.2.c at one and one-half times (1.5x) the trip rate in that duty period of which one-half times (0.5x) the trip rate will be paid above guarantee for the APSB assignment if the Flight Attendant receives less than nine (9) hours’ notice of the APSB assignment; or
1. Will be compensated straight time (1.0x) towards the reserve guarantee for the APSB assignment if the Flight Attendant receives at least nine (9) hours’ notice of the APSB assignment.
Reserve Flight Attendants sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am local domicile time and while on said APSB are given a flight assignment prior to 4:29 am will be compensated one and one-half times (1.5x) the trip rate for all TFP flown or credited or APSB in that duty period of which one-half times (0.5x) the trip rate will be paid above guarantee.
Reserve Flight Attendants sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am local domicile time and while on said APSB are given a flight assignment after 4:29 am will be compensated one and one-half times (1.5x) the trip rate for all TFP flown or credited or APSB in that duty period of which one-half times (0.5x) the trip rate will be paid above guarantee.

Click here to view the complete settlement agreement.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-116-18-Violation of §10.J.4 Bidding Timelines. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Section 10.J.4 [Scheduling: Bid Packets and Bidding Timelines], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about March 13, 2018, management re-opened its Preferential Bidding System (PBS), NAVBLUE, for a full bid re-award for April 2018 because it was not programmed to match the bid “duty on” preference on the new web application user interface. However, due to system limitations the re-award required the PBS to reopen which allowed access for Flight Attendants to submit new bids after the contractual bid submission deadline.

Details: The Company and AFA will The parties will actively work on installing an administrative lock-out function (or other mutually agreed upon solution) in the NAVBLUE bidding system (or any successor system). The lock-out function will allow the ‘back end’ of the bidding system to be opened for bid protests, technical issues, or other adjustments while locking out Flight Attendants from altering their bids on the ‘front end’. It is unknown whether NAVBLUE can accommodate a lock-out function exactly as described in this paragraph. If it is not possible, the parties will work together and mutually agree on the alternate solution and how it would work. If an alternate solution is not mutually agreed upon, AFA reserves the right to refile this grievance.

Compensatory Settlement: The Company will pay compensation to all Flight Attendants whose adjusted April 2018 bid resulted in a loss of four (4) or more TFP and at least one day of flying from their original April 2018 bid. Approximately 150 Flight Attendants are in this pool, plus two additional Flight Attendants who do not meet the requirements but whose situations present unique circumstances that warrant settlement. The total TFP amount to be paid out is 1130.6 TFP. A list of said Flight Attendants will be provided to the Company by the Association pursuant to this Settlement Agreement. The Company will pay the TFP to all the above-named Flight Attendants no later than on their June 20, 2021, paycheck. For any affected Flight Attendant who is inactive (due to separation or furlough) as of June 20, 2021, the Company will mail a check (less applicable withholdings) to the Flight Attendant’s last known address. The pay will be at the respective rates in effect on the day the Flight Attendant is paid. Payment will be paid above the reserve guarantee if applicable.

Click here to view the complete settlement agreement.

Grievances Recently Granted by Management

None

Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-200-20-Violation of §25.C.1 Failure to Include ASHSC in Safety Meeting. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.C.1 [Air Safety Health and Security: Safety Meetings], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about April 3, 2020, it failed to include the Air Safety, Health and Security Committee (ASHSC) in a meeting to discuss passengers who were scheduled to travel on Alaska flights after disembarking from a cruise ship which had suffered an outbreak of COVID-19. The company instead opted to brief AFA about the issue after the meeting and decision was made about how to proceed.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-201-20-Violation of §10.Q & §11.E.4.d Violation of Reserve Assignment List Order. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.Q [Scheduling: Low-Bid Option] and §11.E.4.d [Reserve: Order of Assignment, Assignment of Open Sequences/Assignments], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) scheduling system places low-bid option and no-bid lineholder Flight Attendants who pick up reserve days and opt out of the Reserve Assignment List (LTFA) at the top of the list rather than listing them in inverse seniority order following all other Reserves within the same classification (AM/PM/ER) and with the same number of days of availability.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-207-20-Violation of §10, §11.D & §24.L Bundled Scheduling Notifications. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10 [Scheduling], §11.D [Reserve: Scheduling/Notice of Time to Report] and §24.L [General and Miscellaneous: Company-Provided Inflight Mobile Device (IMD)], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) scheduling system sent bundled scheduling notifications to Flight Attendants on their Inflight Mobile Devices (IMDs) or directly in Crew Access, requiring Flight Attendants to batch acknowledge or ignore such notifications and thereby resulting in Flight Attendants potentially waiving multiple contractual protections via an extra-contractual point of contact (i.e. Crew Access scheduling notifications).

More Information

For more information, including the status of previously filed grievances, please visit the Grievance Committee Activity Page.

Questions?

Please contact your Local Grievance Committee if you have any questions about the Grievance Committee update.

AFA Update – July 13, 2020

July 13, 2020 05:00

In This Edition

ACTION ALERT: Call Congress to Extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program
Vanguard Retirement Webinars
Telephonic Support Groups for Flight Attendants
Ground Commuting During Significant Weather Events
Temporary Requalification (RQ) Training Timeline Modification

ACTION ALERT: Call Congress to Extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program

Government Affairs Committee

We need to generate phone calls to Congress every day. Flight Attendants and family members should be making two calls to the Senate line and one call to the House line.

We are calling for a six month aviation Payroll Support Program extension through March 31, 2021, to protect our jobs. This is the most successful jobs program of the CARES Act and it needs to be extended since COVID-19 cases are again on the rise.

All of aviation labor is standing together to call on Congress to pass a clean extension of the Payroll Support Program before the summer Congressional recess. Waiting until September for this action is too late because October planning will be done and hundreds of thousands of workers will already be told they are out of work. Already, Delta Air Lines pilots and United Airlines workers have received WARN notices.

We need urgent action on this now:

1. Call your Representative and Senators: Flight Attendants and family should make three calls every day. Two to the Senate line and one to the House line.

House: (888) 907-9365
Senate: (888) 848-4824

Sample Script:

Hello, I am a constituent calling to ask [Representative]/[Senator] to help save my job as an essential worker. Take legislative action in July to extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program for aviation workers in order to avoid massive job loss in October. Keep us connected to our jobs, our paychecks, and our healthcare. Thank you for your urgent attention to this.

2. Sign this letter to your Representative and Senators >

3. Tell 5 flying partners and your friends and family to do the same!

A CARES Act extension must pass Congress before they recess later this summer. Take action now and plan to keep taking action every day throughout July.

WATCH: AFA Government Affairs Activists Urge Flight Attendants to Make Calls

Vanguard Retirement Webinars

Retirement Committee

As the company will be offering early out packages, your AFA Retirement Committee, in conjunction with Vanguard, the company’s 401(k) plan administrator, will be conducting an online webinar to provide information and answer questions about the planning process for retirement. More information from Vanguard is below.

Switching from earning a paycheck to living off your retirement savings and Social Security is a big change. If you’re within a few years of retiring, learn how you can turn your savings into a steady paycheck. This webinar will help you answer:

How much will my retirement cost?
Where will I find the money to pay for retirement?
How do I make my savings last as long as my retirement?
How do I invest my money during retirement?

Dates, Times, and Registration Information

Two sessions will be available:

Friday, July 17 – 10 AM PDT
Wednesday, July 29 – 1 PM PDT

Advanced registration is required and can be completed using the link below:

Click here to register for one of the sessions

Questions?

If you have any questions about the upcoming webinars, please contact MEC Retirement Committee Chairperson Terry Taylor at terry.taylor@afaalaska.org.

Telephonic Support Groups for Flight Attendants

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)/Professional Standards Committee

Build your resiliency by joining these telephonic support groups just for Flight Attendants. Groups are sponsored by your AFA EAP/FADAP and facilitated by a confidential mental health professional. All Flight Attendants are welcome.

Learn some techniques on stress management, decision making under pressure, emotional balance and connect with flying partners during this period of uncertainty in the Aviation Industry. Join any or all sessions. No pre-registration required.

Calls start on Monday, July 13 and are scheduled Mondays (July 13, 20, 27, August 3) and Fridays (July 17, 23, 31, August 7). Each call begins at 12 PM PDT and will last one hour.

Call-In Number

(855) 544-2320 or (401) 648-9218

If outside the U.S., follow the directions here.

Ground Commuting During Significant Weather Events

Grievance Committee

The MEC recently mediated Grievance 36-99-2-30-19, Violation of Section 28.G.2 Ground Commuting Policy. This grievance arose out of the February 2019 snow events. The grievance alleged the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement Section 28.G.2 [Domiciles: Commuter Policy/Ground Commuting Policy], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when during the February 2019 Pacific Northwest snowstorms, it did not allow Flight Attendants to use the ground commuter policy because the Company did not consider a snowstorm-related ground commuting failure to be unanticipated.

Originally, we sought to arbitrate this grievance, however it seemed better with this particular case to mediate the issue with an unbiased mediator. Arbitration results in a decision made by the arbitrator usually with one side winning and the other side losing; whereas mediation allows both parties to have a say in the outcome. An arbitration award cannot change or add contract language, it may only interpret what was already present, however in mediation the parties may come to agreements about adding or changing language.

The issue was resolved very favorably with the addition of language for ground commuting during significant weather delays. This adds protections for Flight Attendants attempting to get to work whether the weather event is anticipated or not. The new language adds a detailed process for management to follow, thereby removing any subjectivity, which typically was only a detriment to our Flight Attendants.

A complete copy of the sideletter of agreement that includes the newly agreed upon language related to ground commuting during significant weather events has been uploaded to the AFA Alaska website and can be accessed by clicking here.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the grievance or sideletter of agreement, please contact your Local Grievance Committee.

Temporary Requalification Training (RQ) Timeline Modification

Grievance Committee

For Flight Attendants returning from a leave of absence or who have been unable to complete Recurrent Training (RT) by the end of their eligibility period, completing Requalification Training (RQ) is a requirement before being able to return to work. Section 30.B.3 of the joint collective bargaining agreement (JCBA) requires management to offer a full RQ class within the first five working days of every month, but this requirement has recently caused significant stress for many of our Flight Attendants. Due to a recent changes in how management interprets the eligibility period of Flight Attendants who are required to take Requalification Training (RQ), the home study CBT that must be completed prior to attending class is no longer made available until the first day of the month when scheduled to attend class. With this change, Flight Attendants who might be scheduled to take RQ on the 2^nd of the month would not even have access to the CBT until the 1^st of the month.

Due to this very compressed timeline that Flight Attendants are now being given to complete the CBT prior to RQ, the MEC approached management to work to extend the period of time that would be available to complete the CBT prior to class. We were able to reach a temporary agreement with management to extend the contractual requirement for the Company to offer a full RQ class from within the first five working days of the month to having the class offered no sooner than the seventh working day of the month. The temporary agreement also provides pay protection for any affected Flight Attendants between the fifth working day of the month (the contractual requirement to offer class) and the day prior to when the Company actually offers the class. Even with this temporary extension to the Company’s requirement to offer a full dedicated RQ class, Flight Attendants who are due to take RQ may continue to exercise their contractual right to trade into the RQ slot in any regularly scheduled RT class during the month if space is available.

This temporary agreement will take effect with the August 2020 bid month and will remain in effect through at least the December 2020 bid month. A complete copy of the letter of agreement is available on the AFA Alaska website and can be viewed by clicking here.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact your Local Grievance Committee.

COVID-19 Schedule Changes

April 17, 2020 20:00

The drastic changes to April flying have resulted in an unprecedented number of ongoing systemwide disruptions to Flight Attendant schedules: pre-cancellations, flight time changes (“re-times”), flight routing changes, et cetera. Flight Attendants are often given revised flying with completely different flight numbers and/or flight routing and initial report times that are many hours earlier than their original report time.

Crew Access notifications

Multiple ‘bundled’ notifications

Multiple ‘bundled’ Crew Access notifications have made the situation even more confusing. Flight Attendants are being inadvertently stuck with unwanted alternative assignments because they acknowledged a Crew Access notification for pay protection. However, they later realize that same “good news” notification was bundled with other notifications for undesirable alternate assignments such as re-times reporting way earlier than originally scheduled. Acknowledging Crew Access notifications is “all” or “nothing.” Consequently, AFA filed a contractual grievance on this issue yesterday.

Confusing contractual citations

Additionally, AFA has become aware that Crew Access notifications have included confusing references to what appear to be contractual citations that are not related to our contract. AFA has confirmed these citations are from the pilot contract, and we have addressed this concern with management. Pilot crew schedulers have been advised by management to stop including the contractual references in the notifications effective immediately.

Disputing re-times and reassignments

AFA filed Grievance No. 36-99-2-45-17 “Violation of §10.S Pre-Cancellation and Schedule Changes” regarding re-times between 15 and 21 minutes back in June 2017 (click here for the July 2017 Grievance Report >). Management sustained the grievance (meaning they agreed the contract was violated) shortly thereafter in July 2017. However, AFA and management disagreed with the remedy (i.e. the “fix”) for the violation, and we have been in negotiations over the remedy since then.

Unfortunately, other developments and shifting priorities continually complicated our efforts: ongoing Crew Access violations, payroll issues, a merger, Open Time negotiations, Recurrent Training and management leadership changes all along the way. We know this sounds like AFA leadership is making excuses, but we want to be transparent about how long we’ve known about the issue, and why it’s still not resolved.

In the meantime, AFA also added several other contractual disputes related to reassignments to the Alternate Dispute Resolution (i.e. pre-grievance) process. The parties have continued to negotiate over a long-term remedy to all the reassignment-related disputes, including re-times. We had been making more progress towards a mutually acceptable solution lately…but then the COVID-19 pandemic happened. The parties will continue to work towards a long-term resolution to the disputes, but AFA and management agree that Flight Attendants need at least a temporary solution in place now.

COVID-19 Schedule Changes Letter of Agreement

Starting tonight at midnight Pacific Time, AFA and management have agreed to temporarily administer all Flight Attendant schedule changes that occur in advance of the day of departure of a sequence just like pre-cancellations under Section 10.S [Pre-Cancellations] with the exception of §10.S.1.c (re: cancellations reported between 8pm and midnight the day prior). This would include flight time changes (i.e. re-times), flight routing changes, etc. This temporary letter of agreement is not a permanent change to contract and will be in effect through the end of May.

Click here for the COVID-19 Schedule Changes LOA (04/17/2020-05/31/2020) >

Summary of provisions

Re-times, flight routing changes and other schedule changes that occur in advance of the day of departure of a sequence will be treated just like pre-cancellations except under §10.S.1c. All scheduling obligations and scheduling and pay protection options pursuant to §10.S except for §10.S.1.c apply to pre-cancellations as well as re-times, flight routing changes, et cetera. This includes but is not limited to the following:
- The Company may offer an alternate assignment to open positions that may include multiple sequences on the same day(s) as the original assignment. The Flight Attendant may (1) accept the alternate assignment or (2) decline the alternate assignment and waive pay protection.
- However, if the alternate assignment contains a check-in that is more than two hours earlier and/or a release time that is more than two hours later than the original assignment (“footprint + 2 hours”), then the Flight Attendant may decline and agree to call Crew Scheduling between 6 PM and 8 PM local domicile time the night prior to the day of departure of the original assignment.
- If the Flight Attendant calls back Crew Scheduling between 6 PM and 8 PM local domicile time the night prior to the day of departure of the original sequence, then the alternate assignment offered must operate within the check-in and release times (“exact footprint”) at domicile of the original sequence. If no such alternate assignment exists, then the Flight Attendant will be pay protected and relieved of further scheduling obligation.
“I didn’t mean to acknowledge the Crew Access scheduling notification and/or I don’t want the new assignment” provision
- A Flight Attendant who acknowledges a Crew Access notification for an unwanted schedule change occurring in advance of the day of departure of the sequence may re-establish her/his scheduling obligations and scheduling and pay protection options under §10.S [Pre-Cancellations].
- The Flight Attendant must call Crew Scheduling prior to 6 PM local domicile time on the day prior to the day of departure of the sequence in order to be eligible for this provision.
Extension of the “Pre-Cancellations Due To COVID-19 Schedule Changes” LOA (executed 3/28/2020) through May 31, 2020
- Please do not call Crew Scheduling until the day prior to the day of departure of the sequence.
- You may waive pay protection and be relieved of further scheduling obligation by emailing Crew Scheduling (“CrewSked FADesk” <CrewSked.FADesk@alaskaair.com>) no later than one day prior to the date of departure of the sequence.

We know that is a lot of information for one update. The Master Executive Council (MEC) hopes this temporary LOA will provide at least some short-term relief to all the confusion and disruption caused by the COVID-19 schedule changes. As your direct representative on the MEC, your LEC President is available to answer questions that you have about the LOA or the information above. You can find contact information for your LEC President by clicking here.

In Solidarity,

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

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Ground Commuting During Significant Weather Events

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Temporary Requalification Training (RQ) Timeline Modification

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Crew Access notifications

Multiple ‘bundled’ notifications

Confusing contractual citations

Disputing re-times and reassignments

COVID-19 Schedule Changes Letter of Agreement

Summary of provisions

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