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        You are here: Home / Archives for Committees / Grievance Committee

        Supplemental Ditching Training

        June 20, 2024 11:00

        Grievance Committee

        • AFA has not agreed to any extra-contractual terms for the newly announced supplemental ditching training; discussions with management just started.
        • Many management decision-makers are away at contract negotiations, delaying progress toward any sort of agreement.
        • Our AFA Committees are committed to advocating for your rights and will address unresolved issues through the contractual grievance process if necessary.

        AFA Representatives have recently been receiving a lot of questions about the supplemental ditching training announced by management. We want to make it clear that AFA has not agreed to any extra-contractual terms for this training. Management just began substantive discussions yesterday with our Grievance, Scheduling, Inflight Training, and Air Safety, Health, & Security Committees to work out the administrative and logistical details of the training, but those details are still undetermined. Progress has been slow because many of the primary management decision-makers are currently involved in contract negotiations in Washington, DC, this week and are unavailable to discuss the supplemental ditching training issues.

        While the situation is not ideal, we must meet the regulatory training requirements and address the remaining details later. We don’t yet know what management intends to propose, nor do we know if we can successfully reach an agreement on which contractual provisions AFA believes apply. If we can’t agree, it may come down to addressing the unresolved provisions (particularly contract sections 30.C.3-5) through the contractual grievance process and arbitration afterward, which can be time-consuming.  

        We have clearly communicated your concerns to management and have asked them to provide responses to numerous unanswered questions. Our AFA Committees are actively advocating for your contractual rights. We are dedicated to fighting for those rights, even if it takes time, rather than providing an instant fix.

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC), Grievance Committee, Inflight Training Committee, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: ditching training, training

        System Board of Adjustment Interviews – June 2024

        April 22, 2024 09:00

        Master Executive Council (MEC)

        Our Master Executive Council (MEC) will be conducting interviews for one (1) Member to serve on the AFA System Board of Adjustment.

        Scope

        Members are to serve on the System Board of Adjustment for the purpose of arbitrating any disputes or grievances that may arise under the terms of the Agreement between Alaska Airlines and its Flight Attendants.

        Policy/Responsibilities

        • There shall be two members selected by the MEC from active members in good standing to represent the Association. Members will be selected at-large without regard to Local Council or domicile. 
        • Any person seeking a position as a System Board of Adjustment Member must submit a resume. Candidates must interview with the MEC.
        • System Board Members shall be selected for a two (2) year appointment period in accordance with the AFA Constitution and Bylaws. At least one appointment will be reviewed in June of each year. Selection shall be made, insofar as possible, to ensure that both members will not be new at the same time.  
        • The System Board Members will act in the best interest of the membership and the Association and will be consistent with the Agreement between the Flight Attendants and Alaska Airlines.
        • The MEC President shall have the ability, in the event of an emergency, to appoint a qualified member in good standing to fill an ad hoc position on the Board.
        • The MEC on an ad hoc basis, by majority vote, may appoint an expert as a substitute for one member of the System Board of Adjustment.

        Qualifications

        • Current Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant
        • Willingness to attend the requisite grievance training(s)
        • In depth knowledge of the contract
        • Understanding of the principles of just cause
        • Adherence to Grievance Committee policies, procedures, and standards of ethical conduct
        • Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive and personal information
        • Maintenance of member-in-good-standing status
        • Ability to remain in good standing with the company
        • Ability to analyze written data and information with high attention to detail
        • Strong written and communication skills
        • Strong computer skills.

        Term of Appointment

        The selected candidate will serve a term of appointment that begins on July 1, 2024 and concludes on June 30, 2026.

        Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

        The MEC will hold interviews of eligible candidates during the June Regular MEC Meeting on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. If you’re interested in interviewing, plan to bid around this date or adjust your schedule accordingly to accommodate. All interviews will be conducted in person or using Google Meet videoconferencing at the candidate’s discretion.

        Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest and resume using the online expression of interest form. The deadline for submissions is 5 PM Pacific time on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. After the submission deadline, an MEC representative will contact eligible candidates to arrange a specific interview time.

        Please note that to submit an expression of interest, you must have a Google account.  If you do not have a Google account, you can create one for free at https://accounts.google.com/signup.

        Questions?

        Any questions regarding the position or application process should be directed to MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams at stephanie.adams@afaalaska.org.

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Grievance Committee Tagged With: interviews, System Board of Adjustment

        Grievance Committee Update – 4th Quarter 2023, 1st Quarter 2023

        March 14, 2024 13:00

        Grievance Committee

        • Our Grievance Committee protects all Flight Attendants from arbitrary and unjust disciplinary action and upholds our collective bargaining agreement. This update briefly summarizes the committee’s work over the past quarter.
        • Management has issued discipline lately for a variety of reasons. Read on for more information about why management is disciplining and terminating Flight Attendants.
        • If you’ve faced a situation that you believe might be a contractual violation, please report the issue through the AFA Alaska Online Support Center. AFA Representatives review each report submitted and will follow up to help you determine options and a course of action.

        Our Grievance Committee 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 usually given first priority 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). An ROD is not considered discipline. There is no middle ground for certain violations.  

        Many Flight Attendants are under the impression that if they’ve been an overall good employee, have no to low attendance points, good kudos, decent seniority, etc.… that they will not get disciplined. This is not the case, regardless of any good work qualities one may have, if management believes the Flight Attendant committed an offense, they will be disciplined.

        If a supervisor or manager calls and asks questions pertaining to a flight, work issue, or disciplinary issue and no AFA representative is on the call, you should assert that you would like an AFA rep on the call.

        Subject of Most Recent Discipline

        • Sick leave and FMLA abuse. Terminations are on the rise due to travel audits among other things. Anything written in the comments/remarks on posted trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted. If management determines abuse it results in termination. If you’re not going to make it to work and you’re not sick and can’t get a management drop, your best option might be to simply no-show the trip. You should never call in sick unless you are actually too ill or injured to fly.
        • Theft. Removing anything from the aircraft other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food will result in termination.  
        • Timecard fraud. Examples: Intentionally delaying boarding door closure to obtain sit pay. Management has terminated for this violation.
        • Reserve “Roulette”. Not being within two hours of base for your Reserve Availability Period (RAP) and calling in sick only once given an assignment. The Company considers this a terminable violation. Management regularly reviews the trip trade postings and history related to sick calls. Even deleted trade history or postings can be seen by management.
        • Lying in an investigation
        • Drug/Alcohol violations
        • Harassment
        • Refusing scheduling revisions or ignoring requests to call Crew Scheduling.  
        • Reserves commuting during Reserve Availability Period (RAP) even if self-assigned a trip and/or not being in base for the entirety of reserve period. Management usually gives a two-week suspension on the first offense.
        • Social media violations including sending friend or follow requests to passengers on social media based on information gained from Block2Block.
        • 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.  
        • Commuter audits are conducted weekly.
        • 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.
        • Uniform Issues—Flight Attendants can and have been pulled from working their flights without pay for uniform non-compliance.
        • Late to gate/flight delay

        Reminder

        CBA §32.C.5 says, “Short Sick Call, When a Flight Attendant calls in sick less than two hours (2:00) prior to scheduled check-in.”  If you intend to call in for a short sick call, but not get the 2.5 points, the call to Crew Scheduling must be after SCHEDULED check in, and not just after you check in per §32.C.6.

        Recent Arbitration/Mediation

        November 2023Disciplinary Grievance
        December 2023Disciplinary Grievance
        January 2024Disciplinary Grievance
        February 2024Disciplinary Grievances

        Recent Contractual Arbitration Awards

        None

        Recent Grievance Settlements

        None

        Grievances Recently Mediated 

        None

        Grievances Recently Granted by Management

        None

        Grievances Recently Withdrawn

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-40-19-Violation §25.B Failure to Provide a Safe and Healthy Workplace. This alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.B [Air Safety, Health and Security: Safe and Healthy Workplace], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to provide a safe and healthy workplace when it installed new bulkheads on the retrofitted Airbus (“Aura”) aircraft that effectively renders the aft assist handles near doors L1/R1 as unusable and unnecessarily increases the likelihood and potential severity of Flight Attendant injury during an emergency evacuation.

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-162-19- Violation of §12.C.1 Real-Time Trading Procedures Grievance 36-99-2-28-17 Mediated Settlement. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §12.C.1 [Exchange of Sequences: Trading Procedure], past practice, its mediated settlement of grievance 36-99-2-28-17 and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it agreed but failed to adhere to its July 5, 2017, mediated settlement of grievance 36-99-2-28-17: To have AFA and Alaska representatives meet with Jeppesen to explore the capabilities of the system and how to align the front-end with the “real time” experience of the back-end user. This is a continual violation as such meeting did not take place in a reasonably timely manner, and sufficient action was not taken to rectify the underlying system issues.

        Grievances Recently Filed and Awaiting Management Response

        None

        Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-340-23-Violation of §11.E.1.c & §11.H.8. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §11.E.1.c [Reserve: Order of Assignment/Reserve Self-Assignment] and §11.H.8 [Reserve: Reserve Exchange of Days, Pick-Ups and Trades], and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it prohibited Reserve Flight Attendants who had been assigned sequences with the an Ineligible for Self-Assignment (ISA) code from giving such sequences away to another Reserve Flight Attendant or trading such sequences in open time or with another Reserve Flight Attendant.   

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-38-24-Violation of §8.M and Grievance Settlement 36-99-2-458-22 Violation of §8.D Check In and Debrief. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §8.M [Hours of Service: Domicile Rest] and Grievance Settlement 36-99-2-458-22 [Violation of §8.D Check In and Debrief], and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or around September 23, 2023, the Company refused to allow a Flight Attendant who had operationally-impacted reduced domicile rest (§8.M.2) to utilize the applicable contractual provisions of §8.M, which would have allowed the Flight Attendant to be removed from their subsequent sequence beginning September 24, 2023, without pay pursuant to §8.M.3, due to the domicile rest time between sequences projecting to fall below CFR-required rest. Instead, on the evening of September 23, 2024, Crew Scheduling altered the Flight Attendant’s check-in time for the subsequent sequence (on September 24, 2023) to a later check-in time in violation of §8.M.2, thereby denying them access to their contractual right to be released from the subsequent sequence without pay pursuant to §8.M.3.

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-41-24-Violation of §25.B Safe and Healthy Workplace-B/E Aerospace Coffee Makers. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.B [Air Safety, Heath and Security: Safe and Healthy Workplace] and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about February 15, 2024, it refused AFA’s request to discontinue the use of older style B/E Aerospace coffee makers until adequate physical mitigations are put into place to prevent the coffee makers, when coupled with the Company’s new onboard coffee product, from spewing hot coffee and grounds during the brew process, which has previously resulted in the injury of at least ten Flight Attendants.

        Grievances Previously Filed, Denied by Management and Currently Awaiting Arbitration Dates

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-22-14-Violation of Required Maternity Leave. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Section 15.D. and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to require Flight Attendants to begin Maternity Leave after the 28th week of pregnancy.   

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-55-17-Violation of §21.V Winds Aloft Adjustment of Sit Pay in JCTE. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §21.V [Compensation: “Scheduled” or “Actual” For Minimum Pay Rules (MPRs) and/or Sit Pay], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) trading system displayed each posted trip as a static ‘snapshot’ taken at the time of posting rather than a ‘live’ view, thus denying the Flight Attendant the ability to determine whether a trip is eligible for 1.0 TFP of Sit Pay due to an automated scheduling adjustment (e.g. by the Winds Aloft program).

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-41-19-Violation of §25.D.2 Failing to Notify MEC President and ASHSC of Reconfiguration or Re-design Prior to Final Decision. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.D.2 [Air Safety, Health and Security: Safety Information], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to notify the MEC President of a decision to reconfigure or re-design the interior of the Airbus aircraft and when it failed to discuss with the ASHSC the parties’ interests and concerns for inflight safety prior to making a final decision on the reconfiguration/re-design. 

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-36-20-Violation of §25.B ANC Training Facility. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.B [Air Safety, Health and Security: Safe and Healthy Workplace], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it conducted Recurrent Training (RT) drills in Anchorage, Alaska in the Ross Aviation Hangar, and on or about February 16-19, 2020, the external temperature ranged from 18 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and when the hanger door opened, frequently without notice, the internal hanger temperature dropped to as low as 46 degrees.  After the external hanger door opened it took approximately two hours with a loud heater to get the internal temperature back up to the low to mid 60s.  

        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).  

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-384-20-Violation of §10.S Scheduling Notifications. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.S [Scheduling:  Pre-Cancellations], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it used non-contractual scheduling notifications sent to Flight Attendants via the Crew Scheduling system in order to communicate and assign alternate flying or an obligation to call Crew Scheduling within a specific window of time. If a Flight Attendant accepts such non-contractual scheduling notification(s), which is neither contact by Crew Scheduling via Company email nor via primary phone contact as defined in §10.S.1.a, the scheduling notification(s) violates the contract by abrogating the Flight Attendant’s ability to: (1) decline the alternate assignment and waive pay protection (§10.S.2.b), (2) decline the “out of original footprint by more than two hours” alternate assignment and call Crew Scheduling between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM (local domicile time) the night prior to the start of the original sequence (§10.S.2.c), or (3) waive pay protection and be relieved of any further scheduling obligation (§10.S.3). 

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-386-20-Violation of §8.Q & §8.R Contactability and Notification of Delay or Cancellation. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §8.Q [Hours of Service: Contactability] and §8.R [Hours of Service: Notification of Delay or Cancellation], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it used non-contractual scheduling notifications sent via the Crew Scheduling system in order to communicate and assign revised flying to Flight Attendants who were off-duty on a remain overnight (RON). Such scheduling notifications are in violation of the contractually defined means of contact and/or the Flight Attendant’s obligation to respond pursuant to these provisions.

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-84-22-Violation of §21.J Ground Delay Pay. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §21.J [Compensation:  Block and Ground Delays], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it did not pay ground delay pay cumulatively, requiring each delay to go over 11 minutes to be eligible for pay, when a flight (same flight number/same routing) returns to gate one or more times.   

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-176-22-California Family School Partnership Act Violation of Past Practice and Roberts Award. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of past practice, the Roberts Award 36-99-2-49-03, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it unilaterally disallowed the California Family School Partnership Act for those Flight Attendants based in Los Angeles (LAX); then reinstated, with no notice, the state law for LAX based Flight Attendants only, but not for the other California based Flight Attendants in San Diego (SAN) or San Francisco (SFO), and not for the rest of the Flight Attendants based in our system, Seattle (SEA), Portland (PDX) or Anchorage (ANC), in violation of Roberts.

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-215-23-Violation of §10.J.4 Bidding Packet and Bidding Times and Violation of Grievance Settlement 36-99-2-116-18. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.J.4 [Scheduling:  Bid Packets and Bidding Timelines], Grievance Settlement 36-99-2-116-18, past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about July 10, 2023, it and/or the NAVBLUE Preferential Bidding System (PBS) vendor did not provide an administrative lock-out function or a mutually agreeable alternate solution to allow for the correction of a technical issue when processing bid awards without opening up the system to all users.

        Grievance No.:  36-99-2-248-23-Violation of §32 and Roberts Decision. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §32 [Attendance], past practice, the Roberts Award 36-99-2-49-03, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it unilaterally rolled out state leave laws on a state-by-state basis rather than applying the most liberal of state leave laws to all Flight Attendants regardless of domicile, thereby disparately treating Flight Attendants within the Collective Bargaining unit, in violation of Roberts.

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Grievance Committee

        Alaska Management Refuses to Remove Dangerous Coffee Makers From Service Despite Injury Risks to Flight Attendants

        February 20, 2024 17:00

        Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC)

        • Several Flight Attendants have been injured recently due to older-style B/E Aerospace coffee makers spewing hot coffee and grounds.
        • Management denied an AFA request to discontinue using these coffee makers despite the risk to Flight Attendant and passenger safety.
        • A formal complaint is being filed with the FAA, and a contractual grievance will be filed against the company.

        Over the past several months, at least nine Flight Attendant injuries have been reported, caused by scalding hot coffee and grounds spewing from the brew basket of older-style B/E Aerospace coffee makers on various aircraft. This is an alarming situation that requires immediate attention. It’s suspected that the recent changeover in coffee served onboard, which is packaged differently than the old product, may be contributing to this issue. Management has begun investigating the root cause and has identified some potential solutions to address the problem. However, it will likely take significant time to implement the mitigations fully.

        Last week, our Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) sent management an official request to discontinue using B/E Aerospace coffee makers until physical mitigations can be implemented. Despite the inconvenience this may cause by leaving some aircraft with fewer or no coffee makers to use, the Committee believes that potentially seeing multiple Flight Attendants injured while waiting for long-term fixes is unacceptable. Disappointingly, management denied the request, knowingly putting the physical safety and well-being of employees and passengers at risk for the sake of a few more cups of coffee.

        This decision by management is a clear violation of their own core value of “owning safety” and displays a shocking level of negligence. Given the gravity of the situation, we will be taking immediate action by filing a formal complaint with the FAA to escalate the issue. Additionally, our Grievance Committee will file a contractual grievance based on management’s violation of section §25.B of our collective bargaining agreement (“The Company will provide a safe and healthy workplace…”).

        Flight Attendant and passenger safety must not be compromised. It’s reckless and unacceptable for management to put Flight Attendants at risk by keeping hazardous coffee makers in operation. Removing these coffee makers from service is the right thing to do and the only responsible action for management to take. It’s our right to work in a safe environment, and we demand that this right be upheld.

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC), Grievance Committee, Inflight Service Committee Tagged With: coffee maker, FAA, OSHA, workplace injury

        Issues with Crew Access: December 16, 2023

        December 16, 2023 16:00

        Scheduling, Grievance, and Hotel Committees

        • Hotel reservation details are not populating in pairings. 
        • The “Drop” (to Open Time) drop-down was reported by a few (but not all) Flight Attendant as not visible prior to Open Time opening.
        • Drops to Open Time were not functioning for January 24-30, 2024, for all domiciles except Seattle until just before 2 PM PT.

        What will come as no surprise to anyone, Crew Access is malfunctioning once again. So far, there are three issues identified:

        1. Hotel reservation details are not populating in pairings, 
        2. The “Drop” (to Open Time) drop-down was reported by a few (but not all) Flight Attendant as not visible prior to Open Time opening, and 
        3. Drops to Open Time were not functioning for January 24-30, 2024, for all domiciles except Seattle until just before 2 PM PT. (Reminder: January 31 is the first day of the February bid month.) Seattle appeared to open normally at 2 PM PT.

        Hotel reservation details not populating in pairings

        This outage is specific to Jeppesen and not related to API. Outdated or no hotel information is being displayed. However, Crew Scheduling (CS) is manually updating hotel information in Crew Access. Additionally, the hotel information in the My Crew Care (API) app is importing correctly and is accurate.

        [Update: This issue has been resolved as of 12/16/2023 @ 18:36 PT ^MECP Jeff]

        Drop to Open Time not visible prior to Open Time opening for some Flight Attendants

        So far, this does not appear to be a widespread issue, and Alaska ITS is investigating.

        Drops to Open Time were not functioning for January 24-30, 2024

        Alaska ITS and Jeppesen appeared to resolve the issue just before 2 PM PT, which meant that Seattle opened normally at 2 PM. Our Master Executive Council (MEC) and management have agreed to an initial remedy to help mitigate the impact of this outage (for all domiciles except Seattle):

        Overview:

        In chronological order, CS will review the Flight Attendants who attempted to drop trips to Open Time on these days but were unsuccessful. CS will offer to manually drop their trip into OT. CS will work down the list until they meet the contractually required number of Threshold Sequence Number (TSN) trips for the respective base. ITS has a report of all Open Time drop transactions, so they can replicate who attempted to drop trips first. This report will become available at 2:30 PM PT, but they will need time to prepare the report into a workable format for these purposes. Inflight Crew Scheduling Management will begin to contact Flight Attendants this evening to see if they wish to drop their trip. This process will preserve the integrity of the first-come, first-serve method of Open Time to give those who attempted to drop first the flexibility they attempted to achieve.  

        Details:

        1. CS will place the identified sequence (processed in chronological order) in Open Time and hide the pairing until they can make positive contact with the Flight Attendant to confirm that they still want the trip dropped. The Flight Attendant will see a FCR (pre-cancellation) on their line until they confirm the drop. The use of FCR is to protect legalities should the Flight Attendant decide they wanted the sequence back and not dropped into Open Time anymore.
        2. Once CS confirms the Flight Attendant wants the pairing dropped, they will unhide it in Open Time.
        3. If FA does not want the trip dropped, CS will put it back on their roster and move down the list.
        4. The timeframe for Flight Attendants to call back will be 24 hours. If the Flight Attendant does not call CS back within 24 hours, then their sequence will be placed back on their roster and CS will move down the list.
        5. If the Flight Attendant who is first on the list no longer has the pairing they attempted to drop for that date, CS will move down the list.
        6. This process will be completed until the TSN max equivalent is met for each base.

        Ongoing dispute resolution

        This situation is completely unacceptable, and our top priority is ensuring our contractual provisions are adhered to and protected. The tools that you rely on for contractual flexibility should work. Our Grievance Committee will continue to seek appropriate remedies via the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process.

        Upcoming Day of Solidarity

        Looking for an outlet to vent your frustrations? Join us on the picket line or via virtual picket on Tuesday, December 19. For more information, click here.

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Grievance Committee, Hotel Committee, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: crew access, Open Time

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        Refreshed Inflight Mobile Device (IMD) Distribution

        October 2, 2025

        This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants Management has recently informed our Master Executive Council (MEC) that they are distributing new Inflight Mobile Devices (IMDs) to Flight Attendants with devices nearing the end of their lifecycle. The specific schedule for this distribution will be communicated by management separately. Flight Attendants with the oldest devices […]

        Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025

        September 25, 2025

        This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Tuesday, September 23, our pre-merger Alaska AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons and Representatives met in person at Alaska Airlines Corporate Headquarters to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Heather Reier (ANC), […]

        Meet Our Pre-Merger Alaska Committee Chairperson & Representatives

        September 24, 2025

        This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants We’re excited to introduce the first group of pre-merger Alaska MEC Committee Chairpersons and Representatives for the upcoming MEC Officer term. They’ll begin transitioning into their roles over the next few months and officially start their terms on January 1, 2026. Below, you’ll find brief biographies that […]

        Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025

        September 24, 2025

        On Thursday, September 18, our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing efforts to represent our Flight Attendants and advocate for improvements in our workplace. Although our Inflight Service Committee has now merged, meetings with management continue to focus primarily on the Alaska or Hawaiian brands individually. This particular meeting was centered […]

        Vacation Survey Closing Soon

        September 23, 2025

        There’s just 1 DAY LEFT to complete the crucial vacation survey that will help shape future provisions—your insights are essential for advocating the best outcomes for all Flight Attendants. The survey is currently open and will remain available until Wednesday, September 24 at 12 PM PT.

        Recent Posts

        • Refreshed Inflight Mobile Device (IMD) Distribution
        • AFA News in Review – September 26, 2025
        • Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025
        • Meet Our Pre-Merger Alaska Committee Chairperson & Representatives
        • Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025
        • Vacation Survey Closing Soon
        • Meet Our Merged MEC Committee Chairpersons
        • Human Rights & Equity Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025
        • AFA News in Review – September 19, 2025
        • Pre-Merger Alaska MEC Committee Election Results
        • Merged MEC Committee Chairperson Election Results
        • Election Notice: Alaska + Hawaiian MEC Officer Elections
        • SEA Domicile Negotiations – September 2025 Update #2
        • Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025
        • Celebrating Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month

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