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Mental Health Resolutions for the New Year

 

A message from your Employee Assistance Program (EAP)/Professional Standards Committee

The New Year is not just a ritual. It is the celebration of new hopes and dreams. It is an opportunity to start with a clean slate. Typically, New Year resolutions tend to focus on weight, general health and finances.   But, what might the new year offer us if we used it as an opportunity to commit to improvements in our emotional and mental well-being.  Below are seven positive mental health resolutions that you can borrow for your new year.

  1. “I will treat myself with respect and speak nicely about myself.” Try taping a list of positive characteristics about yourself in various places throughout the house to remind you of these affirmations.
  2. “I will be physically active on a daily basis.” Multiple studies show a link between exercise and improved mental health.
  3. “I will act and not react.” Many times we feel like everyone is “pushing our buttons”. When this happens, we are caught up in a reaction cycle. If you know you’ll be around someone who says negative things, plan for this and have a list in your head of disarming statements. You might even consider modifying your plans to limit exposure to negative people.
  4. “I will learn to relax and enjoy.” Many times we become so busy we forget how or even when to take care of ourselves. Find or “re-discover” an activity that is relaxing and enjoyable to you. Dedicate time to this daily or at a minimum, weekly.
  5. “I will be mindful.” Being mindful is about staying in the moment. We cannot change yesterday and we cannot predict tomorrow. We do, however, have control over our attentiveness in the here and now. So, commit to being aware in the moment, and enjoy that moment.
  6. “I will work towards being the person I want to be.” When we see life as a journey and a time to continue to be the person we desire to be, we find hope and fulfillment in our tomorrows.
  7. “I will resolve to be mentally healthy”. There is still a stigma about seeing a mental health professional.  However, it is truly one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves. A therapist gives us an unbiased ear and can also help us to understand why we do the things we do … think of seeing a therapist as a mental health oil change. If you need assistance finding a referral, give your AFA EAP a call.  Your local AFA EAP committee members are listed at www.afacwa.org/eap.   We are just a phone call away.

These suggestions have been adapted from an email written by Chip Coffey, the Director of Outpatient Services at St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center. 

December 2016 “No Junior Assignment” Pledge

Let’s face it: Staffing last December turned into an absolute mess. Consequently, the AFA Master Executive Council (MEC) and Alaska Airlines management have had multiple conversations over the past several months about how to improve the experience this December.

We are pleased to announce that management took to heart the advice of the MEC and the AFA Scheduling Committee, and the parties have agreed to the following between December 15th and December 25th (inclusive of the 15th and the 25th):

  • No junior assignment (JA) off of any trips originating between December 15th and December 25th; and
  • Inflight management employees holding an FAA Flight Attendant certificate may perform Flight Attendant duties and be part of the minimum crew in order to avoid invoking JA provisions (temporary change to CBA §3.D [Scope of Agreement: Scope]).

>>> You may view the “December 2016 No Junior Assignment Pledge Memorandum of Understanding” by clicking here. <<<

This agreement may be extended through the end of the year by mutual consent of AFA and management if all goes well.

If you haven’t seen the “2016 Holiday Staffing Message from Crew Scheduling” video, check it out here: http://bit.ly/2016CrewSchedulingHolidayPlan.

The MEC is disappointed that management failed to recognize AFA leadership’s efforts to reach the “No JA pledge,” but we are pleased to see the Scheduling Committee’s contributions mentioned in the communication. We thank management for being willing to take on additional risk in order to avoid JA around the holidays.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact one of your local AFA officers or Scheduling Committee members. Wishing you a much less stressful holiday season than last year!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

 

afa-mou-2016-11-03-december-2016-no-ja-pledge

Vacation Open Time Update – Saturday, November 5, 2016

Vacation Open Time trading re-opened on Wednesday, November 2nd and went reasonably well despite several unresolved glitches affecting some Flight Attendants who transferred bases in the past couple years. The Master Executive Council (MEC) sincerely thanks Inflight Crew Administration and the Info & Technology (IT) department—and AFA MEC Scheduling Chair Jake Jones—for making it work on that day.

That being said, the MEC recognizes that all these efforts after the fact neither make up for TFP lost due to wasted schedule adjustments, nor for restoring open vacation days, nor for lost opportunity for those who could not adjust their schedules to be available for trading on November 2nd.

At the request of your AFA leadership, MEC President Jeff Peterson sent the following email to Alaska Airlines Vice President of Inflight Services Andy Schneider:

Andy~

Due to the issues with Vacation Open Time trading in combination with all the other IT-related implementation challenges affecting flight attendants over the past couple years, AFA members and leadership are beyond frustrated. We strongly believe it is time for management to step up and address these frustrations in a much more concrete way than simply offering yet another apology.

Consequently, the Master Executive Council calls upon management to compensate every flight attendant with 4.0 TFP in recognition of these many inconveniences.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Peterson

President, Alaska Airlines Master Executive Council | Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO

Andy’s response:

Jeff and the MEC,

Your frustrations are fully justified in this situation. I know that you get inundated with calls when things like this go wrong. I am sure you have heard from FAs who took time off with the goal of trading for prime vacation days that have been inconvenienced.  And I know that the bidding date change was an inconvenience too.  I have fielded many questions and I share the frustrations. The difference is that your members look to you to hold us accountable for our errors.

Your first response has always been to work with us to address and solve the immediate issues.  I am grateful for your willingness to partner with us to find solutions and to help us troubleshoot and fix programming glitches and other errors. You know our systems much better than I do and your input is invaluable.  I know Jake was helping the programmers in the middle of the night last night so that things would run better today.  Thank you, Jake.

We honored any trade that went through on Monday and opened the trading today with the same number of slots that we had when we opened Monday. I had hoped that we could determine who was trying to bid on Monday to see if we could work schedules to get them time off for bidding today. Unfortunately there was no way to know who they were.

While I understand the goal of the “make whole” request, I can’t justify it.  As we work to update our technology and provide better tools for our Flight Attendants, we will inevitably have problems.  I have requested a detailed plan from our IT team to outline the steps they are taking to ensure issues are minimized and I will gladly share that with you and take your input.  No one needs the headaches that these errors cause and I know that [the IT department leaders] are committed to fix their processes.

Jeff, let’s discuss more at our tie in tomorrow.

Although the issue was discussed further at their standing tie-in meeting, nothing substantive came from that conversation.

Are you as frustrated as the MEC is with this response? Feel free to contact Andy directly and respectfully share your perspective. If you are sending an email, make sure to copy in your AFA Local Executive Council (LEC) leadership (e.g. anc@afaalaska.org, sea@afaalaska.org, pdx@afaalaska.org, lax@afaalaska.org or san@afaalaska.org).

Very disappointing!

In Solidarity,

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

Vacation Open Time Update – Monday, October 31, 2016

Members of your Master Executive Council (MEC) and Alaska Airlines management met earlier today to review the problems with Vacation Open Time trading and to address Flight Attendants’ frustrations and concerns with the system.

After several hours of troubleshooting with the IT department, the parties have agreed to re-open Vacation Open Time trading beginning Wednesday, November 2nd at the same published times for each domicile:

  • SAN – 9am PDT
  • PDX – 10am PDT
  • ANC – 11am PDT (10am local)
  • LAX – 12pm PDT
  • SEA – 2pm PDT

You will be able to log into the vacation trading site beginning at 12:01am on November 2nd to view open vacation days and to split/merge vacation slots in preparation for Vacation Open Time trading opening. Actual trades will not be processed until the published opening time.

Management has agreed to honor all successful Vacation Open Time trades that occurred on Friday prior to pulling down the system. At AFA’s request, management will also restore Vacation Open Time availability to the same levels they were prior to the Friday start. If you are planning to trade into or out of the first five days of January, management will still allow those days to be traded for at least 24 hours before restricting the days in order to accommodate PBS bids.

However, the MEC continues to recognize these accommodations do not make up for TFP lost due to wasted schedule adjustments, for restoring open vacation days nor for lost opportunity for those who cannot adjust their schedules to be available for trading on November 2nd. We will be connecting with management tomorrow to further address these unresolved issues.

The MEC will provide another update after that meeting.

In Solidarity,

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

Vacation Open Time Update – Friday, October 28, 2016

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) and management have been in contact throughout the day regarding the challenges with Vacation Open Time trading. At this time the parties have tentatively agreed to re-open Vacation Open Time trading beginning Wednesday, November 2nd at the same published times for each domicile.

 

If you are planning to trade into or out of the first five days of January, management will still allow those days to be traded for at least 24 hours before restricting the days in order to accommodate PBS bids. Management has also committed to honor any vacation trades made prior to pulling down the system.

 

However, the MEC recognizes those accommodations do not come even close to making up for TFP lost due to wasted schedule adjustments or for restoring open vacation days. MEC officers will meet with management on Monday to address our members’ frustrations and concerns and to finalize the go forward plan.

 

The MEC will provide another update after that meeting.

 

In Solidarity,

 

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

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Monday, September 8, our AFA Local Hotel Committee Chairpersons met in person in Seattle to receive an update about current layover hotels and transportation providers and discuss concerns with management. Representing you at the meeting were Dori Marron (ANC), Jarod McNeill (SEA), Ila Christy (PDX), Hilary […]

We Will Never Forget – September 11, 2001

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Vacation Survey Now Open

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants Your Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) is working diligently to understand and improve the vacation benefits for our Flight Attendants at Alaska and Hawaiian. Your input is essential in ensuring that the vacation provisions we adopt reflect your needs and preferences. To gather your perspectives, […]

SEA Domicile Negotiations – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants Negotiations Update The SEA Domicile Negotiating Committee met this week for three days of collective bargaining with management.  The SEA NC met with management on September 3 to September 5 in Honolulu. At the negotiating table for this session were: Representing AFA and our Flight Attendants   […]

Pre-Merger Alaska MEC Committee Interviews—October 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants In accordance with Article VI.C of the AFA Alaska MEC Policy and Procedure Manual, the terms of office for the MEC Committee Chairpersons and other MEC-level positions align with those of the MEC Officers. Since the current term for the MEC Officers will conclude on December 31, […]

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