Committees

MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Interviews

July 29, 2016 05:00

The MEC would like to thank Jennifer Wise MacColl for her work as MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson over the past several years. In her role, Jennifer has been a fierce advocate for Flight Attendants in numerous contractual and discipline cases. Jennifer will continue her AFA work as a member of the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) pending the planned acquisition of Virgin America by Alaska Airlines.

Background

The MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson is responsible for leading the committee’s effort to advocate for Flight Attendants in contractual and disciplinary cases. The Chairperson also serves as a resource to Local Grievance Committees in all aspects relating to grievance and contractual enforcement matters.

Additional Information from The MEC Policy Manual

1. SCOPE

a. The Grievance Committee will have as its primary objective the protection of all Flight Attendants against arbitrary and unjust disciplinary action.

b. The Grievance Committee shall uphold the current agreement, MEC policy and the AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws.

c. The Grievance Committee shall act to secure the fastest possible procedures for all Flight Attendants in the arbitration of their grievances for disciplinary action.

d. The Grievance Committee shall follow the direction of the Grievance Screening Panel.

2. POLICY/RESPONSIBILITIES

a. The MEC Grievance Committee shall consist of the MEC Chairperson and the Local Grievance Committee Chairperson from each council. The MEC may also appoint MEC Vice Chairpersons and MEC Grievance Representatives to the MEC Grievance Committee on an as needed basis.

b. The committee will assist AFA-CWA attorneys in the preparation of all ALA Flight Attendant grievances.

c. Proposed settlements of disputes between the Union and the Company shall be presented to the MEC President.

d. Priority at the System Board shall be given to Flight Attendants who have been terminated by the Company. Issues of sufficient importance to the collective interest can be scheduled ahead of termination grievances with the MEC President’s concurrence.

e. If any dispute arises regarding the merits of a contract grievance, the MEC will have the authority to terminate or continue the grievance process.

f. Grievant will be advised, via Certified Mail, of any Grievance Screening Panel determination.

g. The MEC Chairperson shall:

(i) Serve as a member of the Grievance Screening Panel

(ii) Attend all discussions of contract items at all regularly scheduled MEC meetings.

(iii) Compose informational and educational articles of interest to the membership and provide them to the MEC Communications Chairperson to be included in MEC communications and posted to the MEC website. This will include the minutes of all Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) meeting minutes.

Qualifications

Previous Union grievance or equivalent labor relations experience required
Understanding of the principles of just cause
In-depth knowledge of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
Ability to attend meetings as required, including being present in Seattle at least four days per week
Ability to attend AFA International and other required training as needed
Adherence to Grievance Committee policies, procedures, and standards of ethical conduct
Strong computer skills. Excellent working knowledge of Google email and Microsoft Office. Knowledge of osTicket platform helpful.
Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to write communications, respond professionally to internal and external e-mail, prepare reports, and take meeting minutes. Ability to pay close attention to detail.
Ability to prioritize responsibilities and perform multiple tasks simultaneously
Ability to meet deadlines and follow up on assigned tasks
Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive and personal information

Duties

Enforce the contract
File grievances and maintain the master grievance log
Collect evidence, solicit documentation, and maintain complete records.
Ensure that time limits are met for filing
Represent AFA in alternate dispute resolution (ADR) meetings, grievance hearings, System Board hearings, and other meetings with management.
Assist Union attorneys in preparing grievances for System Board
Review material, handle correspondence, and keep the Local Grievance Committees well informed of current grievance developments
Communicate regularly with the membership about decisions on grievances; explain ramifications of results
Write grievance articles for membership communications upon request of the MEC Communications Committee
Prepare and send a monthly committee report to the MEC

Time Commitment and Flight Pay Loss Reimbursement

This position is budgeted for 100 TFP of Flight Pay Loss (FPL) per month
Time commitment is approximately four days per week in the MEC Office in Seattle with additional work completed remotely or in the office as necessary

Working Relationships

With The Local Grievance Committees

Constant interaction with the Local Grievance Committee Chairpersons and Local Grievance Committee Members.

With The Master Executive Council (MEC)

This position reports to the Master Executive Council. The MEC executive sponsor for the committee is the MEC President.

With The MEC Grievance Committee

Frequent interaction with the MEC Grievance Committee. This position directs the work of the MEC Grievance Representative(s).

With Management

Constant interaction with inflight management, particularly the Director of Labor Relations, Manager of Inflight Work Performance, and Inflight Performance Supervisors

With AFA International

Frequent interaction with AFA staff attorneys and AFA legal department

Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

The MEC will hold interviews during the September MEC meeting on Wednesday, September 28 or Thursday, September 29, 2016. Bid around the interview date or plan to arrange your schedule accordingly to accommodate.
Submit a declaration of interest and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Satterlee at yvette.satterlee@afaalaska.org no later than 5 PM Pacific Time on Friday, September 16, 2016. Yvette will contact qualified candidates to schedule a specific interview time.

In Solidarity,

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

Introducing Your MEC Government Affairs Committee Chairperson

July 25, 2016 08:00

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews last week for the position of MEC Government Affairs Committee Chairperson. We would like to thank the candidates who expressed a willingness to serve and interviewed for the position. After thorough consideration, the MEC has appointed Krystle Cook to the position.

Krystle’s career with Alaska began in February 2007 in Anchorage. It was here she called home for seven years. Three of those years she was extremely active volunteering her time on various committees. In 2014, Krystle made the move and transferred, back home, to the greater Seattle area and was appointed the SEA Local Government Affairs Chairperson.

Together with AFA activists, she has worked tirelessly to prevent knives from being allowed in the cabin of our aircrafts, lobbied to stop voice calls by passengers in flight, and is pushing members of Congress to enact 10-hour minimum rest rules and a fatigue risk management plan for all Flight Attendants.

She is the first and only representative of the Association of Flight Attendants to sit on two different young worker committees. Krystle is the AFA Lead Activist for the CWA Next Generation Program and a committee member of the AFL-CIO Young Worker Advisory Council. Both of these committees focus on issues that are directly affecting workers under the age of 36. These committees focus on issues such as student debt, economic struggles, racial injustices, and leadership development and trainings.

Krystle says, “”I am beyond honored to continue to fight for Alaska flight attendants, and all AFA members, as well as working people across the country. My passion for social and economic justice will be a driving force in ensuring we have the safest and best work environment possible.”

In her role as MEC Government Affairs Committee Chairperson, Krystle will work closely with the Local Government Affairs Committee Chairpersons and the AFA International Government Affairs department to represent and advocate for Flight Attendants. Her term of appointment is concurrent with the term of the MEC Officers and she reports directly to the MEC

In Solidarity,

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

Open Time Trial Cancellation

July 21, 2016 17:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Solidarity,

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

Open Time Trial Survey Results – July 2016

July 21, 2016 16:59

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

Survey completion information

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

Survey overview

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

Understanding of the Open Time trading codes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reverting to the former Open Time system could take approximately one year. This is because the new JCTE crew management system would need to be reprogrammed with the rules for the former OT system. (It is currently programmed with the new OT rules.)

AFA will start negotiating a new system as outlined in CBA§12.F.9 [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial: Cancellation of Open Time Trial]. Implementation of a replacement OT system would likely take a minimum of nine months after reaching an agreement with management.

Strong dissatisfaction with the Open Time Trial

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

Detailed survey results

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

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

In solidarity,

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

AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey for July 2016 Results Summary

Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Vice Chairperson Interviews – Deadline Extended

July 18, 2016 20:00

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) has extended the deadline for interviews for the ASHSC Vice Chairperson position. Interviews will now be conducted at the August MEC meeting on August 15 and 16.

With the continued growth of the company and corresponding increase in work for the ASHSC, the MEC has elected to establish a Vice Chairperson position for the ASHSC. The former responsibilities of the Air Quality Subcommittee will become part of the duties of the new ASHSC Vice Chairperson.

Background

The Vice Chairperson of the ASHSC will assist the MEC Chairperson as needed with the work of the committee. S/he will also have responsibility for overseeing all AFA and ASHSC efforts pertaining to aircraft air quality including responding to complaints or incidents involving possible contaminated air.

Additional Information from the MEC Policy Manual

1. SCOPE

a. The Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) shall work with the Company on matters pertaining to cabin and Flight Attendant safety and health.

2. POLICY/RESPONSIBILITIES

a. The MEC ASHSC shall consist of the MEC ASHSC Chairperson, MEC ASHSC Vice Chairperson, and the Local ASHSC Chairperson from each council.

…

d. The MEC Vice Chairperson shall:

(i) Perform the duties of the MEC Chairperson in her/his absence

(ii) Assist the MEC Chairperson as needed

(iii) Regularly communicate with and provide updates to the MEC ASHSC Chairperson on all activities, meetings, and work being performed

(iv) Work on all matters pertaining to the quality of air onboard the aircraft. Coordinate ASHSC response to any incidents or complaints involving air quality, specifically:

(A) Handle any air quality or contamination issues as they arise

(B) Work with the company to investigate and address the source of air quality or contamination when it occurs

(C) Assist Flight Attendants in obtaining proper care, treatment, and testing when involved in an air quality or contamination incident

(D) Follow up with the Flight Attendant(s) involved to ensure they have received proper care, treatment, and testing

(E) Keep members informed of air quality incidents and developments through the MEC Communications Committee

(F) Attend Cabin Air Review Team (CART) meetings and other air quality-related meetings

(G) Develop, distribute, maintain, and update membership education materials about air quality, contamination, symptoms, and follow up procedures

(H) In conjunction with the International Office, develop and provide initial and ongoing training to the ASHSC of each Local Council

Qualifications

Previous ASHSC experience required
Knowledge of contaminated cabin air exposure protocols
Ability to attend meetings as required, including being present in Seattle regularly
Ability to attend AFA International and other required training as needed
Strong computer skills. Excellent working knowledge of Inflight Mobile Device, Google email, and Microsoft Office.
Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to write communications, respond professionally to internal and external e-mail, prepare reports, and take meeting minutes.
Ability to meet deadlines and follow up on assigned tasks

Duties

Fulfill the duties of the MEC Chairperson when s/he is absent or otherwise committed
Perform tasks as assigned by the MEC Chairperson. Regularly communicate with and provide updates to the MEC Chairperson on all activities. Assist the MEC Chairperson in preparing the monthly committee report to the MEC.
Actively respond to any incidents involving aircraft air quality. Provide assistance to the affected Flight Attendants. Work with management to determine the root cause.
Represent AFA and the ASHSC at bi-monthly Cabin Air Review Team (CART) meetings in Seattle
Assist the MEC Chairperson in planning and conducting bi-monthly meetings of the committee and other meetings and conference calls as needed. Attend and actively participate in all meetings and conference calls in coordination with the MEC Chairperson.

Time Commitment and Flight Pay Loss Reimbursement

This position is eligible for Flight Pay Loss (FPL) reimbursement by the Company under §27.P Company Business (CB) Flight Pay Loss with a 5% override and “A” pay. CB is compensated at 0.75 TFP per hour of work.
Estimated 4-6 hours per week (12 to 18 TFP per month). This amount is highly variable and may be higher or lower depending on the amount of work to be completed each week and month. Some work may be accomplished remotely. Regularly required to be in Seattle to work on projects and attend meetings.

Working Relationships

With The ASHSC

Frequent interaction with Local ASHSC Chairpersons and Committee Members

With The MEC ASHSC Chairperson

Constant interaction; this position reports to the MEC ASHSC Chairperson

With Alaska Airlines Management

Constant interaction with inflight management, particularly the Director of Inflight Safety & Compliance, Manager of Inflight Policy, and Inflight Safety & Policy Specialists

Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

The MEC will hold interviews during the August MEC meeting on Monday, August 15 or Tuesday, August 16, 2016.
Submit a declaration of interest and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Satterlee at yvette.satterlee@afaalaska.org no later than 5 PM Pacific Time on Friday, August 5, 2016. Yvette will contact qualified candidates to schedule a specific interview time.

Questions About the Position

If you have questions about the position, please contact MEC ASHSC Chairperson Seth Heiple at seth.heiple@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,

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

Background

Additional Information from The MEC Policy Manual

Qualifications

Duties

Time Commitment and Flight Pay Loss Reimbursement

Working Relationships

With The Local Grievance Committees

With The Master Executive Council (MEC)

With The MEC Grievance Committee

With Management

With AFA International

Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

Background

Additional Information from the MEC Policy Manual

Qualifications

Duties

Time Commitment and Flight Pay Loss Reimbursement

Working Relationships

With The ASHSC

With The MEC ASHSC Chairperson

With Alaska Airlines Management

Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

Questions About the Position

Recent Posts

Local Councils

Master Executive Council

Negotiations

Contract

News By Month

News By Category

Want To Stay In The Loop?

Connect With AFA