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

        Trip Trading Freeze

        July 13, 2016 15:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

        In Solidarity,

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

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, eMaestro, JCTE, trading

        AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey July 2016

        July 13, 2016 13:24

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

         

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

         

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

         

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

         

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

         

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

         

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

         

        In Solidarity,

         

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

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, Open Time, OT, ot trial

        Open Time Trial Survey Results – June 2016

        June 17, 2016 17:00

        The Open Time Trial survey for June 2016 concluded yesterday morning (June 16, 2016), and the results are now available.

         

        Survey completion information

         

        915 surveys were completed and 24 were partially completed. If a Flight Attendant submitted more than one survey, only the last submission was counted. The Master Executive Council (MEC) strongly encourages all Flight Attendants to contribute to the monthly Open Time Trial 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

         

        79.7% 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 small improvement over last month.

         

        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 very slight majority (51.2%) reported they understand the time frame involved for making any programming changes to the Open Time system.

         

        Based on membership feedback the MEC will make a determination on the future of Open Time:

         

        • Prior to making a determination, the MEC would like to gather several months of survey results and other data pursuant to AFA Alaska CBA §12.F.8.d [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial] for review. The Open Time Trial is scheduled to last up to a year before a final decision has to be made—unless the Association and management mutually agree to extend the trial.

         

        • If the MEC determines 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 being programmed with the new OT rules.)

         

        • If we do go “back to book,” 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

         

        73.4% indicated they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the Open Time Trial. If a decision were to be made today regarding the future of the Open Time Trial, 84.3% 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 15.7% would prefer to keep the current system.

         

        Detailed survey results

         

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

         

        AFA Alaska will review the concerning survey results with management at our next biweekly Open Time Trial Review meeting. This month’s survey also included a comments section, and the MEC is currently in the process of reading over the feedback.

         

        In solidarity,

         

        Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green and Brice McGee

         

        AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey for June 2016 Results Summary

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, Open Time, OT, ot trial, Trial

        Summer 2016 Staffing Challenges

        June 16, 2016 13:00

        The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) has received numerous requests from Membership for us to respond to the latest communications from management regarding pairing construction and schedules (April 27 “Division Communication: Staffing & Scheduling Info” and May 7 “Division Communication: June Schedule Summary”). The MEC completely understands how upsetting these communications are to Flight Attendants. Your AFA Alaska officers and committee members have also been extremely frustrated.

         

        Management has produced a lot of statistics in the past month and a half trying to convince you that staffing levels and the pairings really aren’t that bad. Management has even made (not so?) veiled suggestions in various forums that staffing would be okay if sick leave utilization would just go down. AFA could waste a lot of words picking apart the numbers and critiquing management’s approach, but really…what’s the point?

         

        The MEC is just as done with the charts and graphs as you are, and we’re tired of Flight Attendants being blamed for using their earned sick leave, which is a negotiated benefit. It’s as simple as this: Summer staffing is a mess and the pairings really have been that bad. ‘Nuff said, right?!

         

        For those of you who want more detail, here is the “straight scoop” from AFA’s perspective:

         

        1. Management grossly overestimated the impact of the new contract on staffing requirements during the budget-planning season last year.

         

        Based on staffing projections made at that time, several classes planned for 2016 were put on hold. Consequently, management hired many less Flight Attendants than originally planned, which caused a domino effect. In constructing a staffing model for the upcoming budget year, it probably would have been more prudent for management to use a rolling average using several years of data rather than less than a full year of experience under a new contract.

         

        1. After many updates to eMaestro, Open Time programming was finally corrected early this year to the negotiated OT Trial.

         

        During this past fall and early winter, Open Time was mis-programmed with more liberal trading rules than negotiated, which led to a false sense of trading flexibility.

         

        1. Line averages started creeping up at the same time as Reserves numbers were lowered.

         

        Staffing, fairly rapidly, went from personal drops being offered on most days to Premium Open Time being offered on most days and much higher Reserve utilization. Flight Attendants became increasingly reluctant to pick up, started holding out for premium, and during this time Open Time was more restrictive than in the previous months.

         

        1. During this same period, management selected pairings solutions for several months based more on lower cost and better statistics (from their perspective) than on Flight Attendant satisfaction.

         

        To be fair, lower costs will always be a primary driver in pairing construction, but AFA strongly believes management could have been doing more to achieve both.

         

        1. In response to a grass roots letter writing campaign by Flight Attendants protesting the poor quality pairings, management wrote some communications that in AFA’s opinion were extremely “tone deaf” to our group.

         

        Flight Attendants don’t want to be told that they are being asked to work “less than one extra day” per bid month. What does that even mean, anyway? Plus, don’t provide us with statistics based on duty periods rather than calendar days. Flight Attendants bid and trade based on calendar days, and we know when numbers based on duty periods don’t match up with our everyday experiences.

         

        Finally, don’t throw the Negotiating Committee under the bus by making it seem like they signed off on more 4-day pairings in exchange for Minimum Pay Rules. Yes, the possibility was discussed that achieving MPRs could lead the pairing optimizer to construct more 4-day pairings. However, your Negotiating Committee knew Flight Attendants want it all and said as much to management: We desire more productive pairings (using our definition of “productive” not management’s) and a mix of pairing lengths that suits the needs of our diverse group.

         

        So where does this leave us?

         

        The good news is management has come to the realization that we are understaffed. Vice President of Inflight Services, Andy Schneider, recently sent out a communication and produced a video that went a long way towards taking ownership of the situation. She authorized spending a decent amount of money in order to select AFA’s one-position and three-position pairings solutions for the month of July with the hope of improving quality of life and Flight Attendant satisfaction. She also approved hiring several more classes this year.

         

        The bad news is that adding new classes now is too little, too late—at least for this summer. The flight schedule is ramping up to maximum block hours very shortly, so any additional Flight Attendants on the rosters will not significantly lower the ever-increasing line averages or reserve utilization system-wide for several months. In fact, the line averages are not expected to start coming down in any noticeable way until fall—and this is mostly likely true for reserve utilization as well.

         

        AFA will continue to advocate to management that constructing and selecting pairings solutions with a reasonable emphasis on Flight Attendant satisfaction is money well spent. The MEC is also open to exploring mutually agreeable creative solutions with management in order to improve the summer staffing challenges. Finally, your AFA leaders are actively following your feedback regarding the Open Time Trial.

         

         

        The MEC applauds Andy’s recent efforts to turn around the summer staffing challenges, and we are hopeful she will continue the trend.

         

        In Solidarity,

         

        Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones and Scheduling Committee

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, Scheduling, staffing

        AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey June 2016

        June 14, 2016 05:00

        [Note: This is a re-issue of a Membership release that was originally distributed via email on June 10th (see http://afanewsletters.org/view/?id=194).]

         

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

         

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

         

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

         

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

         

        The survey will close on Thursday, June 16th at 9am Pacific Time. By popular request, the MEC has added a free form comments field at the end of the survey. The LEC presidents will review the comments.

         

        Thank you in advance for your feedback. In the interest of full transparency, the MEC will publish a summary of results once the responses have been tallied.

         

        In Solidarity,

         

        Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green and Brice McGee

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, Open Time, OT, survey, Trial

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