Scheduling Committee

An Introduction to the Scheduling Committee

February 24, 2015 08:00

With the recent ratification of our new contract, your Master Executive Council (MEC) has started the process of forming a Scheduling Committee as outlined in section 27.P.2. Many other carriers, both AFA and non-AFA, have a Scheduling Committee responsible for reviewing and discussing scheduling concerns with management. The Scheduling Committee will ensure that our Flight Attendants have strong representation when it comes to any scheduling-related concerns.

The Committee Structure

At Your Base (LEC Level)

Within each domicile, the Local Executive Council (LEC) Officers will be responsible for appointing a Local Scheduling Committee Chairperson and Committee Members. Your Local Scheduling Committee will be responsible for collecting and researching concerns related to scheduling, hours of service, and trading. They will work with management to resolve concerns and potential contractual violations presented by Flight Attendants. In addition, local committees will gather feedback regarding bidding and pairing construction from Flight Attendants and share this information with the PBS and Pairing Construction Subcommittees.

At the Airline (MEC Level)

The MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson will coordinate the activities of the Local Scheduling Committees across the airline. The MEC Chairperson is responsible for supporting the Local Committee Chairperson and Local Committee Members in their interactions with management and providing any necessary resources. In addition, the MEC Chairperson will coordinate and lead the Scheduling Review Board, a meeting between AFA and management to be held every two weeks to address and resolve scheduling related issues before referring them to the grievance process.

PBS and Pairings

The Scheduling Committee also contains the PBS Subcommittee and Pairing Construction Subcommittee. The two subcommittees, each led by an MEC Vice Chairperson, represent Flight Attendant interests in their areas of expertise. Each Local Scheduling Committee will work closely with the subcommittees to share Flight Attendant feedback and help improve these systems and our quality of life.

Who Will I Contact?

Once appointed by your LEC Officers, your Local Scheduling Committee will be your point of contact for any concerns you have. Each Local Scheduling Chairperson and Committee Member will help Flight Attendants to address and resolve concerns or potential contractual violations. Contact information will be posted at http://afaalaska.org/scheduling after committee appointments have been made.

Scheduling Committee Communication Flow

How Do I Get Involved?

Local Scheduling Committees will soon be formed in each base. Within each base, the LEC Officers will appoint a Local Scheduling Committee Chairperson and Committee Members. If you’re interested in serving on the Scheduling Committee, please contact your LEC President. You can find contact information at http://afaalaska.org/locals, then by clicking on the link for your base.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt

Introducing the MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson

February 13, 2015 12:00

At a meeting held earlier this week, your Master Executive Council (MEC) interviewed candidates for the position of MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson. In total, six candidates interviewed for the position (five Seattle-based Flight Attendants and one Anchorage-based Flight Attendant). The MEC would like to thank those candidates for stepping forward in the spirit of Union service. After much discussion, the MEC has appointed Jake Jones to the position.

About Jake

Jake Jones is currently serving a second term as vice president of AFA-CWA Council 19 Seattle. Jake is a Seattle-based Flight Attendant and joined the company in 2006. Recently, he served as a Negotiating Committee Member for the past three years on our new collective bargaining agreement. He holds an AA in Business Administration and Management. Prior to working for Alaska Airlines, he was in the banking industry for seven years. His partner Jeff is an Alaska CSA and they live in Auburn, WA with their two dogs Shanti and Houston.

Local Scheduling Committees Forming Soon

More opportunities for involvement are coming up, as Local Scheduling Committees will be forming soon within each domicile. If you are interested in serving on the Local Scheduling Committee, contact your LEC President. You can find contact information for your LEC President through the Local Councils page of the AFA Alaska website at http://afaalaska.org/locals.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC—Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt

AFA Alaska MEC Pairing Analyst Interviews

February 6, 2015 17:17

After ten years of service in his position, Portland-based flight attendant Jeff Stein is retiring from his position as AFA Pairing Analyst. Consequently the Master Executive Council (MEC) is in search of qualified individuals interested in becoming the new AFA Pairing Analyst. This is in addition to the Scheduling Chairperson position previously announced several weeks ago (that is now closed and interviews scheduled for next week).

Background

The official title in the AFA Alaska MEC Policy Manual for the AFA Pairing Analyst is MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction. The Pairing Analyst is chairperson of the Pairing Construction Subcommittee. See below for additional information.
The pairings in our bid packets are “optimized” (usually for least cost) and built using a computer program designed by Jeppessen.
Currently our pairing building vendor Jeppessen produces pairings remotely in Montreal with input from Alaska Airlines and AFA. Efforts are currently underway to migrate pairing production “in house.”

Additional Background from the AFA Alaska MEC Policy Manual

4. PAIRING CONSTRUCTION SUBCOMMITTEE

a.Scope

(i) The Pairing Construction Subcommittee will work with the company and the Inflight Crew Planning Department to build Flight Attendant pairings

b. Policy/Responsibilities

(i) The Pairing Construction Subcommittee shall consist of the MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction.

(ii) The Subcommittee shall:

(A) Regularly communicate with and provide updates to the MEC Scheduling Chairperson on the activities of the subcommittee

(B) Meet on a monthly basis with the Company and the Inflight Crew Planning Department to review problems and suggested resolutions regarding construction of Flight Attendant pairings and monthly lines of flying.

(D) Keep the MEC informed on all activities relating to the pairing construction process. When meetings or communications are due to unusual scheduling activities, a written report will be made.

(E) Keep the membership informed of the results of the pairing construction process on a monthly basis throught the MEC Communications Committee Chairperson.

(F) Solicit feedback from the membership regarding desired pairings, trip lengths, and types of flying through Local Scheduling Committees and advocate for such during the pairing construction process.

(G) Discuss any problems occurring within the pairing construction process with the Local Scheduling Committee Chairpersons on a monthly basis and will provide any suggestions for remedy of problems to the MEC.

Skillset/Requirements

Strong computer skills are a must.
Ability to independently meet several deadlines throughout the month.
Potentially frequent travel to Seattle for training and meetings. However, duties may generally be fulfilled remotely.

Duties

Review, validate and comment on the monthly pairing solutions.
Write a monthly pairings report.
Correspond with flight attendants regarding pairing solutions and related concerns.
Advocate for flight attendants in the pairing building process.

Time Commitment

Estimated 20-30 hours per month, most of which may be accomplished remotely.
The time commitment for the position has varied between 10-21 hours/month in the past 6 months, with an average of approximately 16 hours/month. This is likely to increase for the near future.

Compensation

This is a paid position compensated 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.
Flight Pay Loss for this position has averaged 12 TFP per bid month over the past six months. However, once pairing building is brought back in house, the process is likely to become more complicated and therefore time consuming for at least a period of time.

Reporting Structure

Directly reports to the Scheduling Committee Chairperson, who in turn reports to the MEC.

Interested?

The MEC will hold Interviews on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Bid around the interview date or arrange to adjust your schedule accordingly to accommodate.
Interviews will be at the AFA Alaska MEC office in Seattle. Our office is located in the Alaska Airlines Flight Operations and Training Center, Suite 280 at 2651 S 192^nd St, Seattle, WA 98188.
Submit a declaration of interest and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Gesch at yvette.gesch@afaalaska.org no later than February 20, 2015. Yvette will be able to provide additional information regarding transportation and booking of flights if necessary.

* * *

In solidarity,

Your MEC—Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt

[ATTENTION] PBS Committee Special Update – PBS bidding is temporarily suspended

February 6, 2015 10:33

Friday, February 6, 2015 @ 1030 PT

Incorrect pairings file requires a completely system shutdown and reload

Due to an inadvertent error, the incorrect pairings file was loaded into Navtech’s PBS. A complete system shutdown is required in order to load the correct pairings file. This is anticipated to take approximately two hours.

Bidding will not resume until at least noon PT and bids will close 12 noon PT February 11^th

Bidding will not resume until at least noon Pacific Time, so the close of bids will be extended (from the normal 9am PT on February 10^th) to 12 noon PT on February 11^th. At this time the Joint PBS Committee is anticipating that bid awards will still be on time despite the 24-hour extension to the closing of bids.

Pairing numbers and/or layover cities will change in some cases

Because the pairings file will be a different file, some pairing numbers and/or layover cities within the same pairing numbers will change. AFA recommends that you take a very close look at your bid prior to submitting it—particularly if you bid by pairing number.

More information forthcoming on Company media outlets

Please check the Company media outlets (Navtech’s PBS, Inflight Splash page, bulletins and/or Outlook email) for more information as it becomes available.

PBS Update April 5, 2014 – 1415 PDT: Problem with May Bids Due to New Aircraft Codes Resolved

April 5, 2014 14:16

Dear Flight Attendants,

Bidding in Navtech’s PBS has re-opened and the bidding deadline extended to 12 noon PDT on April 10th.

This is from Inflight Bulletin 2014-0071 “May Bids Reopened – New Aircraft Codes Added”:

“Fleet planning has added new aircraft-type designator codes for aircraft that
have been through the fleet modification. These new aircraft types were not
added to PBS prior to bids opening at 9am on April 5th. Consequently bidding
was shut down at 1120am April 5th to add these new aircraft type codes.

Bidding reopened at 1:45pm PDT April 5th and will be extended until 12noon PDT
April 10th.

Here are the definitions of the new aircraft types:

8EX is the 73H (non-ETOPS 737-800) with 6 extra seats
9WX is the 737-900 with 9 extra seats w/winglets
9EX is the 737-900 with 9 extra seats

If you use Aircraft Type in your bid, check to make certain if these new
aircraft codes need to be added to your Award or Avoid statements.
Questions can be sent to PBS Q&A on FirstClass.”

There will be no further updates regarding this issue unless warranted.