AFA News Now – Page 10

Merged MEC Committee Interviews—December 2025

November 5, 2025 09:00

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants

The integration of our Master Executive Councils (MECs) is progressing steadily. Several committees have successfully merged over the past few months, and we are now planning for another committee to merge on January 1.

As part of the committee merger process, our MEC will elect a Chairperson and Committee Members for each newly merged committee from the combined groups of Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants. The newly elected Chairperson will coordinate activities across both airlines, and they, along with the Committee Members, will support all eight Local Councils—both pre-merger Alaska and pre-merger Hawaiian. The MEC will conduct interviews during the December MEC Meeting for the following roles:

MEC Inflight Training Committee Chairperson
MEC Inflight Training Committee Member (3 positions)

Other committees will merge later in the process. As we approach those dates, we’ll keep you informed about the integration timeline for each committee, including interview schedules.

General Qualifications

Qualifications for all MEC-level Chairperson positions include:

Current Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines AFA Member in good standing.
Currently qualified Flight Attendant or, if on an approved leave of absence, last qualification must have been within 36 months prior to start of term.
Previous experience as a Committee Member or Chairperson is preferred.
Previous committee-specific training preferred.
Strong ability to lead and coordinate a diverse team in a collaborative environment.
Ability to attend meetings as required, both via videoconference and in person.
Strong computer skills, including a good working knowledge of Google Workspace (email, calendar, Drive, and other applications) and Microsoft 365.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to write membership communications, respond professionally to internal and external emails, prepare reports, plan meetings (including scheduling, logistics, and agenda preparation), and take minutes.
Ability to meet deadlines, delegate responsibilities, and follow up on assigned tasks.

Qualifications for Inflight Training Committee positions include:

Current Flight Attendant Initial and/or Recurrent Training Instructor.

Duties and Responsibilities

Details about each committee’s duties and responsibilities are available on the respective committee pages of afaalaska.org. Additional information regarding MEC Committee Chairperson duties and responsibilities is available in this document.

Time Commitment and Flight Pay Loss Reimbursement

The time commitment for each position varies and may change based on current workload levels. Specific information about time commitment expectations and Flight Pay Loss for each position will be provided during the interviews. All positions operate in line with AFA’s spirit of volunteerism.

Term of Service

Candidates who are successfully elected will serve for the upcoming MEC Officer election cycle. Their official term will begin on January 1, 2026, and conclude on December 31, 2028.

Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

The MEC will interview eligible candidates during the December Regular MEC Meeting on Monday, December 1, and Tuesday, December 2. If you are interested in interviewing, please plan to bid around these dates or adjust your schedule accordingly.

Eligible candidates can choose to interview in person in SeaTac, WA, or virtually via Google Meet videoconferencing.

To express your interest, please submit an expression of interest and your resume using the online form (link below). The submission deadline is 5 PM Pacific Time on Monday, November 24, 2025. After the submission deadline, an MEC representative will contact eligible candidates to arrange specific interview times.

Click here to submit an expression of interest form >

Please note that a Google account is required to submit the expression of interest form. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one for free at https://accounts.google.com/signup.

Questions?

Any questions about MEC Committee position duties and responsibilities can be directed to MEC Vice President Brice McGee at mecvp@afaalaska.org.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

November 1, 2025 17:00

November 1 marks the beginning of Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Also known as National Native American Heritage Month, this celebration originated from efforts to recognize an American Indian Day in the early 20th century. In 1916, New York became the first state to officially proclaim American Indian Day following a declaration from its governor.

The journey toward national recognition started in 1976 when President Gerald Ford signed a proclamation designating Native American Awareness Week. Following this, in 1990, President George H.W. Bush approved a resolution that recognized the first National American Indian Heritage Month. Since 1994, this recognition has been an annual tradition, with proclamations issued each year under various names, including Native American Heritage Month and National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.

Learn More About Native American History

We encourage you to explore and learn more about the many accomplishments and heritage of Native Americans through some of the following dedicated resources:

Celebrate with a Native American Heritage Month AFA Pin

In 2021, the AFA Executive Board unanimously approved a resolution recognizing Native American Heritage Month. As part of this initiative, a unique commemorative pin was created for AFA Members to wear throughout the month.

For more information about the pin itself, don’t hesitate to get in touch with your Local Human Rights & Equity Committee. If you need a pin, please reach out to your LEC Officers to find out how to get one.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact your Local Human Rights & Equity Committee.

Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – October 2025

October 30, 2025 17:00

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants

On Tuesday, October 28, 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), Rita Tillou (SEA), Melodie Anderes (PDX), Jaqui Bellenie (SFO), Kanako Yamado (LAX), and Joey Lawrence (SAN). MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction Karen Ferrell, MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—PBS Virginia Fritz, and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones were also present.

The Committee met with Managing Director of Inflight Operations & Crew Scheduling Sara Cook, Director of Crew Planning Trisha Bennett, and other management representatives from Crew Planning and Crew Scheduling.

The Committee is next scheduled to meet in person on Tuesday, November 25.

Topics of Discussion

The Committee reviewed several topics during internal AFA-only conversations and when meeting with management. Some items discussed include:

Upcoming Meetings: MEC Scheduling Committee meetings are next scheduled for November 25 and December 16 (in-person). Meetings for 2026 have also been scheduled.
Special Reports & Meetings: Scheduling Review Board (SRB) meetings are set for November 6 and December 4, 2025. Alternate Dispute Resolutions (ADR) Meetings are scheduled for November 6, November 20, December 4, and December 18, 2025, with other dates into 2026. JCTE Update is on November 17, 2025. Pairing Selection Meetings are November 18 and December 16, 2025.
Tentative Agreement (TA) Implementation: Key items will have a timeline of ratification plus 1, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days.
ELP Meeting: A meeting for the new vacation bidding and trading vendor is set for November 4, 2025.
MEC Committee Chairperson Report: Topics included Crew Backlog Review, Bi-Monthly Reviews with ALPA, Crew Access Issues, Rainmaker Crew Pay System, Fatigue Review Board, NAVBLUE Monthly Calls, JCTE Open Time Performance Quarterly Review, and Personal Drop Report Process updates. Disputes regarding Pyramiding Pay and 4k compensation were also discussed.
Local Committee Chairperson Reports: Various issues were reported from PDX (hotel assistance, IT outage, jury duty, vacation award), SAN (double out rest, Daylight Savings pairings), ANC (Crew Access tickets), LAX (pre-cancel issue), SFO (missing pay, communication with flying reductions), and SEA (multiple days off, transportation issues, sick leave form availability).
PBS Subcommittee Report: Noted good participation in November holiday bidding, legal solutions for SEA pairings, steady bid protests, and monthly meetings with NAVBLUE. Upcoming releases for 2026 bidding and TA2 updates are expected.
Pairing Construction Report: Focused on cost-effective December pairings and in-person collaboration days for pairing building with Crew Planning in Seattle.
ITS Report: Covered NAVBLUE/PBS testing and personal drop form in production. Noted that Open Time trades had lower transaction numbers this month, with steady transaction times.
Crew Scheduling Report: Highlighted the major internal outage. Had to switch to manual scheduling during the outage, with significant manual work. Sick leave monitoring (October absence rate at 9.6%), reserve utilization (over 90% for the last four months), and scheduler staffing plans were also reviewed.
Crew Planning Report Summary: Anticipated increase in block hours for December (+33k hours, primarily at the end of the month), no staffing adjustment leaves will be offered, focus on operational efficiency, and future planning.

What The Committee Is Working On

Crew Access Issues: Addressing challenges affecting operations and Flight Attendant satisfaction. Meetings with Jeppesen management and internal/external debriefs regarding a recent outage are scheduled.
Resolving Pyramiding Pay Disputes: Discussions are ongoing through the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process to clarify payment rules for over-duty pay and day-off violations.
ISA for Reserves Implementation: Working to finalize a new system for ineligibility for self-assignment (ISA) for Reserve Flight Attendants, with the next Crew Access release expected in early October 2025.

We Want to Hear From You!

Whether you have feedback for the Committee, concerns to share, or items you’d like brought up with management – don’t hesitate to let us know. Your Local Scheduling Committee is here to be your voice to management. You can easily open a support ticket on the AFA Alaska Online Support Center or directly contact us using the information provided on the Scheduling Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.

Sick Leave Survey Now Open

October 28, 2025 09:00

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants

Your Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) believes that your health and well-being comes first. We want to understand which components of our paid sick leave policy is most important to you. Our paid sick leave policy is here to support you in taking the necessary time off while ensuring that you don’t lose pay.

The Alaska Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has made significant strides with the introduction of the State Sick Leave Bank. This provision aligns with the state laws of Alaska, Oregon and Washington, offering you the flexibility to manage your health effectively. This means when using State Sick Leave you can take time off for personal health needs, including doctor appointments and circumstances surrounding domestic abuse.

Please keep in mind that this survey focuses specifically on our Sick Leave Policy and does not address attendance points or the Hawaiian Sick Leave Monitor Program. We value your feedback and will address these topics in the future.

Our JNC understands that every health journey is unique and we would like to ensure the our contract is there to support your healthcare needs. The survey is currently open and will close on Tuesday, November 11 at Noon PT. Please take the time to participate in this short survey.

Please see below to review the Sick Leave Survey Quick Reference Guide. The guide highlights key differences between Alaska and Hawaiian’s Sick Leave Programs.

To Access the Survey

For pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants, enter your PeopleSoft Number
For pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants, enter your Employee Number (without leading zeros)

Some important notes:

Once the survey is submitted, your responses cannot be edited. Please ensure your selections are final before hitting ‘Submit’.
For ranking questions, all choices must be ranked. You may skip these questions, but remember to rank all options if you choose to respond.

We encourage you to participate, as engaged members are our greatest strength during negotiations. Thank you for your commitment to our shared success. If you have any questions about the survey, please reach out to the JNC at jnc@afaalaska.org.

SEA Domicile Negotiations – October 2025 Update #2

October 27, 2025 17:00

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants

Our SEA Domicile Negotiating Committee met with management on October 21 to October 24 in Seattle
Our Negotiating Committee stressed the significance of having adequate resources and experience to ensure long-term success

Negotiations Update

Our SEA Domicile Negotiating Committee met with the company on October 21 to October 24 in Seattle. At the negotiating table for these meetings were:

Representing AFA and our Flight Attendants	Representing Management
Tim Green, Committee Chairperson	Allen Thieman, Vice President, Inflight, Alaska
Martin Gusman, Committee Member	Joe Wonderly, Vice President, Labor Relations, Alaska
Joshua Aoki, Committee Member	Carmen Williams, Managing Director, Labor Relations, Alaska
Jeffrey Fuke, Committee Member	Kalani Sloat, Senior Director, Labor Relations, Hawaiian
Paula Mastrangelo, AFA Senior Staff Negotiator	Karen Themelis, Senior Labor Relations Business Partner, Alaska
Lea Franzoi, Committee Support Representative

Talks continued this past week on reaching an agreement on opening the Hawaiian Seattle Domicile. After a disappointing session in Honolulu earlier this month, the parties agreed to carve out some time to continue discussions in Seattle between Joint Collective Bargaining negotiations. Your Negotiating Committee took advantage of all members being present for the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) negotiating in Seattle to meet with management in early morning sessions.

Fortunately, we did make progress and are very close to resolving the remaining outstanding issues. We have made progress on many of our issues, but staffing and the “new inflight service” concerns remain. We had a very open and productive discussion and look forward to hearing management’s response. They have committed to reviewing and researching our feedback on the service, as these are significant issues that will impact our work life on the plane.

Due to the essential and time-sensitive nature of these negotiations, both parties are committed to continuing discussions. The company is projecting a base opening of Spring 2026. We are looking to come to an agreement soon, as timelines for hiring, posting, and planning are approaching. Everyone involved wants Flight Attendants to have concrete information and ample time to evaluate their options and make an informed decision on the SEA base.

Despite the abbreviated timeline and pushback from management, your Negotiating Committee has been carefully considering all options and working to negotiate the most favorable improvements possible.

What’s Upcoming

Your Negotiating Committee will continue remote discussion with management the week of October 27. No formal meetings have been set, but management’s response to our concerns is expected this week.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your local leadership or email the SEA Domicile Negotiating Committee at sea@afahawaiian.org.

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