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        You are here: Home / Archives for Latest News / AFA News Now

        ALPA Alaska Approves Tentative Agreement for Pilot Ratification

        September 23, 2022 18:00

        Master Executive Council (MEC) President Jeffrey Peterson

        The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) Alaska Airlines leadership recently announced they approved a tentative agreement (TA) with Alaska Airlines management for pilot ratification.

        Click here for the Alaska Airlines Pilots TA Quick Guide (September 2022) >

        At a quick glance, the TA contains impressive improvements to scope, compensation, work rules, hours of service, retirement, and other additional improvements.

        Regardless of the outcome of the ratification vote, this TA raises the bar for Alaska Airlines pilots — and raises our expectations of Alaska Airlines management in Flight Attendant negotiations!

        In Solidarity,

        Jeff

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Message from the MEC President Tagged With: ALPA, negotiations, pilots, TA, tentative agreement

        September 2022 MEC Meeting Recap

        September 15, 2022 13:00

        Master Executive Council (MEC)

        • Our AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) met this week on Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday, September 14 to conduct their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants.
        • As part of the meeting, the MEC met with members of inflight and crew planning management to discuss issues and concerns that are facing our work group and need to be addressed.
        • The next Regular MEC Meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 12.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your LEC President if you have any questions.

        The September 2022 Regular MEC Meeting was held this week on Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday, September 14.  The meeting consisted of updates provided by our MEC Officers, LEC Presidents, Grievance Committee, and Scheduling Committee.  Our MEC also reviewed written reports submitted by other AFA MEC Committee Chairpersons about their current programs of work. 

        Joining our Negotiating Committee for Opening of Contract Negotiations

        Our MEC joined our Negotiating Committee for the opening of contract negotiations on Tuesday.  As a show of support, the MEC sat in as the Negotiating Committee and management exchanged opening proposals.  After the introductory portion, the MEC adjourned to continue the MEC Meeting and the Negotiating Committee proceeded with discussions at the bargaining table.  More information about this week’s contract negotiations will be posted on the Contract 2022 website after the session concludes.

        Meeting with Management

        As part of most Regular MEC Meetings, our MEC meets with management to review current issues and challenges that Flight Attendants are facing.  Attendees from management this month included Managing Director of Inflight Operations Michaela Littman, Managing Director of Inflight Services Gloria Chow, Director of Inflight Training and Standards Thomas Kaminski, and Managing Director of Operations Staffing & Resource Management Brittany Audette.

        Some of the topics that were discussed include:

        • Plans for changes to Initial Training.  Management provided an extensive update on Initial Training and the classes held so far this year.  They also shared plans for changes to the Initial Training program for upcoming classes, including the reintroduction of service flights.  
        • Plans for 2023 Recurrent Training.  Management also shared plans for the 2023 Recurrent Training (RT) program.  RT 2023 will include a return to two full days of classroom training.
        • Domicile staffing & base transfers.  Management indicated that they plan to grant additional Flight Attendant domicile transfers over the next several months and will be working to clear the base transfer waiting lists.
        • Quality of pairings.  Our MEC once again shared that Flight Attendants are looking for improvements to pairing quality.  In particular, there are concerns with changes made to the schedule by network planning that affect the ability of Flight Attendants to achieve desired productivity and additional commutability concerns.
        • Concerns with the current absence management vendor.  Our AFA Benefits Committee and LEC Presidents have received reports that the company’s current absence management vendor is not responsive, has provided incorrect information, and has made errors that have impacted Flight Attendants.
        • CARE Retreat concerns.  Our MEC shared some specific concerns about the CARE Retreat, including issues with some Flight Attendants not receiving pre-event communications and questions about how management plans to address possible environmental allergies that some people may have to some of the items being given to attendees.
        • Drug testing policies and procedures.  Our MEC brought concerns forward about possible discrepancies in how random DOT drug tests were being conducted and asked for clarification about the procedure.

        MEC Policy & Procedure Manual Amendment

        This month, our MEC took action on one agenda item for amendment of the MEC Policy & Procedure Manual.  The agenda item incorporates new language establishing structure within the Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) to support the new Inflight Line Observation Safety Audit (LOSA) program. This agenda item has been incorporated into the manual and posted to the AFA Alaska website.

        Questions?

        If you have any questions about this month’s Regular MEC Meeting, please reach out to your LEC President.

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Master Executive Council (MEC) Tagged With: MEC Meeting

        We Will Never Forget – September 11, 2001

        September 11, 2022 05:46


        AFA Never Forget Website

        United Flight 175

        Robert J. Fangman
        Amy N. Jarret
        Amy R. King
        Kathryn LaBorie
        Alfred G. Marchand
        Michael C. Tarrou
        Alicia N. Titus
        Captain: Victor Saracini
        First Officer: Michael Horrocks
        Customer Service Representatives: Marianne MacFarlane and Jesus Sanchez

        United Flight 93

        Lorraine G. Bay
        Sandra Bradshaw
        Wanda A. Green
        CeeCee Lyles
        Deborah Welsh
        Captain: Jason Dahl
        First Officer: Leroy Homer

        American Flight 11

        Barbara Arestegui
        Jeffrey Collman
        Sara Low
        Karen Martin
        Kathleen Nicosia
        Betty Ong
        Jean Roger
        Madeline Sweeney
        Dianne Snyder
        Captain: John Ogonowski
        First Officer: Thomas McGuinness
        Customer Service Representative: Renee Newell

        American Flight 77

        Michele Heidenberger
        Jennifer Lewis
        Kenneth Lewis
        Renee May
        Captain: Charles Burlingame
        First Officer: David Charlebois

        Filed Under: AFA News Now Tagged With: September 11

        Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2022

        September 9, 2022 15:00

        Reserve Committee

        • Our AFA Reserve Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, September 8 to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent and advocate for our Reserve Flight Attendants.
        • The Committee also met with management to review a number of specific concerns that were brought forward by Flight Attendants.
        • Your Local Reserve Committee is available to answer questions, provide clarification, or help to resolve any reserve related issues.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

        On Thursday, September 8, representatives from our AFA Local Reserve Committees met to discuss their ongoing work to advocate for Reserve Flight Attendants.  Representing you at the meeting were Haley Hirsch (ANC), Conner Gallagher (SEA), Megan Zablan (PDX), Camile Caldwell (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Rebecca Garcia (SAN).  Also present were MEC Reserve Committee Vice Chairperson—New Hire & Probation Jarod McNeill and MEC Vice President Brian Palmer.  The committee also met with Inflight Crew Scheduling Duty Manager Kiana Shaw from management.

        Topics of Discussion

        The committee reviewed a number of items both during internal AFA-only conversation and when meeting with management.  Some items discussed include:

        • Plans for Initial Training classes for the remainder of the year and next year.  Management has indicated intent to hire more Flight Attendants but specific numbers will be dependent on other company growth factors.
        • Anticipated return of service flights to Initial Training.  Management is still working out details.
        • Top causes of occurrences for probationary Flight Attendants.  Recent increase in issues with forgetting to check in for trips and APSB on Block2Block and requirement to physically be in base while on call during Reserve Availability Periods (RAP).
        • Support for probationary Flight Attendants through the Reserve Buddy Program.
        • Increase in requests for assistance with PBS and bidding.  The committee is seeking ways to provide additional training and support in this area.
        • Reminder to new hire F/As about AFA Alaska Online Support Center to report issues, raise concerns, or ask questions.
        • Increase in lineholders picking up reserve days which has resulted in some increased flexibility for Reserve Flight Attendants.
        • Review of the Master Executive Council (MEC) letter to management regarding proportional domicile staffing. 
        • Management staffing within Crew Scheduling.  Four new Crew Scheduling Supervisors will be hired to help support operations. 
        • Review of reserve utilization statistics.  Reserve coverage is anticipated to be at approximately 21-22% for the remainder of the year.
        • Request that management provide additional flexibility for reserve day shifting by decreasing the ARC maximum.  Management agreed to review possible changes.
        • Ongoing concerns with hotel information not being loaded into Crew Access by the time a Flight Attendant arrive in a layover city, despite management having several hours to arrange for the hotel.  Please report these issues through the AFA Alaska Online Support Center so that AFA representatives can follow up with management. 
        • Review of reserve-related scheduling issues that have occurred recently.

        The committee is next scheduled to meet on Thursday, December 1.

        What The Committee Is Working On

        1. Assisting Probationary Flight Attendants Through the Reserve Buddy Program.   Answering questions from and providing support to probationary Flight Attendants through an expanded AFA Reserve Buddy program.
        2. Addressing Reserve Contractual Concerns.  Researching and investigating reports from Reserve Flight Attendants and actively ensuring that management is compliant with our contract. 
        3. Developing Additional Tools & Resources for New Flight Attendants.  Working to create a plan to provide more user friendly, easy-to-access resources about the CBA and other job-related information for new Flight Attendants.

        We Want to Hear From You!

        Do you have feedback for the committee, concerns you’d like to share, or items that you’d like brought up with management?  Please let us know!  Your Local Reserve Committee is your voice to management.  You can find our contact information on the Reserve Committee page of the AFA Alaska website. 

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Reserve Committee Tagged With: committee meeting

        Uniform Gender Expression Survey

        September 2, 2022 09:00

        AFA International

        • Everyone should be able to dress and express themselves at work in a manner that is reflective of their true self.
        • AFA is working with other aviation unions and PRIDE@Work to ensure that all Flight Attendants are supported in exercising our rights. 
        • Your participation in the Uniform Gender Expression Survey will help to identify where discrimination exists and improvements to uniform choices, policies, and guidelines need to be made.

        In order to make sure that Flight Attendants are able to express who we are, it is critical that we understand the importance of gender expression, and ensure our airlines provide equal opportunity to dress and present ourselves in ways that reflect who we are.  This is critical to creating a supportive culture, which in turn allows each of us as Flight Attendants to do our job with pride and comfort.

        Companies should understand this issue ultimately affects the bottom line. Disallowing Flight Attendants to dress and express in ways that align with their genders is communicating that they are not valuable as employees. Providing this flexibility across carriers or the industry, will send a signal to other industries that we support and advocate for all people. Further, this will impact not only retention of current Flight Attendants, but will also result in recruiting a wider range of skilled Flight Attendants to this industry. 

        While movements are happening, and policies have been changed, we need EVERYONE to have the opportunity to express themselves.

        AFA is working with other aviation unions, and PRIDE@Work to identify these issues together and make sure that we are protecting all Flight Attendants so that we are able to be seen and heard and are able to dress in the way that makes us feel seen in our place of work. 

        This survey is being conducted to identify those who are feeling discriminated against in the workplace in regards to uniform choices, uniform policies and guidelines at their airlines. 

        It is also worth noting that many workplaces already have these opportunities and protections in place for every employee, based on EEOC Protections Against Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity.  We want to make sure Flight Attendants are fully supported in exercising our rights. 

        Click here to take the survey >>

        Thank you in advance for your participation!

        Filed Under: AFA News Now, Human Rights & Equity Committee, Uniform Committee

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