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Grievance Committee Update – 1st and 2nd Quarters 2022

Grievance Committee

  • Our Grievance Committee works to protect all Flight Attendants from arbitrary and unjust disciplinary action and to uphold our collective bargaining agreement.  This update provides a short summary of the committee’s work over the past two quarters.
  • Management has issued discipline lately for a variety of reasons.  Read on for more information about the reasons why management is disciplining and terminating Flight Attendants.
  • If you’ve faced a situation that you believe might be a contractual violation, please report the issue through the AFA Alaska Online Support Center.  AFA Representatives review each report submitted and will follow up to help you determine options and a course of action. 

Our Grievance Committee has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf.  The contract requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues.  Termination cases are usually given first priority in order to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases.  AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors. 

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination.  COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in a Flight Attendant’s file for 18 months, and then are removed.  If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation.  Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline.  If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD). A ROD is not considered discipline.  There is no middle ground for certain violations.  

Many Flight Attendants are under the impression that if they’ve been an overall good employee, have no to low attendance points, good kudos, decent seniority, or other positive work history that they will not get disciplined.  This is not the case.  Regardless of any good work qualities that they may have, if management believes the Flight Attendant committed an offense, they will be disciplined.

Subject of Most Recent Discipline

  • Sick leave and FMLA abuse.  Terminations are on the rise due to travel audits among other things.  Anything written in the comments/remarks on posted trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted.  If management determines abuse it results in termination.  
  • Theft.  Removing anything from the aircraft other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed will result in termination.  
  • Timecard fraud.  Examples: Intentionally delaying boarding door closure to obtain sit pay.  Management has terminated for this violation.
  • Reserve “Roulette”.  Not being within two hours of base for your Reserve Availability Period (RAP) and calling in sick only once given an assignment.  The Company considers this a terminable violation.  Management regularly reviews the trip trade postings and history related to sick calls.  Even deleted trade history or postings can be seen by management.
  • Lying in an investigation
  • Drug/Alcohol violations
  • Harassment
  • Reserves commuting during Reserve Availability Period (RAP) even if self-assigned a trip and/or not being in base for the entirety of reserve period.  Management has terminated for this reason several times.  Management regularly reviews commuting history and whether a Flight Attendant is in base for her/his RAP period.  If not, they will terminate on a first offense.
  • Social media violations including sending friend or follow requests to passengers on social media based on information gained from Block2Block.
  • Commuter Violations
    • Flight Attendant released from DHD and used D8Y home
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel.  Commuter audits are being used for researching whether commuting
  • Lost IMD or other required items
  • Failing to complete CBT—even if a Flight Attendant just forgets to hit the close button at the top of the screen to switch it from in process to complete.
  • Uniform Issues—Flight Attendants can and have been pulled from working their flights without pay for uniform non-compliance.

Recent Arbitration/Mediation

January 2022Disciplinary Grievance
February 2022Disciplinary Grievance
March 2022Contractual Grievance
April 2022Disciplinary Grievance
May 2022Disciplinary Grievance
June 2022Disciplinary Grievance
June 2022Disciplinary Grievance
July 2022Disciplinary Grievance
August 2022Disciplinary Grievance

Recent Contractual Arbitration Awards

None

Recent Grievance Settlements

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-301-20-Violation of §3.D Scope of Agreement.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §3.D [Scope of Agreement:  Scope], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it announced beginning October 2020 through July 2021, it will operate flights with cargo in cabin seats; although such flying will occur without passengers, the Company intends to staff the flights with non-Flight Attendant employees, who will be trained to perform Flight Attendant duties, specifically including but not limited to:  Firefighting duties, cargo stowage in the passenger cabin and aircraft door operation in normal and emergency mode.    

Details:  The Company paid the top two Flight Attendants on the system seniority list who were active during this period, as if they flew these flights the six flights.   

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-186-22-Violation of §10.J.8 Delay of Publishing May 2022 Bid Results.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Contractual Bargaining Agreement §10.J. 8 [Scheduling:  Bid Packets and Bidding Timelines] past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it published the bid award for lines of time to Flight Attendants after the due date of April 13, 2022, at 9:00 AM.  

Details:  In combination with 36-99-2-187-22, Flight Attendants who were active (i.e., not on any form of leave of absence; and if in Initial Training, must have been eligible to bid for a schedule), during at least one of the following bidding windows, April 5th-10th (for May 2022) or May 5th-16th (for June 2022), will receive 4 TFP at their respective rate of pay (less any applicable taxes withheld and other contributions/deductions) on their July 20, 2022, paycheck.  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-187-22-Violation of §10.E.5 Failure to Include 10 LIR Pairings in LAX May 2022 Bid Packet.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Contractual Bargaining Agreement §10.E.5 [Scheduling:  Line Construction and Operational Impact] past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it did not include ten known Liberia (LIR) pairings in the Los Angeles (LAX) May 2022 bid packet for bidding.

Details:  In combination with 36-99-2-186-22, Flight Attendants who were active (i.e., not on any form of leave of absence; and if in Initial Training, must have been eligible to bid for a schedule), during at least one of the following bidding windows, April 5th-10th (for May 2022) or May 5th-16th (for June 2022), will receive 4 TFP at their respective rate of pay (less any applicable taxes withheld and other contributions/deductions) on their July 20, 2022, paycheck.  

Grievances Recently Mediated

None

Grievances Recently Granted by Management 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-159-17-Violation of §12.A & §12.E Withholding Trips from Open Time and Suspended all Trading due JCTE Issues.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §12.A & E [Exchange of Sequences: Unlimited Trading/Open Time], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about September 30, 2017, to October 1, 2017, for approximately 8 hours, it either withheld all trips in open time or suspended all trading due to an issue with its Jeppesen Crew Tracking system.

Grievances Recently Withdrawn

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-321-18- Violation of §§21, 24, 30 & 34 Hotel at Domicile for Transition Training.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §21 [Compensation], §24 [General and Miscellaneous], §30 [Training] and §34 [Hotels], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when some Flight Attendants requested and were provided hotel rooms at base for Transition Training while others who requested a room were not provided one.   

Grievances Recently Filed and Awaiting Management Response

None

Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-176-22-California Family School Partnership Act Violation of Past Practice and Roberts Award.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of past practice, the Roberts Award 36-99-2-49-03, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it unilaterally disallowed the California Family School Partnership Act for those Flight Attendants based in Los Angeles (LAX); then reinstated, with no notice, the state law for LAX based Flight Attendants only, but not for the other California based Flight Attendants in San Diego (SAN) or San Francisco (SFO), and not for the rest of the Flight Attendants based in our system, Seattle (SEA), Portland (PDX) or Anchorage (ANC), in violation of Roberts.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-233-22-Violation of §16 Sick Leave/On the Job Injury.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §16 [Sick Leave/On the Job Injury], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about May 11, 2022, it unilaterally implemented disparate quarantine procedures without adequate notice by posting and/or updating the Company intranet (“Alaska’s World”) with different quarantine requirements for symptomless vaccinated versus symptomless unvaccinated Flight Attendants. Alaska’s World articles do not provide adequate notice of a policy change to Flight Attendants, whereas such changes are communicated to Flight Attendants via required bulletins that must be read within 24-hour period prior to beginning of pairing, recurrent/requalification training, or reserve.  Under this new policy, the Company requires symptomless unvaccinated Flight Attendants to be removed from their scheduling obligations by forcing them onto sick leave and paid through their sick leave bank or accrued vacation pay if the sick leave bank was depleted. Section 16 does not contain any exceptions or distinctions based on vaccination status, yet the Company failed to bargain with the Association and unilaterally implemented such non-contractual exceptions or distinctions inequitably across the collective bargaining unit.

Grievances Previously Filed, Denied by Management and Currently Awaiting Arbitration Dates

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-22-14-Violation of Required Maternity Leave.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Section 15.D. and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to require Flight Attendants to begin Maternity Leave after the 28th week of pregnancy.   

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-55-17-Violation of §21.V Winds Aloft Adjustment of Sit Pay in JCTE.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §21.V [Compensation: “Scheduled” or “Actual” For Minimum Pay Rules (MPRs) and/or Sit Pay], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) trading system displayed each posted trip as a static ‘snapshot’ taken at the time of posting rather than a ‘live’ view, thus denying the Flight Attendant the ability to determine whether a trip is eligible for 1.0 TFP of Sit Pay due to an automated scheduling adjustment (e.g. by the Winds Aloft program).

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-40-19-Violation §25.B Failure to Provide a Safe and Healthy Workplace.  This alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.B [Air Safety, Health and Security: Safe and Healthy Workplace], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to provide a safe and healthy workplace when it installed new bulkheads on the retrofitted Airbus (“Aura”) aircraft that effectively renders the aft assist handles near doors L1/R1 as unusable and unnecessarily increases the likelihood and potential severity of Flight Attendant injury during an emergency evacuation.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-41-19-Violation of §25.D.2 Failing to Notify MEC President and ASHSC of Reconfiguration or Re-design Prior to Final Decision. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.D.2 [Air Safety, Health and Security: Safety Information], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to notify the MEC President of a decision to reconfigure or re-design the interior of the Airbus aircraft and when it failed to discuss with the ASHSC the parties’ interests and concerns for inflight safety prior to making a final decision on the reconfiguration/re-design. 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-162-19- Violation of §12.C.1 Real-Time Trading Procedures Grievance 36-99-2-28-17 Mediated Settlement.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §12.C.1 [Exchange of Sequences: Trading Procedure], past practice, its mediated settlement of grievance 36-99-2-28-17 and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it agreed but failed to adhere to its July 5, 2017, mediated settlement of grievance 36-99-2-28-17:  To have AFA and Alaska representatives meet with Jeppesen to explore the capabilities of the system and how to align the front-end with the “real time” experience of the back-end user.  This is a continual violation as such meeting did not take place in a reasonably timely manner, and sufficient action was not taken to rectify the underlying system issues.    

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-36-20-Violation of §25.B ANC Training Facility.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.B [Air Safety, Health and Security: Safe and Healthy Workplace], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it conducted Recurrent Training (RT) drills in Anchorage, Alaska in the Ross Aviation Hanger, and on or about February 16-19, 2020, the external temperature ranged from 18 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and when the hanger door opened, frequently without notice, the internal hanger temperature dropped to as low as 46 degrees.  After the external hanger door opened it took approximately two hours with a loud heater to get the internal temperature back up to the low to mid 60s.  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-207-20-Violation of §10, §11.D & §24.L Bundled Scheduling Notifications.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10 [Scheduling], §11.D [Reserve:  Scheduling/Notice of Time to Report] and §24.L [General and Miscellaneous: Company-Provided Inflight Mobile Device (IMD)], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) scheduling system sent bundled scheduling notifications to Flight Attendants on their Inflight Mobile Devices (IMDs) or directly in Crew Access, requiring Flight Attendants to batch acknowledge or ignore such notifications and thereby resulting in Flight Attendants potentially waiving multiple contractual protections via an extra-contractual point of contact (i.e. Crew Access scheduling notifications).  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-384-20-Violation of §10.S Scheduling Notifications.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.S [Scheduling :  Pre-Cancellations], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it used non-contractual scheduling notifications sent to Flight Attendants via the Crew Scheduling system in order to communicate and assign alternate flying or an obligation to call Crew Scheduling within a specific window of time.  If a Flight Attendant accepts such non-contractual scheduling notification(s), which is neither contact by Crew Scheduling via Company email nor via primary phone contact as defined in §10.S.1.a, the scheduling notification(s) violates the contract by abrogating the Flight Attendant’s ability to: (1) decline the alternate assignment and waive pay protection (§10.S.2.b), (2) decline the “out of original footprint by more than two hours” alternate assignment and call Crew Scheduling between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM (local domicile time) the night prior to the start of the original sequence (§10.S.2.c), or (3) waive pay protection and be relieved of any further scheduling obligation (§10.S.3). 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-386-20-Violation of §8.Q & §8.R Contactability and Notification of Delay or Cancellation. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §8.Q [Hours of Service: Contactability] and §8.R [Hours of Service: Notification of Delay or Cancellation], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it used non-contractual scheduling notifications sent via the Crew Scheduling system in order to communicate and assign revised flying to Flight Attendants who were off-duty on a remain overnight (RON). Such scheduling notifications are in violation of the contractually defined means of contact and/or the Flight Attendant’s obligation to respond pursuant to these provisions.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-230-21- Violation of §16 Sick Leave/On the Job Injury.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §16 [Sick Leave/On the Job Injury], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it announced beginning on or about August 31, 2021, that it would grant pay protection per §21.M [Compensation: Pay Protection…] to vaccinated symptomatic and/or COVID+ Flight Attendants for scheduling obligations removed due to Company-directed quarantine in response to high-risk COVID-19 workplace exposures and deny pay protection under similar or the same circumstances for unvaccinated Flight Attendants or for Flight Attendants who decline to disclose their vaccination status and would instead require them to be removed from their scheduling obligations by forcing them onto sick leave and paid through their sick leave bank or accrued vacation pay if the sick leave bank was depleted. Neither §16 nor §21.M contains any exceptions or distinctions based on vaccination status, yet the Company failed to bargain with the Association and unilaterally implemented such non-contractual exceptions or distinctions inequitably across the collective bargaining unit.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-234-21-Violation of §21 Non-Negotiated Compensation.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §21 [Compensation], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it announced on or about September 2, 2021, that it would pay $200.00 to each vaccinated Flight Attendant who provides proof of vaccination to the Company by October 15, 2021.   Section 21 does not contain any exceptions or distinctions based on vaccination status, and the Company failed to bargain with the Association and unilaterally implemented such a non-contractual exception inequitably across the collective bargaining unit.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-1-22-Violation of §8.D Check-In and Release.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §8.D [Hours of Service:  Check-In and Release], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Block to Block (B2B) check-in system doesn’t allow a Flight Attendant to check-in if they have an unacknowledged trip change requiring them to report as originally scheduled.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-3-22-Violation of §10.S Pre-Cancellations.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.S [Scheduling: Pre-Cancellations], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about December 26, 2021,  it did not accept or process Flight Attendant calls in a timely manner thereby usurping the Flight Attendants’ ability to utilize the contractual pre-cancellation language allowing them to receive and decline an alternate assignment; and it allowed the Company to reassign Flight Attendants. 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-4-22-Violation of §8.D Check-In and Release.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §8.D [Hours of Service:  Check-In and Release], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its designated check-in application (Block2Block) on the Flight Attendants’ Infight Mobile Device (IMD) displayed cancelled trips that were not cancelled in Crew Access thereby inhibiting check-in for their trips and assessing them a No Show and 3 (three) attendance points.  Flight Attendants were unable to check in manually via a call to Crew Scheduling as it had excessive wait times.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-84-22-Violation of §21.J Ground Delay Pay.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §21.J [Compensation:  Block and Ground Delays], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it did not pay ground delay pay accumulatively, requiring each delay to go over 11 minutes to be eligible for pay, when a flight (same flight number/same routing) returns to gate one or more times.

Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2022

Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC)

  • Our AFA Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Chairpersons met on Thursday, July 14 to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent Flight Attendants interests related to safety, health, and security in our workplace.
  • The Committee also met with management to receive updates and discuss issues and problems that Flight Attendants are facing onboard the aircraft.
  • Reporting safety concerns is more important than ever given the challenges we are currently facing as a work group.  Flight Attendant Irregularity Reports (FAIR), Aviation Safety Action Reports (ASAP), and fatigue reports can all be filed through Report It!  Please contact a member of your Local ASHSC if you need assistance.

On Thursday, July 14, our AFA Local Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace.  Representing you at the meeting were Debi Wallstrom (ANC), David Lake (SEA), Blair Kimball (PDX), Brad Young (SFO), Carin Meritt (LAX), and Eva Gatus (SAN).  Also present were MEC ASHSC Chairperson Seth Heiple and MEC Vice President Brian Palmer.  The committee met with Cabin Safety Manager Cari Smith-Allen, Manager of Inflight Policy & Procedure Joevanni Camacho, and Inflight Experience Program Manager Matthew Coder.

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:

  • Having a CSA available to assist with assistance devices, gate checks, etc. during deplaning. 
  • Changing what we call infant life vest in announcements to “life vest for children under 30 lbs”. This would align better with their purpose and help those traveling with children identify which type of life vest their child would need.
  • Request to add Narcan nasal spray to emergency medical kits to assist with passengers who have overdosed. Note: The EEMK does have Naloxone which is an injectable used to treat opioid overdoses.
  • At the ASHSC’s request bottles of Sanicide are to be provisioned in plastic bags to contain leakage. However, it appears that this has not been happening constantly, so we have asked Inflight to follow up with Fleet to ensure the bottles are provisioned correctly.
  • The Company is planning to add a third cart to PLH flights. The ASHSC is concerned that this will negatively impact our ability to stow all trash, result in excessively long lavatory lines and make managing passenger alcohol consumption more difficult. We also believe some of these issues will be exacerbated by the upcoming removal of the third aft lavatory on the 737-800s.
  • Initial Training was shorted four weeks but will be returning to five weeks. We have requested that Initial Training include familiarizations flights and more time practicing procedures like the arrival and departure sequences.
  • Fleet at some stations has been closing all window shade even when it is not needed to keep the cabin cool. We believe it is safer to keep more window shades open when possible to increase awareness of what is happening outside the cabin.
  • There are safety concerns around F/As bringing items onto the A/C to serve or altering the produces being served. While well intentioned, this can have unintended safety and liability consequences.
  • Inflight is in the process of procuring the improved, easier to use, restraint devices requested by the ASHSC.
  • At the ASHSC’s request the safety demo will be updated to include “in an emergency, leave everything”.
  • Inflight continues to work on moving our prior to landing compliance checks to 18,000 feet.

What the Committee is Working On

  1. Trash Stowage.  The Inflight Service Committee and ASHSC have been working with Inflight and Catering to develop solutions for the ongoing lack adequate trash stowage. Every departure now should have an empty cart in one of the galleys for trash. If you don’t have the required empery cart submit a catering report. Please submit an ASAP & FAIR if, after following procedures and making every reasonable attempt to do so, you are unable to stow all trash in legal stowage locations. AFA continues to advocate for dedicated trash cart(s) on all flights.
  2. Time In Motion Studies. The ASHSC is coordinating with the Inflight Service Committee and Inflight on a program to assess how long it takes to perform safety and service duties on each aircraft type and flight profile. The goal is to understand what service can safely be completed in each market, and ensure we have adequate time allotted for safety duties like equipment checks and briefings. 
  3. Cabin Lighting During Compliance Checks. The ASHSC has been advocating for a brighter lighting setting for prior to take off and landing compliance checks. We believe the company is willing to use our boarding light setting for compliance checks and expect the change to be impended soon. The brighter lighting will help us see better as we complete our compliance checks and will provide a visual indicator to passengers that their attention is needed as we prepare the cabin for landing.

We Want to Hear From You!

If you’ve experienced a safety-related issue, please help the committee to advocate for improvement and change by filing a report.  Flight Attendant Irregularity Reports (FAIR), Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) reports, and fatigue reports can all be submitted using ReportIt!  If you’re not sure what type of report to file for a particular situation or need help, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of your Local ASHSC.

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

Supreme Court Ruling on A4A v. WA L&I (WA Paid Sick Leave)

Master Executive Council (MEC), Grievance Committee

  • A recent Supreme Court ruling upheld a decision by a lower court requiring that Alaska Airlines comply with the Washington Paid Sick Leave Law and apply it to Flight Attendants.
  • The law prohibits employers from adopting or enforcing any policy that counts the use of paid sick leave time as an absence that may lead to or result in discipline (qualifying absences will not incur attendance points).
  • Seattle-based Flight Attendants are considered covered employees for purposes of the law, but AFA believes that the ruling should apply to Section 32 (Attendance Policy) for all Flight Attendants, regardless of domicile, under a previous arbitration decision.

In addition to Bernstein v. Virgin America, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently denied certiorari (from Latin “to be informed of” – a writ issued by a superior court for the reexamination of an action of a lower court) on Air Transport Association of America, Inc., dba Airlines for America, v. The Washington Department of Labor & Industries, et al.Therefore, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruling stands, which requires Alaska Airlines to comply with the Washington Paid Sick Leave Law (Wash. Rev. Code § 49.46.210 [2021]). AFA intervened and AFA Alaska representatives were deposed in this case.

On July 1, 2022, AFA sent a demand letter to management requiring Alaska Airlines to comply with the law.  We have not yet received a response.

What the decision means for Seattle-based Flight Attendants

Seattle-based Flight Attendants have the benefits of the Washington Paid Sick Leave Law.  

A covered Washington employee is authorized to use paid sick leave:

  • For an employee’s and their qualified family members’ mental or physical illness, injury or health condition or preventative medical care;
  • When an employee’s child’s school or place of care has been closed by order of a public official for any health-related reason;
  • For absences that qualify for leave under the domestic violence leave act; and
  • Beginning on the ninetieth calendar day after the commencement of their employment (for Alaska FAs, from their on-line/base orientation date).

The law provides that the employer may require employees to provide verification, for absences exceeding three days, that an employee’s use of paid sick leave is for an authorized purpose.  An employer may not adopt or enforce any policy that counts the use of paid sick leave time as an absence that may lead to or result in discipline against the employee—in other words, qualifying absences will not incur attendance points.

What the decision means for all Flight Attendants regardless of domicile

AFA also demanded that the ruling apply to Section 32 (Attendance Policy) for all Flight Attendants, regardless of domicile, under a previous arbitration decision. While we believe arbitral precedent requires that Flight Attendants in all bases receive the benefit of no attendance points in circumstances protected from potential disciplinary action under the law, we do not yet know how management will interpret precedent.

Stay tuned for further developments.

AFA’s Response to Management’s Webcasts About Bernstein v. Virgin America (California Meal & Rest Breaks) – Part 2

Master Executive Council (MEC)

  • AFA has previously communicated several times regarding the Supreme Court ruling on Bernstein v. Virgin America, the potential impact, and how our perspective differs from that of management.
  • To clarify, AFA did not initiate this lawsuit but did file an amicus brief in 2020 in support of upholding the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling on the case. AFA has been and remains ready to negotiate solutions but will not agree to categorically undermine the rights of our members as it applies to benefits under state law.
  • AFA International will be hosting a virtual union meeting on Wednesday, July 20th to discuss the facts about how the ruling will affect Flight Attendants in California.

Alaska Airlines management hosted a series of webcast sessions last week for the Inflight division to discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling on Bernstein v. Virgin America (re: CA meal & rest breaks) and its potential impact

As previously communicated, AFA has a very different perspective than management. 

AFA’s formal involvement in Bernstein v. Virgin America

AFA did not file this lawsuit. Bernstein was initiated years ago by several Legacy Virgin America (L-VX) Flight Attendants prior to the merger between Virgin America and Alaska Airlines. The case then wound its way through the court system for years. In January 2020, AFA filed an amicus brief* (technically a brief of amici curiae*) in support of upholding the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling on Bernstein. 

Click here for AFA’s Ninth Circuit amicus brief in Bernstein v. Virgin America >

* In American law, amici curiae (Latin for “friends of the court”) typically refers to interested parties who request to provide legal submissions so as to offer relevant alternative or additional perspective regarding the matters in dispute; the legal submission by the amici curiae is often called an amicus brief.

A path forward

AFA has been and remains ready to negotiate solutions but will not agree to categorically undermine the rights of our members as it applies to benefits under state law. However, there is potential for targeted legislative fixes or clarifications to California meal and rest requirements that do not neatly fit into the unique circumstances of Flight Attendant duties on commercial aircraft. AFA remains willing to work with the airline industry and other labor stakeholders to achieve a mutually agreeable path forward.

Get the Facts: Bernstein and California Meal and Rest Break

AFA International will hold a virtual union meeting for Flight Attendants only on Wednesday, July 20th at 2 PM Pacific time. Hear from AFA International President Sara Nelson, AFA General Counsel Joe Burns, and other experts on the facts surrounding the Bernstein case and what it means for Flight Attendants in California.

Click here to RSVP

July 2022 MEC Meeting Recap

Master Executive Council (MEC)

  • Our AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) met this week on Tuesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 13 to conduct their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants.
  • As part of the meeting, the MEC met with members of inflight, labor relations, and executive 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 Thursday, August 11.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your LEC President if you have any questions.

The July 2022 Regular MEC Meeting was held this week on Tuesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 13.  The meeting consisted of updates provided by our MEC Officers, LEC Presidents, Grievance Committee, Scheduling Committee, and Mobilization Committee.  Our MEC also reviewed written reports submitted by other AFA MEC Committee Chairpersons about their current programs of work. 

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, Associate Vice President of Finance & Resource Planning Ryan St. John, Managing Director of Guest Products Todd Traynor-Corey, Vice President of Labor Relations Jenny Wetzel, and Managing Director of Labor Relations Carmen Williams.

Some of the topics that were discussed include:

  • Plans for onboard service changes.  Management shared plans with our MEC for proposed changes to how onboard service is conducted and associated future technology.  Our MEC expressed concerns with how the proposed changes could impact Flight Attendants and asked that management reconsider several aspects of their plan.
  • Distribution of Flight Attendant staffing by base.  Our MEC has again requested that management add staffing to all bases.  Bases outside of SEA need additional Flight Attendants to provide relief, especially to Reserve Flight Attendants.
  • Cross-utilization of Reserve Flight Attendants between domiciles.  Our MEC has again requested that management discontinue the practice of cross-utilizing reserves between domiciles.  Excessive use of this practice is unnecessarily burdensome on Reserve F/As.  With current staffing levels, our MEC believes there is no need for management to continue this practice.
  • Flight Attendant staffing levels.  Management is examining the possibility of offering staffing adjustment leaves in the upcoming months.
  • Quality of pairings.  Our MEC shared that Flight Attendants are looking for improvements to pairing quality.  In particular, there are concerns with pairings being scheduled with long duty days that push contractual limits and subsequent minimum rest on layovers.
  • Issues with hotel and transportation information in Crew Access.  Some pairings have incorrect/missing hotel and transportation information in Crew Access.  As a result, Flight Attendants are having to wait for hotel rooms and/or are being sent to the wrong hotel.  Our MEC believes that this is unacceptable and needs to be fixed immediately.
  • Layover hotel availability and planning.  In anticipation of high demand in certain cities, our AFA Hotel Committee approached management last year and requested that management take a proactive approach in securing additional hotel rooms for crews.  Management did not take meaningful action on the request and now is having challenges securing hotel rooms.
  • Concerns with cutover to new worker’s compensation administrator.  Management has recently switched to a new vendor to administer worker’s compensation claims.  Our AFA Benefits Committee has received reports that the new vendor is not responsive to Flight Attendants in addition to other concerns.
  • Lack of practical, hands-on experience during Initial Training (IT).  Ongoing concern about the lack of practical, hands-on experience in the current IT program. New hire Flight Attendants need to be set up for success and given adequate time to become familiar with the flow of duties on live flights as part of IT. 

MEC Policy & Procedure Manual Amendments

During the June 2022 Regular MEC Meeting, a review of the AFA Alaska MEC Policy & Procedure Manual was conducted to consider possible updates and amendments.  At that meeting, one agenda item was amended and tabled until the July 2022 Regular MEC Meeting and another was referred back to the originator to be rewritten and resubmitted.

This month, our MEC took action on two agenda items for amendment of the MEC Policy & Procedure Manual—the agenda item that had previously been amended and tabled and a rewritten version of the agenda item that had been referred back to the originator at last month’s MEC Meeting.  Both agenda items were adopted.  These agenda items will be incorporated into the manual and posted to the AFA Alaska website early next week.

Questions?

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

Refreshed Inflight Mobile Device (IMD) Distribution

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants Management has recently informed our Master Executive Council (MEC) that they are distributing new Inflight Mobile Devices (IMDs) to Flight Attendants with devices nearing the end of their lifecycle. The specific schedule for this distribution will be communicated by management separately. Flight Attendants with the oldest devices […]

Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Tuesday, September 23, 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), […]

Meet Our Pre-Merger Alaska Committee Chairperson & Representatives

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants We’re excited to introduce the first group of pre-merger Alaska MEC Committee Chairpersons and Representatives for the upcoming MEC Officer term. They’ll begin transitioning into their roles over the next few months and officially start their terms on January 1, 2026. Below, you’ll find brief biographies that […]

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025

On Thursday, September 18, our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing efforts to represent our Flight Attendants and advocate for improvements in our workplace. Although our Inflight Service Committee has now merged, meetings with management continue to focus primarily on the Alaska or Hawaiian brands individually. This particular meeting was centered […]

Vacation Survey Closing Soon

There’s just 1 DAY LEFT to complete the crucial vacation survey that will help shape future provisions—your insights are essential for advocating the best outcomes for all Flight Attendants. The survey is currently open and will remain available until Wednesday, September 24 at 12 PM PT.

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