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        You are here: Home / Archives for Latest News

        Council 35 News – October 2019

        November 1, 2019 10:47

        Membership Meeting November 4

        Please join us for the next Council 35 membership meeting in SFO. 

        Please review this past communication for details.

        Management continues to disrespect our contractual language by failing to provide a real-time trading system.  Let them know that enough is enough!  It’s time for management to be accountable, take action to fix Crew Access, and provide a trading system that works for our Flight Attendants!  

        Your Master Executive Council (MEC) is asking for you to take action by joining the campaign to let management know that the time for excuses is over.  Select this link to send an email message to management letting them know that it’s time for them to take responsibility, honor their agreements, and fix the problems once and for all.  Let’s flood management’s inboxes with our messages and let them know that we’re tired of apologies and ready for action!TSA Crew Member Self Defense TrainingActive crew members of all domestic scheduled carriers are eligible to attend the TSA Crew Member Self Defense Training Program.  The program provides four-hours of training to prepare active crew members of all domestic scheduled carriers for potential physical altercations both on and off the aircraft.

        To register for this no-cost training, search for the training course near you and submit the online registration form. Reporting instructions will be provided upon registration and successful verification of employment.

        Upcoming Bay Area dates and location: South San Francisco, CA

        1. November 15, 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
        2. December 6, 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. 


        End of Year Record Improvement

        JCBA 32.G.4 defines the year-end record improvement process for Flight Attendants. If a Flight Attendant has no more than 4 attendance points at the end of the year, s/he achieves 480 annual TFP,  and the FA does not accumulate any points for the months of November and December, then her/his point balance will be brought to zero.  The manual adjustment occurs mid-January which will be reflected on FAs attendance point records.  Important note for L-VX FAs:  the 480 TFP qualification for end of year record improvement is not required for the year 2019, however it be for the year 2020.Delinquent Dues  
        Based on the latest October report from AFA International, Council 35 has 137members with an account past due and considered in “Bad Standing.”   

        Paying membership dues is a condition of employment which is defined in §28 of the JCBA. Delinquency will place a member in “Bad Standing” and the member will not be able to attend Union Meetings or participate in any voting activities, including officer elections and voting on TAs. After several months of attempting to collect delinquent dues, a member will be placed at “Standing 5,” which is the designation for the final stage of delinquency and AFA will request discharge of employment for non-payment of dues. To ensure AFA membership stays current members in Standing 3 should either bring account up-to-date or commit to a promissory note payment plan to avoid being advanced to Standing 5 and possible termination.  To confirm the exact amount needed to make your account current, use the following link to contact an AFA representative:
        https://www.afacwa.org/ contact_membership_services
        To make a payment:https://secure.unasecure.net/ afanet/dues_payment.cfm
        For more information about promissory notes:https://www.afacwa.org/ payment_options
        For those members that have not made accounts current, Council 35 will be sending individual emails as a reminder with specific account information.  For more information regarding dues, please contact James Ikehara or Aladrian Hillmon. 

        The Company Knows What About Me?

        When Grievance Committee Members represent a Flight Attendant in an investigatory meeting, the Flight Attendant is often surprised by the depth of information that is easily accessible to management. Not a comprehensive list, however some of the evidence brought forward during an investigation are in the form of the following:

        • All non-revenue travel history online and offline via ID90 and MyIDTravel
        • Date non-revenue/commuter listings were created
        • Date non-revenue tickets were purchased
        • Eligible family members-date/destination of travel and date  listings were created
        • Guest passes-date/destination of travel and date listings were created
        • Date/destination a Flight Attendant travels using paid revenue tickets on Alaska and other carriers
        • All correspondence and email content on alaskaair.com email accounts, including messages that have been deleted
        • All stored data and usage history of an inflight mobile device (IMD), including any internet browsing history and apps downloaded
        • Location of an IMD (or last known location if powered off), even if not connected to the internet
        • All schedule changes on Crew Access including when a trip is advertised/un-advertised; all comments posted on trip giveaways and trades; record of all trades and attempted trades
        • The location from where a Flight Attendant accesses Alaskasworld.com and/or Crew Access (using the IP address)
        • Hotel surveillance camera records and key card room access detail
        • Access records, including timestamps, for employee parking lot card readers, company badge readers, KCM barcode scans, and SIDA badge readers
        • Surveillance camera records for company buildings, company leased space, employee parking lots, and other airport property
        • Public social media accounts

        Information provided courtesy of the MEC Grievance Committee.

        New Human Rights Committee

        Council 35 is happy to announce the appointment of Ryan Pittinger as Chair of the newly created Human Rights Committee (HRC).  Ryan attended a training event in LAS in September which was the launch of the new committee by AFA International.  Ryan is excited to get this new committee up and running and wrote a small description of his experience.  Please read his letter to Council 35 members to understand his passion for the ground-breaking role.

        Committee Chairs and Members Needed

        The following Council 35 committees have vacancies in both the chair and member positions:

        • Benefits
        • Retirement
        • Air Safety, Health & Security

        If you are interested in volunteering, please have a look at the position duties and responsibilities and reach out to your Council 35 officers at SFO@afaalaska.org.

        Open Enrollment Base Sits

        Open enrollment for Alaska Airlines benefits elections started last week on October 23.  Enrollment will be open through November 13, 2019.  Council 35 will be hosting a base sit in the SFO village November 10-12. Please stop by for information regarding this year’s options.  Light refreshments will be provided.  Please look for another communication with more details in the next week.

        FAQs

        How do I contact Council 35 Officers?

        The best way to contact Council 35 officers is via email using a personal email account. The preferred methods of contact are:

        • sfo@afaalaska.org (this is the group contact for all officers-if one officer is flying /unavailable the other officers can respond)
        • Individual officer emails (if information is for a specific officer)
        • Calls/text (if situation requires more urgent attention)

        When contacting Council 35 Officers please avoid the following methods:

        • Sending to/from alaskaair.com email (subject to company audits and therefore not private)
        • Officer personal Facebook/social media accounts (not actively monitored for AFA concerns)
        • Excessively lengthy texts (please use email for important information as it’s easier to respond and forward to appropriate resource-texts should be reserved for alerts to an issue that requires a timely response)

        Please allow at least 24 business hours for a response to any method of contact (email, phone, text).  

        In solidarity,

        Melissa, Aladrian, James and Brad

        Filed Under: Council 35 SFO, Latest News Tagged With: Council 35, SFO

        Yet Another System Malfunction (This Time Vacation Trading)

        October 28, 2019 21:00

        Your Master Executive Council (MEC) is aware that the vacation trading system malfunctioned for approximately 25 minutes just as vacation trading opened for Seattle around 2 PM PT. Just like with the recent Crew Access malfunction, this all went down despite a whole crew of IT personnel monitoring the vacation trading system. Access was restored immediately following the outage, but the root cause is still not known as of this writing. We will continue to monitor and report issues to management for resolution.

        A dedicated AFA representative was monitoring the system with IT throughout the entire day from 8 AM to 5 PM PT. Once there was a known issue, our AFA rep was immediately briefed and worked alongside those with first-hand knowledge of the system to find a quick resolution. Despite those efforts, the MEC is once again extremely disappointed in the results—just like you are. 

        We want a vacation trading system (and a trip trading system and a payroll system) that meets the needs of our Flight Attendants. Anything less is unacceptable. The MEC has heard you loud and clear: You don’t want apologies. You want results. And you demand systems that meet our contractual requirements. 

        AFA leadership has and will continue to communicate to management the universal frustration our members feel about the various Company IT systems—and the expectation is that management should stop talking about it, and FIX it!!

        In Solidarity,

        Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

        Filed Under: Latest News, Master Executive Council (MEC), Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2019, system failure, vacation, vacation opentime, vacation OT, vacation trading

        AFA Special Update – Negotiations

        October 25, 2019 18:00

        In This Edition (October 25, 2019)

        • Open Time Negotiations – October 22 Recap
        • Back to Book
        • Fixing Crew Access

        Open Time Negotiations – October 22 Recap

        Your AFA Alaska Negotiating Committee resumed Open Time negotiations with management on October 22 in Seattle. The Negotiating Committee started out the day with high hopes based on the progress we made in the prior session. Although the parties made their best effort to maintain our momentum, we were unable to break through to an agreement on the final terms and found ourselves at an impasse.

        The AFA Negotiating Committee had a mandate from membership to preserve direct dropping into Open Time, eliminate trading codes, allow day-for-day or greater trading in Open Time and to address “super closing” of days. The parties discussed several variations of new and prior proposals, but management firmly believed that all of them would potentially create an unacceptable operational and financial liability for the Company.

        Back to Book

        Consequently, AFA and management agreed we will be going “Back to Book” as soon as possible. The current Open Time trading rules will remain in place until the Back to Book trading rules can be programmed into Crew Access. The Back to Book trading rules are outlined in the second Section 12 [Exchange of Sequences] of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA), labeled Back to Book (BTB) Section 12. (Yes, there are two Section 12s.) The Back to Book trading rules are found under (BTB) Section 12.F [Trades with Open Time]. Those rules are further modified by the “Withholding Open Time Award” (No. 36-99-02-18-11), which is found at the back of the JCBA under Grievance 1.

        Most Flight Attendants today were not flying at Alaska when those Open Time trading rules were last in effect, so naturally there are many questions. Be on the lookout for a future communication dedicated to Back to Book Open Time trading rules.  

        Fixing Crew Access

        Open Time trading is essentially ineffective without the real-time, stable trading system that management is obligated to provide. Your AFA Master Executive Council (MEC) had a very encouraging meeting with management and Ken Sain, President of Digital Solutions and Analytics for Boeing Global Services, and members of his team. Management will be communicating the details of that meeting.

        Although the MEC is tentatively optimistic that the Crew Access issues are finally getting long-overdue attention by the right people, we’re not relying on sincere apologies and handshakes to get us there. You can help by sending a letter to management to fix Crew Access. It’s super easy—just click the link below.

        >> Click here to send management your letter <<

        We must stand together and speak with one overwhelmingly loud voice to ensure that management hears our message—that they need to honor their obligations and fix Crew Access NOW!

        Coming Soon

        Stay tuned for the following AFA negotiations special updates (order of release subject to change):

        • Block hours vs. TFP
        • Block or Better vs. Block Delay
        • Incentive Pay vs. Productivity Premium Program (PPP)
        • Inflight Team Leader (ITL) Pay vs. “A” Pay
        • Section 6 Negotiations Overview
        • Negotiating for Our Future
        • Back to Book Open Time Trading Rules

        Filed Under: Latest News, Negotiations Tagged With: Back to Book, Fix Crew Access, History of Open Time, negotiations, Open Time, Open Time Trial, OT, ot trial

        AFA Special Update – Negotiations

        October 22, 2019 14:00

        In This Edition (October 22, 2019)

        • Open Time Negotiations October 9 & 10 Recap
        • Send Your Message to Management: Fix Crew Access NOW!
        • Block or Better vs. TFP—and Other Concerns

        Open Time Negotiations – October 9 & 10 Recap

        Your AFA Alaska Negotiating Committee resumed Open Time negotiations with management on October 9 & 10 in Seattle. The Master Executive Council (MEC) pulled the Open Time Tentative Agreement (TA) in May of this year over concerns that AFA and management had different interpretations of how a day would open and close for Open Time trading. The parties are re-negotiating Open Time trading rules to replace the Open Time Trial, which was officially actually canceled by AFA back in the summer of 2016. The Open Time Trial trading rules remain place today.

        The parties made a lot of progress during the two-day session. In order to maintain the momentum of that session, the negotiating teams are meeting today (October 22) in Seattle.

        Send Your Message to Management: Fix Crew Access NOW!

        Regardless of the progress on Open Time negotiations, any possible changes to contractual trading language will mean nothing without a real-time, stable trading system that management is obligated to provide.  Your AFA Master Executive Council (MEC) is calling upon all Flight Attendants to stand together and let management know that we are tired of the excuses and ready for management to act!

        Click here to send management your letter

        As of today, only 25% of Alaska Flight Attendants have submitted letters to management demanding that immediate programming fixes be made to Crew Access.  That means that on a 4-person crew, only one Flight Attendant has taken action to stand up and fight back.  Spread the word and share the campaign and the link above with your flying partners and fellow Flight Attendants.  We must stand together and speak with one overwhelmingly loud voice to ensure that management hears our message—that they need to honor their obligations and fix Crew Access NOW!

        Block or Better vs. TFP—and Other Concerns

        Legacy Virgin America (L-VX) Flight Attendants have brought forward concerns that at least some contractual pay provisions may not be as generous as the related pay provisions in the now-defunct L-VX Work Rules. The chatter about “Block or Better” vs. TFP is just one example of several. All educational materials out there at the moment—including pay calculators—are grassroots efforts and have not been vetted for accuracy and are not endorsed by AFA leadership.

        We are just one year away from serving notice to engage in Section 6 negotiations. Discussion and debate about potential negotiations topics is not only expected but also beneficial—as long as the conversation remains respectful and factual. Be aware that management often gains access to the “secret” social media venues, so we recommend that Flight Attendants refrain from discussing negotiations “wish list” items on social media due to the potentially negative strategic impact.

        AFA Alaska will publish a series of educational articles covering some of the topics being talked about on the line, such as “Block hours vs. TFP” and “Block or better vs. block delay.” See the “Coming Soon” section for a more comprehensive list.

        Coming Soon

        Stay tuned for the following AFA negotiations special updates (order of release subject to change):

        • Open Time Negotiations – October 21 Recap
        • Block hours vs. TFP
        • Block or Better vs. Block Delay
        • Incentive Pay vs. Productivity Premium Program (PPP)
        • Inflight Team Leader (ITL) Pay vs. “A” Pay
        • Section 6 Negotiations Overview
        • Negotiating for Our Future

        Filed Under: Latest News, Master Executive Council (MEC), Negotiations Tagged With: 2019, crew access, History of Open Time, negotiations, Open Time

        AFA Update – October 18, 2019

        October 18, 2019 12:00

        In This Edition

        • Tell Management: Fix Crew Access NOW!
        • Information that the Company Knows

        Tell Management: Fix Crew Access NOW!

        Master Executive Council (MEC)

        Management continues to disrespect our contractual language by failing to provide a real-time trading system.  Let them know that enough is enough!  It’s time for management to be accountable, take action to fix Crew Access, and provide a trading system that works for our Flight Attendants!

        Click here to join the campaign!

        Your Master Executive Council (MEC) is asking for you to take action by joining the campaign to let management know that the time for excuses is over.  Click the link above to send an email message to management letting them know that it’s time for them to take responsibility, honor their agreements, and fix the problems once and for all.  Let’s flood management’s inboxes with our messages and let them know that we’re tired of apologies and ready for action!

        Information that the Company Knows

        Grievance Committee

        Many times, when Grievance Committee Members are representing a Flight Attendant in an investigatory meeting, the Flight Attendant can be shocked to discover the depth of information that is readily accessible to management.  We believe it is important for all Flight Attendants to know what kind of information management can uncover usually very easily.

        The Company has ready access to the following:

        • All non-revenue travel history online and offline via ID90 and myIDTravel
        • When non-revenue listings were made
        • When non-revenue tickets were purchased
        • When and where eligible family members are traveling and when the listings were made
        • Who is traveling on guest passes and when, where s/he travels, and when the listings were made
        • When and where a Flight Attendant travels on paid revenue tickets on Alaska and other carriers
        • All correspondence and email content on alaskaair.com email accounts, including messages that have been deleted
        • All stored data and usage history of an inflight mobile device (IMD), including any internet browsing history and apps downloaded
        • Location of an IMD (or last known location if powered off), even if not connected to the internet
        • All trip posting/trading information from Crew Access
          • When a trip is advertised
          • When a trip is un-advertised
          • All comments and historical comments posted on trip giveaways and trades 
          • A timed record of all trades and attempted trades
        • The location from where a Flight Attendant accesses Alaskasworld.com and/or Crew Access (using the IP address)
        • Hotel surveillance camera records and key card room access detail
        • Access records, including timestamps, for employee parking lot card readers, company badge readers, KCM barcode scans, and SIDA badge readers
        • Surveillance camera records for company buildings, company leased space, employee parking lots, and other airport property
        • Public social media accounts

        This list may not be comprehensive; there is a possibility of other information the Company could easily discover. 

        Questions?

        If you have any questions, please contact your Local Grievance Committee. 

        Filed Under: Latest News

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