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Response to the November 18th Inflight Town Hall Webcast

California meal & rest breaks

Management’s continued scare tactics and speculative “what-if’s” as put forward during the Inflight Town Hall webcast today regarding California meal & rest breaks are unnecessary and extremely disappointing. Although it is true there are some challenging aspects of compliance with California meal & rest break laws for commercial aviation, AFA International continues to partner with Alaska Airlines management, other labor groups and the wider aviation industry to achieve a legislative fix. Alaska Airlines management, if you want AFA’s continued partnership on this issue, then maybe you can lay off the specific gloom and doom scenarios for now?

From our perspective, management is nowhere near implementing the following for California-based Flight Attendants: clocking in and out during a duty period, attesting to meal & rest break opportunities, restricting 4k flying, or downsizing or closing California domiciles. Remember earlier this year when management was adamant that they would have to take drastic efforts in response to Bernstein v. Virgin America? It’s been mostly crickets since then. Meanwhile, staffing has started to increase in California – and other carriers have yet to make any discernible changes to their operations.

Management is unnecessarily freaking you out – don’t fall for it!

ALPA Alaska Approves Tentative Agreement for Pilot Ratification

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

Masks Are No Longer Required in Airports or Onboard

The CDC and TSA report the federal mask mandate is no longer in effect after today’s court ruling. The Administration is still reviewing its legal options for addressing the issue of executive authority to issue public health initiatives. 

Additionally, Alaska Airlines management just announced via multiple channels that the mask mandate is lifted effective immediately on all aircraft. This policy change has been picked by media outlets, so it is very likely that passengers will be reading this information possibly before crews hear about it.

We have asked management to push an ACARS message to all aircraft, which we are told should be happening soon–if it hasn’t already.

December 2021 MEC Meeting Recap

December 2021 MEC Meeting Recap

Master Executive Council (MEC) President Jeffrey Peterson

Just wrapped up chairing our monthly MEC meeting yesterday and today.

As usual, your AFA committee chairs and reps provided written reports to the MEC about the latest developments in their areas, and we received live briefings regarding dispute resolution & grievances, scheduling, FA pay, and fatigue. Lots going on out there!

Meeting w/ COO + Inflight + Labor Relations + FA Crew Pay

Notable topics discussed:

  • Recent leadership change and the path forward
  • Acting on FA feedback – Management to communicate administrative details to FAs as soon as possible in the next bulletin
    • 1.5x pay for all  DHD conversions (i.e., including unscheduled DHD conversions) November 1, 2021 – January 2, 2022 – There is no mechanism in Crew Access to track all conversions, so FAs must manually submit in Rainmaker. (November flight activity will process soon, so please submit ASAP if you want November conversions to be paid in December!)
    • Forgiving attendance points for all FA COVID+ absences (i.e., up to 10-day Single Continuous Occurrence substantiated by a positive COVID test that includes the FA’s name, testing facility and date) – Use the COVID+/Vaccine Reaction Points Forgiveness Form (AAG SSO required: Inflight –> Admin –> Performance –> COVID+/Vaccine Reaction Points Forgiveness Form)
    • Removing time restrictions for submissions of the COVID+/Vaccine Reaction Points Forgiveness Form (i.e., no longer a requirement to submit by the end of the next sequence and retroactive 18 months) – Management is researching whether records for previous timeliness denials can be used to retroactively approve.
  • Q4 Computer Based Training (CBT) aka Annual Compliance Training (ACT) – Due December 31st. More than 3000 FAs have not yet completed this.
  • Existing inflight service and pending additional offerings – FAs are exhausted, frustrated, and anxious. Due to pandemic-related concerns, they do not want to be out in the cabin more right now. There is no room for trash. In the MEC’s opinion, Alaska FAs will grow even more upset and mobilized unless management provides additional relief.

I hope you found this recap timely and informative.

In Solidarity,
Jeff

Inflight Leadership Change and the Path Forward

Master Executive Council (MEC) President Jeffrey Peterson

Now that is has been officially announced that Travis will be stepping away as leader of the Inflight division, I thought Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants might want to hear from their MEC president.

I may not always be at liberty to communicate the details of every conversation advocating on your behalf that I have with executive management, but I would like to assure you that those conversations occur regularly and will continue as such. On that note, I have been in communication with Ben, Constance, and Travis, and it is clear that the decision was not made lightly. It is gratifying to see management be so responsive to our concerns.

Although the leadership change introduces additional uncertainty within Inflight, at least in the near term, it also offers potential opportunity for improvement. It will be interesting to see how this all works out—especially with negotiations less than a year away!

/jeff

LOSA Observations Are Underway

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Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) As previously communicated, AFA and management agreed to conduct a Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) to help improve safety for Flight Attendants, other crewmembers, and passengers.  The LOSA program is jointly administered by AFA and management as outlined in the Inflight Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA) Program letter of agreement. The […]

Operational Safety Debriefs

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Master Executive Council (MEC) In 2019, AFA filed grievance number 36-99-2-170-19, which alleged management’s violation of section 19.A of the collective bargaining agreement. The violation was related to an incident where management conducted a debrief meeting with Flight Attendants while they were still on duty following a slide deployment incident. As there was no contractual […]

Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – January 2023

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Scheduling Committee On Tuesday, January 24, our AFA Scheduling Committee 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 Heather Reier (ANC), Rita Tillou (SEA), Melodie Anderes (PDX), Jaqui Bellenie (SFO), Natalie Codd (LAX), and Kitty Cohen (SAN). Also […]

AFA Disaster Relief Fund – California Severe Storms

AFA International The recent severe weather in Northern California that caused flooding, landslides, and mudslides has destroyed property, damaged infrastructure, and forever changed countless people’s lives. A Presidential Declaration of Disaster has been issued for California’s Merced, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz counties. Flight Attendants whose primary residences are in these counties and have been affected by […]

January 2023 MEC Meeting Recap

Master Executive Council (MEC) The January 2023 Regular MEC Meeting was held this week on Tuesday, January 10.  The meeting consisted of updates from 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.  No Meeting With Management […]

Response to the November 18th Inflight Town Hall Webcast

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California meal & rest breaks Management’s continued scare tactics and speculative “what-if’s” as put forward during the Inflight Town Hall webcast today regarding California meal & rest breaks are unnecessary and extremely disappointing. Although it is true there are some challenging aspects of compliance with California meal & rest break laws for commercial aviation, AFA […]

ALPA Alaska Approves Tentative Agreement for Pilot Ratification

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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, […]

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