Winter Holiday Incentive 2021

December 22, 2021 23:00

Winter Holiday Incentive 2021

Master Executive Council (MEC)

Double time (2.0x) premium on all flights flown, including surface deadhead, and/or Airport Standby (APSB) that begin or end between and including 00:00 (midnight) 12/23/2021 and 23:59 1/2/2022 local time
Holiday reassignments pay protection (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day)

In response to the current operational challenges, your MEC approached management earlier this afternoon with an eleventh-hour proposal for a winter holiday incentive. After some conversation back and forth, the parties ultimately agreed to implement the following program in recognition of the unique challenges to the operation and to the Flight Attendant group due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Double time (2.0x) premium

Flight Attendants will be paid double time (2.0x) premium during the Winter Holiday Incentive 2021 period on all flights flown, including surface deadhead, and/or APSB. This will further increase Premium Open Time premiums, holiday pay premium, over-duty premiums, etc., by an additional one times the trip rate (1.0x) on the existing premium.

Examples:

1.0x (“straight time”) –> 2.0x
1.5x (e.g., Premium Open Time) –> 2.5x
2.0x (e.g., holiday pay, over-duty pay, Premium Open Time) –> 3.0x

Please note the premiums under this incentive program are not pay protected—the same as all other premiums in the contract except where indicated otherwise.

Holiday reassignments pay protection (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day)

Flight Attendants who are scheduled to fly on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day will be pay protected for any reduction to holiday pay resulting from a reassignment. Flight Attendants must submit for the applicable pay protection in Rainmaker.

Example: If a Flight Attendant were scheduled to fly Seattle to Anchorage on a holiday but was instead reassigned to fly Seattle to San Francisco, the FA would normally be paid 2.0x holiday pay on the 2.0 TFP for SEA-SFO instead of on the 4.0 TFP for SEA-ANC. However, the FA will be pay protected the difference under this incentive program if the FA submits for the applicable pay protection in Rainmaker.

We sincerely hope Flight Attendants will find this program to be a meaningful incentive for helping to support the operation over the holidays and during such a challenging time. If you are not already flying and have the capacity to do so, please consider picking up additional flying at this increased premium.

In Solidarity,

Your AFA Alaska MEC – Jeff, Brian, Linda, Matt, Terry, Steve, Melissa, Tim, Brice

AFA Alaska News in Review – December 17, 2021

December 17, 2021 17:00

In This Edition

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021
Mental Health Resolutions for the New Year
Shared on Social

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021

Originally posted December 13, 2021

Our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met on Friday, December 10 to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent Flight Attendants interests related to catering and onboard service/sales. The Committee also met with management to receive updates and discuss issues and problems that Flight Attendants are facing onboard the aircraft. Please continue to report catering issues through Block2Block and safety-related issues through ReportIt! Management has seen a decrease in reporting in the weeks since the November 4th service expansion and believes that problems have been resolved.

Read More >

Mental Health Resolutions for the New Year

Originally posted December 16, 2021

The New Year is not just a ritual. It is the celebration of new hopes and dreams. It is an opportunity to start with a clean slate. Typically, New Year resolutions tend to focus on weight, general health and finances. But, what might the new year offer us if we used it as an opportunity to commit to improvements in our emotional and mental well-being. Below are seven positive mental health resolutions that you can borrow for your new year.

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REMINDER: Expressions of interest for our Negotiating Committee positions are still open through Tuesday, December 28 at 5 PM Pacific time. Read more about the position or submit your expression of interest and resume on the Contract 2022 website at https://contract2022.afaalaska.org/committee/afa-alaska-negotiations-update-october-29-2021/#committee.

AFA Alaska News in Review – December 10, 2021

December 10, 2021 17:00

In This Edition

Messages From the MEC President
Human Rights Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021
Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021
Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021
Shared on Social

Messages From the MEC President

Inflight Leadership Change and the Path Forward (December 6, 2021)
December 2021 MEC Meeting Recap (December 8, 2021)

Human Rights Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021

Originally posted December 9, 2021

Our AFA Human Rights Committee Chairpersons met on Monday, December 6 to discuss their ongoing program of work to advance human rights within our workplace and community. The Committee was scheduled to meet with management, but management cancelled the joint portion of the meeting with short notice due to the inflight management changes that took place at about the same time. Management rescheduled the meeting to take place on January 11, 2022. If you have ideas, thoughts, or feedback for the committee, your Local Human Rights Committee Chairperson would love to hear from you!

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Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021

Originally posted December 10, 2021

Our AFA Reserve Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, December 9 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!

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Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2021

Originally posted December 10, 2021

Our AFA Hotel Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, December 9 to discuss their ongoing program of work to protect and improve the quality of Flight Attendant hotel accommodations and ground transportation providers. The Committee met with representatives from management and the Company’s crew accommodations vendor to review current trends and concerns related to layover hotels and transportation. More than ever, the Committee needs your help in reporting hotel and transportation concerns through CrewCare. If issues aren’t reported through CrewCare, then management believes they don’t exist!

Read More >

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Contract negotiations are scheduled to begin in September 2022. Are you in the loop about the negotiations timeline and what’s scheduled to happen between now and then? Check out more at https://contract2022.afaalaska.org/about/timeline.

December 2021 MEC Meeting Recap

December 8, 2021 17:00

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 31^st. 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

December 6, 2021 12:10

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