Important dates

October 14th – 16th – NGP Supplemental Benefits counselor onsite at PDX crew room; 8am – 4pm PT on 10/14; 5:30am – 1:30pm PT on 10/15 and 10/16

October 15th – Vacation bidding Round 2 closes at 11:59pm PT

October 16th – Management crew pay reps available – Laurelhurst Room 8am – 11am PT

October 17th – Local Council Meeting in Laurelhurst Room 10am – 12 noon PT

October 28th – Vacation trading opens at 10am PT

Hawaiian merger committee interviews

Originally published via MEC update on September 19^th, 2024. MEC Update 9/19/24

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) and Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC) Interviews

Expressing Interest & Interview Scheduling

The MEC will hold interviews of eligible candidates during the November Regular MEC Meeting on Tuesday, November 12 and Wednesday, November 13. If you’re interested in interviewing, plan to bid around this date or adjust your schedule accordingly to accommodate. All interviews will be conducted in person in SeaTac, WA.

Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest and resume using the online expression of interest form. The deadline for submissions is 5 PM Pacific time on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. After the submission deadline, an MEC representative will contact eligible candidates to arrange a specific interview time.

Please note that to submit an expression of interest, you must have a Google account.  If you do not have a Google account, you can create one for free at https://accounts.google.com/signup.

Disaster Relief Fund

AFA International

There have been recent changes to the AFA Disaster Relief Fund program.

We are aware of members whose lives and households have been affected by Hurricane Helene. The AFA Disaster Relief Fund is actively monitoring messages for applications. Any AFA member and RAFA member in good standing who is involuntarily displaced from their primary residence for seven or more days because of a natural disaster is eligible for a one-time per calendar year gift of $500. If a member would like to apply for AFA Disaster Relief Funds, they can go to www.afacwa.org/drf and download the Disaster Relief Fund Application. Submission instructions are included on the site.

Additionally, members can apply for FEMA financial relief at https://www.disasterassistance.gov/ or 800-621-3362. 

FEMA disaster assistance may help with a range of needs including:  

Serious Needs Assistance. Money to help one pay for essential items such as food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies.

Displacement Assistance. Money to help with housing needs. If one cannot return to their home because of the disaster, this money can be used to stay in a hotel, with family and friends, or other options while one looks for a rental unit.

Other eligible expenses. This includes expenses from things like rental assistance, basic home repairs and property losses.

For more information and/or to contribute to AFA’s Disaster Relief Fund to help fellow members, please visit Disaster Relief Fund – Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (afacwa.org)

Grievance report

Recent performance meetings include sick leave abuse, personal conduct and attendance warnings. There has been a notable increase in attendance written and final warnings for points. If you are not familiar with attendance policies, please review Section 32 – Attendance Policy in our contract at AFA-ALA-eJCBA-2018-2021-v.2019.06.12.3.pdf (afaalaska.org)

Please make sure you are aware of your attendance points status and check your attendance points regularly (Crew Access>Reports>Attendance points.) If you find an error, please contact your attendance supervisor directly to resolve.

Multiple members have received no-shows lately for not returning calls to crew scheduling. In the absence of a documented network outage at a cellular carrier level, there is little that can be done to mitigate the points from a no-show when a claim is made that a call wasn’t received and/or a voicemail wasn’t delivered. Management can document the outbound call to your phone number on file through call logs and the voice messages that are left are on a recorded line. Management’s position is that it is your responsibility to be contactable. This applies to both Reserve and Lineholder Flight Attendants.

Google Voice number recommendation

If you only have one phone number on file, it is recommended that you establish a free Google Voice number and provide that as a secondary number for scheduling to call should they not reach you on your primary number. From Anthony Eskander, local Reserve Committee Chairperson and Inflight Instructor:

Due to the recent nationwide issues with cell phone carriers, my advice is to get a free Google Voice number to use as your secondary number. The Google Voice App offers a free service that assigns you a free phone number that lets you forward calls and voicemails to your cell phone and email using data/W-Fi. If you would like to use this as your secondary number, it needs to be listed as mobile, home, or work in PeopleSoft.

Visit Voice (google.com) for more information and to establish an account. 

New committee members

Megan Getske – Government Affairs Committee

Megan began flying in 2008 with Virgin America. While there, she was elected to the Work Rules committee and was later involved in getting a Union to represent the Virgin America Flight Attendants. 

Megan transferred to the Portland base in 2019 and now lives in Vancouver, WA with the two best kitties a cat lady could ask for!

Jessica Rodriguez-Aguinaga – Scheduling Committee

Jessica has been a Flight Attendant since 2016. A proud graduate of Washington State University (WSU), she earned a bachelor’s degree and has an educational background encompassing business administration, human resources, accounting, and social sciences.

Beyond her professional achievements, she enjoys spending quality time with her family and their beloved four-legged companions; three charming Chihuahuas and an adorable Frenchie! Jessica describes her journey as a harmonious balance between professional success and personal fulfillment, reflecting her dedication to both career and cherished loved ones. She looks forward to working with all of us in the Portland base.

Please join us in welcoming Megan and Jessica!

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

AFA International 

In 2024 an estimated 310,720 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S., as well as 56,500 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. There are currently over 4 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. – many who fly with us every day. A study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that Flight Attendants have a higher prevalence of every cancer they studied, especially breast cancer, melanoma, and non-melanoma skin cancer.

Early detection of the disease remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. When breast cancer is detected early with adequate diagnosis and treatment, there is a good chance that breast cancer can be cured. 

This is something that affects all of us within our Flight Attendant community and the world. Use this month to encourage your mothers, spouses, sisters, and flying partners to get an exam or perform a self-exam.

Remember, your AFA EAP is available to confidentially assist you with any health-related issues. You can find a listing of your local EAP committee members at Council 39 Committees (afaalaska.org)

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Steve, Krystle and Bethany

From AFA International Membership Services

Elected; Term of office July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026

LEC President:            Steven Maller
LEC Vice President:    Krystle Berry
LEC Secretary:            Bethany Badalamenti

You can see the certified results here: 

council_39_certified_election_results_2023.pdf (afacwa-elections.org)

Thank you for voting!

Steve, Krystle and Bethany

In this edition:

• End of year reminders
• AFA dues
• Scheduling and reserve FAQs
• Send a letter – Fund the NLRB

End of year reminders

December 15: Travel Open Enrollment closes

December 31: Annual compliance training – Q4 CBT due

December 31: Print or email unused Guest Passes 

AFA dues

Many Council 39 members are in arrears with their monthly AFA dues based on the most recent report from AFA’s Membership Services department. Any amount may cause a member to fall into “Bad Standing” if not paid within 90 days. Once in Bad Standing, members’ votes are not counted nor are they permitted to attend local Council meetings until they become current or make alternate payment arrangements.   

The Membership Services department has sent invoices directly to all members who are showing in arrears. Our local Membership Committee has also reached out to members who are behind in their dues. If you have questions regarding your balance, please reach out to AFA Membership Services.  

Scheduling and reserve FAQs

Am I contactable on a sit?

Yes. Lineholders and Reserve Flight Attendants must remain contactable during ground time per Section 8.Q [Contactability]. If Crew Scheduling follows all the required steps to contact you during ground time and you do not return the call as specified in Section 32.C.1 [No Show] and Section 32.C.15[Failure to Contact], you will likely be assessed attendance points.  

Can Crew Scheduling attempt contact during crew rest?

Yes. One time. If you are contacted more than once on a layover, please submit a support ticket at support.afaalaska.org  Flight Attendants are not required to be contactable on layovers but must return Crew Scheduling’s call at the start of the next duty period. Please see Section 8, Addendum 10. 

Must Crew Scheduling place uncovered flights in Open Time?

No. There is no contractual requirement to place uncovered flying in Open Time prior to being assigned to a Flight Attendant. Crew Scheduling may withhold trips for up to 15 minutes to determine an assignment. Please see Section 12.E.1.d [Open Time] for more information.

Please reach out to any Scheduling or Reserve Committee representative if you have any questions.

Send a letter – Fund the NLRB

From the AFL-CIO

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is in a funding crisis. We need a fully funded NLRB to investigate unfair labor practices and conduct union elections. Take two minutes to send a letter to your senators to demand funding for the NLRB.

All over the country, workers are organizing to win union elections and fight illegal corporate union-busting. The NLRB is supposed to back us up by enforcing labor law and worker protections. 

But the NLRB is severely underfunded and doesn’t have enough staff to do its job. 

The agency hasn’t had a budget increase since 2014, which is a 25% budget decrease when you factor in inflation. 

Without the NLRB, we can’t hold corporations accountable or build worker power through stronger unions. 

It’s that simple.

Take two minutes to write a letter and tell your senators: Fund the National Labor Relations Board. 

Local Council Meeting Reminder

Originally published October 4, 2022

November 4th, 2022

Time: 11am – 1pm 

PDX Airport, Village conference room 

Please join us for our bi-annual local Council meeting. Your LEC officers will be available to share up-to-date information pertaining to the Council and committees. We will also be joined, via conference call, by members of the Delta AFA organizing team.

Election Day is November 8th

Don’t forget to VOTE on November 8th. Next year will be critical for Flight Attendants. The FAA is up for reauthorization in 2023. We need members of Congress who will fight for our issues. We cannot sit this one out!

Voting is key to our credibility with Congress. Turning out in large numbers to vote is critically important to ensure our voice is heard. Voting — not how you vote but whether or not you exercise this constitutional right — is public record. When we’re able to say with credibility “Flight Attendants vote!” it increases our ability to move our issues.

Annual Benefits Enrollment

This year’s Annual Benefits Enrollment period is here, meaning now is the time to make changes to your 2023 benefit elections for you and your family. The deadline to enroll or make changes is November 16th, so be sure to act now before time runs out.

You can enroll at myalaskabenefits.com. REMEMBER: This is the only time you can make changes to your benefits without a qualifying life event (birth, marriage, etc.) so be sure to enroll before the November 16th deadline. 

AFA Monthly Membership Dues Obligations 

Coming out of the pandemic, and with the unprecedented number of leaves that were taken by Flight Attendants, we are seeing challenges and confusion around Union dues that are owed during that time, as well as how dues payments are owed during other leaves, such as maternity, personal injury, or long-term worker’s comp. 

If you are on a completely unpaid leave, you will still owe for the first three (3) months of that leave. Therefore, if you took a six-month COVID leave and you were not coordinating any vacation and/or sick leave to cover healthcare, life insurance, short term disability premiums, etc., then you would wind up owing $150 for those first three months. After that, you are not considered an “active” Flight Attendant and dues obligations are suspended until you return to active status.  

If you are on a leave of any kind and you coordinate sick leave and/or vacation in any given months, you are responsible for your dues for those months (“dues obligated”) because you are on payroll and considered an active Flight Attendant. Even if you don’t receive any net pay, due to insurance premiums and other voluntary deductions coming out of your gross pay, you are still dues obligated for those months. Basically, if you are benefiting from an AFA contract financially, you owe dues.

We are also seeing an increase in Flight Attendants who are not working enough TFP in each month to cover all deductions and dues. Many Flight Attendants are dropping to minimal flying and not having enough net pay (after taxes and insurance premiums, etc.) to cover their dues obligation for the month. In these cases, dues must be paid directly to International.   

How does this impact you?

We have a significant number of Flight Attendants who are currently in arrears and in bad standing. Members in bad standing will not have their votes counted in any elections, including voting on a new contract (tentative agreement.) You must be in good standing to have your vote counted. 

Please see Section 26 of the JCBA for more information regarding dues and membership standing. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to any LEC officer or the AFA International membership services department at Contact Membership Services – Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (afacwa.org)

To make an online payment to AFA, click AFA-CWA Online Dues Payment 

Stronger Together, Better Together: Join the Delta AFA Campaign 

What happens at Delta matters for all of us. Delta Air Lines has undercut our careers by billions of dollars, spoken in place of Flight Attendants on Capitol Hill and, as globalization speeds up, no contract for Flight Attendants at Delta also jeopardizes job security for all of us. Delta CEO Ed Bastian wouldn’t do his job without a contract to protect him and his interests, yet the airline he runs spends tens of millions of dollars to deny Flight Attendants the same rights.

Undercutting our worth and standing at Delta ultimately means Delta is stealing from all of us. But we can change that by supporting Delta Flight Attendants in their efforts to gain AFA representation and the means to negotiate a contract. The only way to push our careers forward is through strength in numbers and continuing to set the highest standards at every airline. 

You can do a lot to help our flying partners at Delta. Sign up to be a supporter, connect us with a Delta Flight Attendant you know, learn more about their campaign, and get tools to help organize.

Council 39 is joining the campaign. Show your support and help Delta Flight Attendants secure their Union! Sign up now >