Quarterly Meeting Minutes
Monday, September 22, 2014
10 AM – 2 PM
Room 227, Alaska Airlines Flight Operations Building, Seattle
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Alaska Airlines Master Executive Council
Monday, September 22, 2014
10 AM – 2 PM
Room 227, Alaska Airlines Flight Operations Building, Seattle
The Master Executive Council (MEC) has recently become aware of situations involving Inflight management discouraging new hires from exercising their contractual ability to trade, reposition, or give away trips or reserve days. This kind of pressure violates our contract.
When you were on probation, did a member of Inflight management discourage you from exercising your contractual rights to trade? We’re looking for first-hand examples of Inflight supervisors or managers discouraging you from:
If you have a first-hand example of an Inflight supervisor or manager pressuring you not to exercise your contractual right, we’re looking for your feedback. Flight Attendants currently on probation: please participate! However, be assured that AFA will hold any responses from probationary Flight Attendants in strict confidence until the completion of probation.
Send an email to probation@afaalaska.org
In Solidarity,
Your MEC—Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt
Please join us in welcoming Bethany Gilbo to the Reserve Committee, effective February 12, 2014. Bethany has been an Alaska Flight Attendant since December 2011 and was with Horizon prior to joining Alaska. This is her first time being involved in a union position. She is looking forward to helping Reserve Flight Attendants gain knowledge about their work group and contract while working to make the transition to their new career as easy and understandable as possible.
The main purpose of the Reserve Committee is to help Flight Attendants to interpret and understand the reserve portion of the contract and serve as a liaison between Crew Scheduling and Flight Attendants holding a reserve schedule. They may be contacted through the PDX AFA Hotline at (503) 396-4089, option 4 or through the AFA website at http://alaskamec.org/pdx/reserves.
Yours In Solidarity,
LEC President Cathy Gwynn, LEC Vice President Brian Palmer, and Local Reserve Committee Chairperson Hannah Winit
When: Thursday, August 29 from 3 to 5 PM
Where: Buffalo Wild Wings, Cascade Station, 9810 NE Cascades Pkwy, Portland, Oregon 97220-6825
We hope you’ll join us for an opportunity to meet the members of the Reserve Committee, ask questions, get answers, and network with your fellow F/As. This is a great opportunity to get to know everyone who has joined us in the PDX base recently including the 35 F/As who will be joining us in September!
All F/As, reserve and lineholder, are welcome! However, due to limited space, no non-F/A guests please.
The AFA-CWA Council 39 Reserve Committee will soon be undergoing a realignment of Committee Members to help keep the Committee closest to those it represents—Flight Attendants holding a reserve schedule.
Melissa Stanek will be joining the Reserve Committee, effective August 1. Melissa recently began her career with Alaska Airlines in September of 2012. As a new Flight Attendant with no previous airline experience, she came into the industry excited to learn as much as she could. Although Melissa has only been with company a short time, her desire to be involved comes with no hesitation.
With a background in Real Estate as well as Sales and Marketing, Melissa has had the opportunity to be involved by helping individuals in the community professionally with high standards and ethics. She grew up in the Portland/ Vancouver area and helping others has always been a part of her nature. She also enjoys the outdoors, traveling and spending time with family.
Melissa is very excited to part of the Portland Reserve Committee and to be able to get to know everyone. Being a part of the Committee will allow her to be available to help anyone that may not understand some of the legalities of our contract and help answer any questions they may have. She is more than happy to assist and excited to get started. She looks forward to helping others and building new relationships.
David Sutherland will take over as Reserve Committee Chairperson, effective September 1. David has served on the Reserve Committee since October 2012 and has been an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant since June 2008. With nearly all of that time spent on reserve, David has developed a firm understanding of the reserve sections of the collective bargaining agreement and is seen by his co-workers as an encyclopedic resource for all things pertaining to reserve.
In his role as Reserve Committee Chairperson, David will lead the long-term efforts and program of work of the Committee and provide support to Committee Members Hannah Winit and Melissa Stanek.
Jennifer Duvall will be leaving the Committee effective August 31. Jenn has served on the Committee since 2010 and will be pursuing other AFA Committee work.
Brian Palmer will be stepping down as Chairperson effective September 1 and will be leaving the Committee effective November 30. He will be focusing on his responsibilities as LEC Vice President for Council 39.
Contact information for Reserve Committee Members can be found on the PDX Reserve Committee page of the MEC website at http://alaskamec.org/pdx/reserves.
Our AFA Reserve Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, June 13, to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent and advocate for our Reserve Flight Attendants. The Committee also met with management to review specific concerns that Flight Attendants brought forward. Your Local Reserve Committee is available to answer questions, clarify contractual language, or help resolve reserve-related issues. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!
On June 25, our AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing work representing Flight Attendants’ interests in lineholder scheduling. The Committee met with management to receive updates and discuss issues and problems Flight Attendants face with scheduling, pairings, and bidding. Your Local Scheduling Committee is available to assist with any lineholder scheduling-related issues. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help!
AFA has not agreed to any extra-contractual terms for the newly announced supplemental ditching training; discussions with management just started. Many management decision-makers are away at contract negotiations, delaying progress toward any sort of agreement. Our AFA Committees are committed to advocating for your rights and will address unresolved issues through the contractual grievance process if necessary.
Our AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) met this week on Monday, June 17, and Tuesday, June 18, to conduct their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants. The MEC was supposed to meet with executive management and union leaders from other company workgroups but chose to skip the meeting in support of our Negotiating Committee. The next Regular MEC Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 9, and Wednesday, July 10.
Flight Attendants are facing technical issues with Crew Access and Open Time trading/dropping, causing stress and frustration. Management plans to resolve these issues with server upgrades in June and July and will monitor the system closely during July Open Time. Our Scheduling Committee has requested a meeting with management to discuss long-term solutions for the ongoing Crew Access challenges.