AFA-CWA Council 19 Base Meeting

When: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016

Where: Meeting location will be at the BEIJING ROOM on the mezzanine level (south end) of SEA-TAC Airport at the Sea-Tac Conference Center

Time: 1pm-4pm

(Parking will be validated on any floor except floor 4 in terminal)

Your AFA Officers are preparing for the annual AFA Board of Directors (BOD) meeting and we need to discuss the agenda items for the BOD and seek your input. We will be posting the agenda items for review and look forward to discussing them with you at the May 17th meeting.

Please bring all your Open Time trading questions for our scheduling experts; we will be having a Q&A regarding Open Time trading. If you can’t attend our base meeting send us your trading questions to sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org.

Agenda

1. Call meeting to order

a. Call for late agenda items

b. Late agenda items

c. Announcements

2. AFA BOD agenda items

3.  LEC Update

a. Officer Update

i. LEC President Report

ii. LEC VP Report

iii. LEC Sec and Membership Report

b. Committee Report

4. Open Time Trading Q&A

5. Budget Review

If you would like to add an agenda item please email LEC Secretary Linda Christou at lschristou@comcast.net by May 8th.

In solidarity,

LEC President Laura Masserant,

LEC VP/MEC Scheduling Chair Jake Jones,

LEC Sec/Tres Linda Christou,

Council Rep Stephanie Adams, and Council Rep Adam Clarey

As many of you know, Seattle open time did not go smoothly~ again. Moving the date of open time to the 17^th of the month was supposed to help the on-going issues Seattle faces every month with access to the system: A system that cannot handle the amount of users on a normal day, let alone open time day. However, this month another glitch caused many of you to lose out on your ability to access open time.

I have asked Ron Calvin to address the latest technical issues with Seattle’s access to February open time, but I want you to know I have heard your frustrations and I believe it is important to address this issue with you first hand.

On the morning of February 17^th eMaestro, and your ability to access eMaestro, was affected by the release of the must read bulletin for the new manual revision. Specifically, “Alaska IT was able to track the problem to another database inflight uses when issuing bulletins.  The slowness occurred while the system was verifying that bulletins had been read.” We all know this was more than a slowness to the system. Flight Attendants were flat out denied access open time or kicked out if they were already in. Moving forward, I have requested management to take appropriate actions during periods of higher volume usage, specifically the commencement of open time, to ease the burden on this outdated and fragile system.

We did not receive any reported issues with January’s open time. So, I believe that we are on the right track, to protect your access to open time, with the decision to move Seattle open time to the 17^th. Now we need to ensure that access to open time is not impacted by other systems or IT glitches.

It is extremely frustrating that Seattle continues to experience issues with open time and that Flight Attendants are expected to deal with a substandard system. AFA continues to address these issues with management, but there is no quick fix. We have high hopes for the new JCTE system that comes on line this fall, but as with any new system, it is likely that we will experience a few hiccups along the way.

Also, I want to address some of the concerns I am receiving about the new open time rules. In reviewing the historical data since the changes to open time, AFA notes that many Flight Attendants are successfully dropping trips into open time. So successfully, in fact, that the days are closing within minutes. Remember, all days are open with the commencement of open time and only close when the Threshold Sequence Number, TSN, is met. Once the day is closed you have to be mindful of how you can trade or drop your trips. Remember, the only way the day opens back up is by Flight Attendants picking up enough sequences to drop the TSN number below the threshold~ Currently 11 for Seattle.

The closing of days on open time day is not tied to the IT glitches that plague eMaestro. Days closing in the month are directly tied to your ability to drop trips into open time. And again, Flight Attendants are successfully utilizing this new ability.

The “Open Time Trial” officially begins with February Open Time. Although Seattle experienced a rough start to the trial, it is our hope that you learn how to use the new system and maximize your ability to work your schedule. I will continue to seek your feedback, over the next year, during the open time trial, and place a vote for Seattle based this feedback.

There is a learning curve with the new trading system. We encourage you to review the language in Section 12.F and read the blast emails sent out from AFA that offers helpful hints for successful trading. Also, you can email your scheduling committee, sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org or any of your LEC Officers for advice and assistance.

Thank you for your emails~ It’s important to hear from you so we can address questions, concerns, and comments.

In Solidarity,

Laura Masserant

LEC President Council 19

Seattle

Do you have questions about your choices for Open Enrollment?

Do you need some assistance accessing the benefits website?

Members of your Council 19 AFA Benefits Committee will be hosting base sits on the following dates in the Seattle Inflight Service Center.

Please take a few extra minutes to stop by before or after your trips!

You can also contact your LEC Benefits Chair~ Kathy O’Malley at: benefitsassist@hotmail.com

Benefits can be a confusing thing to think about and this year there is a new tool to help clear up the mystery.  We encourage everyone to meet the new benefits tool,  “Alex.”  You’ll be surprised at the information Alex will share with you!  There is a link to Alex in the Benefit Information link: http://splash.alaskasworld.com/News/2015/11/02_enrollment.asp

The SEA Benefits Committee is always available to help.  Review the Open Enrollment information and make your Enrollment before 11/18/15.

November 14 – 4:30am – 11:00 am

November 16 – 8am -4 pm

November 17 – 3:00 Pm -11:00 pm

November 18 – 4:30 am – 2:00 pm

Here are minutes of the October 21, 2015 LEC Base Meeting. If you have any questions you can contact any of your LEC Officers.

AFA-CWA Base Meeting

Council 19 Seattle

October 21, 2015

1:00PM

(Agenda)

Call meeting to order: 1:45

1. Call for late agenda items

A. Late agenda items – none

B. Announcements – none

2. LEC Update

             A. LEC President Report: LEC P Laura Masserant

Budget 16K a month and over budget in Sept/Oct because of the training (FADAP and Advanced Grievance Training). Andy is cutting the CB pay and some of our AFA paid by Company is being reduced. Our Benefit committee appears to be first on the list and it is only a total of 30 TFP’s for all bases. Laura has asked that our committee members’ complete monthly logs to show work completed. The company will only allow 1 chair to meetings and no additional pay. Vice chair can attend but no CB pay.

The Inflight Crew Room is moving and will eventually be just outside the KCM area where the pilot room is now. That is also going to be the area that is going to be the FA area for rest.

            B. LEC VP Report: VP Jake Jones

Pretty much the same thing doing a lot of back scene issues. In office Monday thru Friday and fly on the weekends and that is the only time my phone is off. In charge of the implementation meetings and those are once a month along with scheduling once a month.

             C. LEC Secretary: Sect/Tresurer Linda Christou

Membership dues update: Check to see if it was paid because notices cross in the mail with payment updates from Alaska. First, you need to review your paystub and you look at your 20^th check for the month you were invoiced (if you get a invoice from AFA International Membership department). If you are invoiced for October you look at your October 20^th paycheck not September 20^th paycheck.

        3. Open Time Update:

The company believes it didn’t crash. Company added more servers to help offset the accessibility issues, but Seattle reports continuing concerns with log on attempts. The MEC will discuss at the next meeting, November 9-10. Seattle Open Time accessibility is added to the agenda to discuss possible changes to the December OT for January. It must be fair for all bases~ MEC is monitoring OT and Laura will send out a blast (Went out as MEC blast on 10.27.5)

December Staffing update: More flying in the back end of December so bid accordingly.

          4. BUDGET REVIEW

Went over it earlier in Laura’s report

Meeting adjourn at 2:50pm

Please remember to join your Council 19 Officers on October 21, 2015, for the local base meeting

Where: Seoul Room Sea Tac Conference Center

Time: 1:00 pm (parking is free when you park on all levels EXCEPT 4)

If you have an agenda item that you would like to add please contact LEC Secretary Linda Christou.

AFA-CWA BASE MEETING

Council 19 – Seattle

October 21, 2015

1:00 pm

Agenda

I. Call meeting to order

A. Call for late agenda items

B. Late Agenda Items

C. Announcements

II. LEC Update 

A. Officer Update

1. LEC President Report

2. LEC VP Report

3. LEC Sec/Tres and Membership Report

B. Open Time Update

C. Budget Review