A letter from your LEC President

September 6, 2015 15:30

A letter from your LEC President,

Laura Masserant

Seattle Flight Attendants~

As some of you may know, my family and I are moving to Crete, Greece. next month. For those of you who have not heard, my husband has accepted a Security Specialist position at Souda Bay Naval Station on the island of Crete. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience one of the many deployments my husband has been assigned throughout our 19 year marriage, together, as a family!

What does this mean for our Seattle base?

We are awaiting the government to process our flight information. However, we have asked to travel on September 18^th. My September schedule is: BSE (Beyond Service Training) Aug 31-Sept 1, in the AFA office Sept 1-3, FADAP (Flight Attendant Drug and Alcohol Training) from Sept 9-11 in Baltimore, Recurrent Training on the 15^th, and attending the Sept MEC Meeting on the16-17.

The MEC scheduled monthly meetings through December. It is my intention to commute back for those meetings, and to be available in Seattle for a 2-week period during this time.

October: I will be arriving in Seattle on the 13^thfor the MEC meeting on the 14^th-15th. I am scheduling an AFA Local Base Meeting for October 22, 2015 (mark your calendars!).

November: I will be arriving back in Seattle on the 8^th for the MEC meeting on the 9^th-10^th.

December: MEC meeting is the 14^th~ I anticipate coming back to Seattle prior to this meeting and leave just after.

While I am in Greece, it is my intent to continue to do AFA work and be available to you. Seattle has been afforded the unique opportunity as we have an office to work out of~ thanks to the generous support of the MEC! The LEC Presidents in our other bases do their work from their home offices. It is not a requirement of the LEC President position to log time in the AFA office.

Section 27 P (AFA Collective Bargaining Agreement) does stipulate the necessity of the LEC Presidents to be available, during normal office hours, every week in case we need to meet with management. To ensure that I am adhering to the contractual language in regards to the LEC President company business pay, I will only be filing for CB pay for the time I am in the Seattle base. During the time I am in Greece one of the other LEC Officers will be designated to meet with management, if need be.

Again, while I am in Greece I will continue to do my AFA work that I do today. The majority of the work I do is via phone calls, emails, and text messages. I will continue to use the same cell phone number, 360.633.5905, and I will implement an international calling plan that allows me to send and receive calls, text messages and email. Crete is currently 10 hours ahead of Seattle and will fall back to 9 hours this fall. While I am in Greece you will have 24 hr access to an AFA rep!

For the past 4 years your LEC Officers and LEC Chairs worked hard to ensure that we are always available to you, and I don’t wish to see this change. Council 19 has a fully trained team of grievance reps that will attend meetings with management during the time I am out of the country. I choose to participate in grievance work because it is a passion of mine, but again, this work is not a requirement of the LEC position. I have been able to get out and fly an average of once a month since this past spring, and I believe that it is important I continue this practice throughout the rest of my current term~ which is just under 2 years (July 1, 2017 begins the new LEC Officer term).

This past year the MEC office changed from a traditional fax line to a Ring Central fax line. This means that any time you send me a fax at the following number, 206. 457.2622, it arrives via my email account. I can send faxes to you through the same system. In addition, your SEA LEC Officers have a Ring Central phone number, 206.457.2010, that rings my phone first. If I cannot answer the call it moves through the officer list until someone is able to pick up the call. If we are not able to answer any call right away, it is our policy to return calls within 24 hrs. However, at any given time, there is usually an LEC Officer available to you within a few hours of your call.

If you have any questions or concerns I hope that you call me so we can discuss. I also look forward to seeing you October 22 at the AFA Local Base Meeting.

In Solidarity,

Laura Masserant

LEC President- Council 19 Seattle

An Announcement from Council #19 LEC President, Laura Masserant

July 27, 2015 23:00

Hello Seattle Flight Attendants,

This weekend I announced that I will be moving to Greece~ The Island of Crete, this fall. My husband found a wonderful job at the Souda Bay Naval Station and the entire family is able to join him! It is my intention to continue in my role as LEC President of the Seattle base and commute back and forth. I will be available 2-3 weeks a month in Seattle and will continue to be available via email/text/and phone otherwise.

I know that this will be a transition, but we have a highly trained and very effective LEC Officer team in place who is here to assist you and the Flight Attendants. I am very happy to speak with any of you further if you have any questions!

In solidarity,

Laura Masserant~ LEC President, Seattle

laura.masserant@afaalaska.org

Upcoming Port of Seattle Commission Race

July 15, 2015 19:00

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) would like to share some very interesting information with you about the upcoming Port of Seattle Commission race, in which there is one open seat up for election. Why are we writing to the entire group about a local election? The outcome of this particular election could have fairly significant consequences for Alaska Air Group. Why?

Nine candidates are currently announced as running. One of the candidates–Ken Rogers—is a pilot for Delta Air Lines. Not only that but he also just stepped down from Delta’s board of directors. What is even crazier is that according to publicly available funding reports, almost all of Captain Rogers’ campaign contributions have arguably come more or less directly from Delta Air Lines—via contributions from board members, executives and other Delta employees.

Alaska Air Group management is very concerned about the outcome of this election because there are several very significant Sea-Tac Airport issues that the Port Commission sets policy on that have a big impact on whether the competitive playing field is level.

Alaska is tracking the Port of Seattle race closely and believes there are two candidates who are worthy of the consideration and support of King County (Seattle) residents:

Herb Krohn, the Washington state legislative director for the United Transportation Union, which represents railroad and other transit workers.
Darrell Bryan, the recently retired president of Clipper Navigation, which operates the Victoria Clipper boats.

The top two candidates in the August 4 primary election will advance to the general election in November. Ballots for the primary will be mailed to King County residents on July 15^th.

More information can be found on Alaska’s World at http://alaskasworld.com/News/2015/07/15_port_race.asp.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt and MEC Government Affairs Chairperson Bev Bullock

Council 19 Connections Newsletter – Summer 2015 (July 2015)

July 15, 2015 18:07

Please click the link below to view the Council 19 Newsletter

Council 19 Connections – July 2015

Your Best AFA Resource: Your Local Council

May 15, 2015 05:00

Our union is built on a strong foundation that starts in your base at your Local Council. Within your Local Council, you directly elect the officers who serve you and represent you at all levels of AFA. Those same officers, along with your appointed committee members and chairs, are also your best point of contact when you need AFA support.

Whether you need a question answered, information clarified, or have a pressing situation that you need help with, these AFA leaders and representatives stand ready to assist you. Here are some tips to get help when you need it:

Have a specific question? Start with your Local Committees.

Local Committees are made up of fellow Flight Attendants from your base that specialize in helping you with specific areas of importance. They are an expert, a resource, and a voice in the work of their committee. You can contact the committee chair or any member of the committee for help.

Want to know more about what each committee does? Visit http://afaalaska.org/committees and click on the committee you’d like to know more about!

Bigger issue? Your Local Executive Council (LEC) Officers are here to help!

If you don’t know which committee to contact or you have a concern that is outside the scope of the committees, the place to go for help is one of your LEC Officers. Your LEC Officers are fellow Flight Attendants from your base who are directly elected to represent you. When you think, “I need help from the Union,” your next step should be to contact one of your LEC Officers!

What about the Master Executive Council (MEC)?

The MEC Officers and Committee Chairs work behind the scenes to address issues that are affecting multiple bases or all Flight Attendants. As a coordinating group, the MEC takes direction from the LEC Officers or Local Committees. When you need help, you should contact your directly elected LEC Officers; they will first work to resolve issues locally and then elevate things to the MEC-level for resolution as appropriate.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your Local Council for assistance or clarification.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt