Council 19 SEA (pmAS)

Reminder: Upcoming Joint Membership Meeting

February 23, 2026 18:00

We are one week away from our joint membership meeting with Horizon Council 16. The AFA-CWA Constitution & Bylaws require that each year, one of our local membership meetings be held prior to the Board of Directors Convention. This is your opportunity to review the advance agenda items that are up for consideration and vote at the Board of Directors. We hope you can attend to provide feedback on the changes you would like to see in our Constitution and Bylaws. The joint meeting is open to all members in good-standing and you are invited to join in-person or virtually. Please use the registration links for either option below.

Date: March 2, 2026
Time: 14:00 – 17:00 PST
Location: Earhart Room, located in the South Tower of International Place, Lower Plaza Level (same building as 13 Coins) across from SEA Airport
Registration:

In-Person

Virtual

Meeting Agenda

Call to Order
Welcome and Introductions
AFA Board of Directors Meeting Agenda Items
Q&A
Adjournment

Your Voice Matters

Your participation and engagement is important to ensure a strong Union. Local Council Presidents (LECPs) are your representatives and vote on your behalf at the Board of Directors. Your feedback is not only crucial, but also welcomed for decisions in how we shape our Union.

SEA LECP Paula Isla-McGill is requesting input from as many Council 19 members as possible on the advance agenda items for the Board of Directors. Information for each of the 12 agenda items is found on the afacwa.org/convention site. These proposed changes to the AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws range from approval of the 2026-2027 budget, which includes a dues adjustment, to direct membership elections of MEC Officers and International Officers. Please review all agenda items and provide your feedback on the Google form. This is another way for you to make sure your voice is heard and your LECP can consider how best to represent the interests of Council 19.

Agenda Item Feedback Form

Important Upcoming BOD Meetings

February 4, 2026 16:30

Joint Pre-BOD Membership Meeting

We are holding our next membership meeting jointly with Horizon Council 16 to discuss the agenda items for the upcoming Board of Directors. All members in good-standing are welcome and highly encouraged to attend. The meeting will be available for both in-person and virtual attendance. If you plan on attending virtually, pre-registration is required. Please use the appropriate registration link below.

Check your standing

The AFA Membership HUB is your portal to access all your account information, dues and payment history, make payments and more! This is also the place to verify that your personal email address on file is correct to ensure that you don’t miss important communication from AFA.

53rd AFA-CWA Board of Directors Convention

This year, the AFA-CWA Board of Directors Convention will take place in Portland, OR! If you live in the Pacific Northwest or will be in town at that time and are interested in attending, this is a great opportunity to see our AFA leadership from all our AFA-represented carriers in action as we consider agenda items and proposed changes to our Constitution & Bylaws. More information will be available on the BOD website regarding the advance agenda items soon. Also on the docket will be the proposed budget for the next fiscal year as well as the election of our International Officers.

Date: March 9-11, 2026
Time: Call to Order – 09:00 PST
Location: Benson Portland, 309 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97205
Registration: Please use this form to register.

Learn about AFA

If you have not yet bookmarked our Council 19 LinkTree, we encourage you check it out and share with your crew members. Not only are there useful links for contacting your local reps and contract resources, but there is a section that includes links to learn about AFA and our Union structure, including:

We can’t spell Union without “you”. A strong Union depends on an informed and engaged membership. If you’ve ever wondered why things are the way they are and want to learn more about what you can do to help shape our Union and build a stronger future together, start with these resources.

Important Attendance Reminders and Updates

November 26, 2025 10:53

In this edition…

State Sick Verification Period: November 25 – December 4
Attendance Points Report
Sick Banks and Rainmaker Balances
End-of-Year Record Improvement
Make your State Sick Leave Bank elections by December 31.

Verification Period

As published in a required bulletin on TeamAAG on November 9, the next State Sick Verification Period is from November 25 to December 4. Per §32.I of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, those who call out and utilize State Sick leave for 4 or more consecutive workdays during the verification period will be required to submit documentation for their call out. When such documentation is requested, Flight Attendants have 10 business days from the first day of absence to submit, per Inflight Performance instructions. Any out-of-pocket costs incurred to obtain these mandatory and necessary documentation will be reimbursed by the company after the Flight Attendant uses their own health insurance. For a quick review of sick leave changes from TA2, please review the TA2 Sick Leave & Attendance video.

Attendance Points Report

With the end of year around the corner, now is a great time to review your attendance points and make sure that everything is accurate. Flight Attendants may generate their attendance reports by going to Crew Access > Reports > Attendance Points. When checking your points, look for any points that may have been assessed incorrectly, or sick callouts that may have been coded to the wrong sick bank.

Why aren’t my points dropping off after 18 months?

Per §32.G.2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, points are deleted from a Flight Attendant’s accumulated total 18 months after the points were charged. Some Flight Attendants have noticed that their 18-month adjustments have not actually reduced their point total. The answer to why this is happening can be found in §32.G.6 which states:

When a Flight Attendant’s accumulated point total becomes zero (0), all of their prior points and record improvement point deletions will have no further effect on their accumulated point total and may be used only to resolve a dispute about the time the point total reached zero (0).

Therefore, if your point total has ever reached zero (0) through various mitigations like having a perfect quarter or bank points, then any points that were incurred prior to that will no longer reduce your points at 18 months, as those points have essentially already been wiped clean from your record.

Sick Banks and Rainmaker Balances

To check your sick bank balances, log into Rainmaker and go to Crew Pay Manager > Bank Balances. Be sure to note when TFP is actually available in your banks to use.

Bank balance reports will have two types of transactions: Accrual and CreditBased. Accrual transactions are deposits into your bank based on how much TFP is worked or credited in a month, while CreditBased transactions are withdrawals from your bank when you call out sick. While CreditBased transactions are instantly processed, Accrual transactions are not processed until after the bid month is complete. It is important to understand that Accrual transactions may not actually be available for use yet. Flight Attendants must look at the “earned date” of each transaction to know whether that TFP is available for use.

We have heard from Flight Attendants who have found themselves in point jeopardy because they called out believing they had enough TFP in their State Sick bank, only to have the outstanding balance of their call out be covered by their CBA sick bank. When this happens, each day that a Flight Attendant does not have sufficient sick leave in their bank will be assessed points. These points may be mitigated by a Point Reduction Form, pursuant to §32. When calling out State Sick, it’s good practice to:

Confirm your sick leave bank balances and ensure there is sufficient TFP to cover the absence.
Check your attendance points to ensure your call out has been coded correctly.
If the CBA bank has to be used to cover the call out and a point reduction form (PRF) is available to use, be sure to submit it prior to the last day of your first sequence back.
If you need to switch banks, submit a Rainmaker query prior to the last day of your first sequence back.

End-of-Year Record Improvement

Section 32.G of the contract provides multiple provisions that allow a Flight Attendant to reduce their attendance points. One such provision occurs at the end of every calendar year when any Flight Attendant who has 4.0 or fewer attendance points will have their record reduced to zero (0) points at the end of the year. In order to qualify for this, a Flight Attendant must:

Achieve 480 TFP in the calendar year
- Includes vacation and Longevity PTO (2025)
- Excludes sick leave and Boarding Pay
- No more than 80.0 unpaid TFP credit will be applied to the 480 threshold
Not accumulate any points since November 1st of that year

For more information and requirements, please refer to §32.G.4. The record improvement often takes a few weeks into January to be reflected on your attendance report.

State Sick Leave Bank Election Form

As a reminder, up to 40 TFP of a Flight Attendant’s State sick leave bank carries over into the new year. For TFP accrued in excess of 40 TFP in the State sick leave bank, Flight Attendants may opt to have it paid out at their pay rate as of 12/31 of the current year or transferred into their CBA sick leave bank. Any cash out will be paid on the February 5th paycheck.

Flight Attendants must make their elections for their excess State sick leave balance by December 31st. If no election is made, the excess of 40 TFP will be paid according to §16.A.4.a of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. You can find the State Sick Leave Bank Election Form on the Inflight website under Administration > Pay & Benefits.

January 2023 Committee Update

June 15, 2024 12:05

Inflight Service Committee

Happy New Year from your Inflight Service Committee.

This is the time of year to start thinking about the spring and summer months. The lead time required to make catering changes is typically 3 to 6 months. If you are currently flying a particular city pair and you regularly have product shortages such as Bloody Mary mix, Irish Cream, ginger ale, etc… now is the time to be reporting these shortages using B2B. The more reports that are submitted the more likely we will see changes.

Membership Committee

Over the past several months, the company has offered various staffing adjustment leaves.

Staffing adjustment leaves are unpaid leaves. Dues are owed for the first 90 days of an unpaid leave. Union dues are taken out of your 20th paycheck each month; missed dues deductions will need to be paid directly to AFA.

For example, if you took a staffing adjustment leave in October, you will likely owe November dues because your November 20th paycheck did not have enough money to deduct union dues.

If you are on unpaid leave and past your 90 days, you will be considered inactive. If you remain inactive, payroll will usually turn off your auto-deduction. Once you have returned to active status, your auto-deduction should be turned back on. On occasion, corporate payroll has missed turning back on some auto-deductions. It is important that you check that your auto deduction is turned back on; otherwise, you might be accruing a dues balance after returning from an unpaid leave. You can monitor your deductions by looking at your monthly 20th paycheck pay statement in the after-tax deduction column titled union dues. If you find that dues aren’t being taken out of your paycheck please contact adam.clarey@afaalaska.org.

When returning from unpaid leave, there is a good chance you will owe union dues your first month back because there is not enough money on your 20th paycheck.

For those on paid leave (coordinating vacation and/or sick leave), you will owe dues each month. Depending on how much you are coordinating and your other deductions, you might not have enough money on your 20th paycheck to cover union dues. You would need to pay AFA directly if there is not enough money on your 20th paycheck to cover union dues.

Online Payment

https://unionly.io/o/afacwa/dues

Payment Options

https://www.afacwa.org/payment_options

If you have questions, you can reach out to our Membership Chair and Council Secretary, Adam Clarey at adam.clarey@afaalaska.org.

Mobilization Committee

Your mobilization committee continues our work to mobilize our membership and support our negotiating committee.

Our Picket event on Dec. 19 had almost 400 participants, and was paired with our Strike Vote Announcement. Strike Voting is now open, and ballots were sent on January. 3rd. Remember to vote by Feb. 13th. I recommend voting as soon as you get your ballot. It only takes a few minutes.

Lastly, save the date for our Worldwide Flight Attendant Day of Action on Feb. 13. We will be picketing with Flight Attendants around the world as we collectively fight for fair and equitable contracts. More information to come on this.

We’re always looking for more Mobilization Volunteers. If you’re interested, sign up at https://contract2022.afaalaska.org/mobilization/volunteer/signup/

Personal Message from our Mobilization Chair:

I have been so proud and grateful to serve you as your Seattle Mobilization chair, and Vice Chair of the reserve committee. I will be transferring to SFO in the February bid month, so I need to step down from my roles within Council 19, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve our membership in SEA. I will continue to work with our newly appointed mobilization vice chair, Andrew Stinson until a replacement is found. If you are interested in the Mobilization Chair position, submit your resume to sea@afaalaska.org by Feb. 1 at 5 pm. Interviews will be held in March. I want to thank all of you for the amazing support I have received, and I look forward to finding more ways to serve our membership in SFO, and beyond. Please remember to vote, and remain active in our union. – Ian Haywood

Reserve Committee

With the holiday season behind us and staffing normalizing personal drops are being awarded at higher levels. Be aware that crew scheduling may call a reserve during their reserve availability period regarding a personal drop. In the past reserves have received no shows and unavailable for contact(s) for missing phone calls related to personal drops during their RAPs.

The holidays were busy and your local reserve committee received reports of over duty periods, cancellations and other operational issues which impacted reserve flights attendants. If something happened to you on a recent trip that you want your local reserve committee to look into further then please file a ticket at afaalaska.org and we will look into it.

Crew Access has been a source of many issues for reserve FAs lately. There is a particular issue we want reserve FAs to be aware of. When adding reserve days to an existing block that are the same reserve classification (i.e. AM/PM) they should retain their reserve classification (section 11.H.4). There is a known crew access issue which is incorrectly converting days to ER when adding days to existing blocks that span between bid periods. For example, you have an existing AM reserve block December 30-31 and you add 2 AM reserve days January 1-2 they should retain their AM classification. Crew Access will incorrectly convert days to ER and if this happens to you then please call crew scheduling and they will fix it. You may need to reference the crew access known issues list and/or ask to speak to a MOD.

Fly safe and see you out there!

Scheduling Committee

FEBRUARY MONTH REMINDER :

Section 5 of the contract defines Month. As a reminder it’s important to note for bidding and trading purposes January 31 and March 01 are added to February to create a 30 day period.

FEBRUARY PBS BASE SITS

We will be conducting PBS Base Sits in SEA NSAT Village. Visit us in person or online for PBS bidding assistance.

Feb 6 and 8 SEA NSAT Village 6 am – 7 pm
Virtual Sits February 8 and 9 – More information will be available on the NavBlue INFO page.

SCHEDULING FLOWCHARTS

The Scheduling Committee has compiled Flowcharts to assist in helping navigate scheduling issues when flying. They can be found on the AFA Website under Committees > Scheduling > Tools and Resources.

Uniform Committee

If you were eligible for the new uniform allotment, you should have received it by now. Our next quarterly uniform meeting will be held on February 22, 2024.

Please continue to report any quality issues for garments to alaskaservice@unisyncgroup.com. It is helpful to include photos of defects and of the tag inside.

In Solidarity,

Your Council 19 Committee Chairs and Officers

December 2023 Newsletter

June 15, 2024 12:03

Alaska & Hawaiian Airlines Merger
December Solidarity Event Recap
Membership Meeting Recap
Spotlight on the Contract
Fact or Fiction
CBT Reminder
AFA International HRE Committee
Membership Dues
Workplace Wellness
Social Media

Alaska & Hawaiian Airlines Merger

Historic news of the Alaska-Hawaiian merger has left many with questions. We encourage all to stay abreast with factual information from our MEC, with items pertaining to a unionized workforce. Here is the last and latest from our MEC: https://afaalaska.org/mec/alaska-hawaiian-announce-merger-what-flight-attendants-need-to-know

The days ahead will be a journey for all, as we welcome our fellow AFA Hawaiian Flight Attendants into one strong united workforce, with compassion and open arms.

December Solidarity Recap

We would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone who attended our Solidarity event on December 19th. It was a resounding success with almost 400 Flight Attendants present!

We realize that you have a lot of questions in regards to negotiations and our strike authorization vote. We ask that you continue to watch for communications from AFA for the most up to date information. More will come soon!

Save the Date:

In an unprecedented show of solidarity, we are locking arms with our fellow Flight Attendant unions (AFA, APFA and TWU) across the country for a #OneCrew Worldwide Flight Attendant Day of Action! Scheduled to coincide with the conclusion of our Strike Authorization Vote, you don’t want to miss this on February 13th as we demand our respective airlines to show the love and that we are ready to fight for the contract we have earned. Plan to bid the day off and stay tuned for more information.

Council 19 Membership Meeting Recap

Thanks to those who were able to attend our Membership meeting following the Solidarity event. A special thank you to MEC President, Jeff Peterson for speaking and giving us a great overview of negotiations, and what the strike authorization vote means.

Spotlight On the Contract

On rare occasion, our company provided hotel transportation may be running late. If so, please familiarize with the following contractual provision for timelines and reimbursement if needing an alternate source of transport (Section 22.B)

TRANSPORTATION

Company will provide dependable transportation from the airport to layover point and return. When transportation is not provided within thirty-five minutes (:35) from block-in or within ten minutes (:10) of the scheduled departure time from the hotel, Flight Attendants will be reimbursed for the actual expenses incurred for transportation to or from the airport.

It is important to reach out to your AFA Representative if you have questions about the above language, as there are areas that can be confusing and “gray”.

Fact or Fiction

Have you heard of rumors and not sure of the truth? We’re going to be featuring a new running segment in our SEA base newsletter. Please send in your questions to sea.communications.chair@afaalaska.org and your fact or fiction question could potentially be featured here. We look forward to hearing from you. Please note that we may not legally be able to address all of the questions we have come in, but we will do our best!

CBT Reminder

Do not forget to complete your CBT (Annual Compliance Training) by the end of the year deadline. It is important to remember if you do not complete the required training, the discipline is progressive. If you are already in steps of discipline, failure to complete your CBT will move you up the steps, up to and including discharge. If you encounter any technical issues, please contact the ITS Help desk. To verify your CBT is complete, check that your Cornerstone transcript lists under “Completed” and check your email for a confirmation.

AFA International HRE Committee

The AFA Human Rights and Equity Committee is committed to providing the broadest possible representation of our members regardless of age, disability, marital status, national origin, ethnicity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression. We honor and celebrate the shared humanity of the members in our care. We shall at all times endeavor to promote the principles of tolerance, fairness, equity, justice, respect and inclusion within our Union. It is only when we all work together we can tear down the walls of division and create a progressive culture that values social & economic justice for all working people.

Membership Dues

In addition to the upcoming strike authorization vote, we will be planning solidarity events in the new year, so it is important to make sure that you are up to date on your membership dues, as you are required to be current in order to take part. Also, please remember that when a tentative agreement is reached with the company, you must be up to date in order to vote! If you have questions about your dues status, please reach out to our LEC Secretary, Adam Clarey at adam.clarey@afaalaska.org.

There is a great article on the AFA Website, “Dues & Voting: What You Need To Know To Make Sure You Can Vote”. We suggest taking a look at that for some helpful information.

LEC Secretary Adam Clarey and Council Representative Jerry Sinclair will be doing a base sit at SEA on January 2nd and January 4th from 10am-6pm. They would be happy to help you understand all things membership related including your standing, how to update your contact info with AFA, and confirm that you are current on your dues.

Workplace Wellness

Yoga for Health

Yoga is a great tool to help us stretch, release and relax. Here’s one easy pose you can do in a hotel room to help release any tension in the back, shoulders and neck. Please be mindful of any limitations.

Supine twist (Jathara Parivartanasana)

Turn onto your back. Lie flat. Bring your arms out wide.
Let your palms face down. Bend your right knee.
Drop your right knee gently over to the left side of your body. At this point you’ll feel a gentle twist in your spine.
You can use a pillow to help support your bent leg, or if at home you can utilize a block or bolster. Gaze toward your left arm and fingers.
You may close your eyes, whatever feels comfortable for you.
Hold for several breaths, return to neutral, repeat on the other side.

Here’s a YouTube video to give a visual with instructions and with some alternative ways to accomplish this restorative pose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRSPMMYOXZI

Find Us on Social Media

You can find the most up to date information on our Council 19 Facebook Group. Click below to join our group and stay connected. We have also launched a new Council 19 Instagram page, which you will find a link for below as well. Our communication team is researching other social media platforms, more information will come soon!

Our solidarity and resolve to attain an industry leading contract will lead us to new heights. The days may be long, but our resolve never to dwindle, our solidarity never to dim. We simply could not do this without one another; together we achieve, together we enrich all of our lives and to those of tomorrow. Stand strong, stand in solidarity, stand with resolve. Here are to bright tomorrows…

We hope each and every one of you were able to enjoy the holiday season, whether flying or home. All of us at Council 19 wish you, your family, your friends, and your loved ones a Very Happy Holiday Season, and a Happy New Year!