Membership

By Linda Christou:  AFA-LEC 19 Secretary-Treasurer

            Membership in the union is extremely important and now more than ever.  With a looming vote for a new contract for our group it is important for you to be up to date on your dues.  If you are delinquent and in “bad standing” in your dues whether it is for 1 month or 12 plus months your vote will not be counted as it disqualifies you from voting for anything that arises.

            Here is a quick re-cap of dues…monthly dues is usually taken out of your 20^th paycheck but if you are on a leave of any type (worker comp, medical leave, voluntary furlough education etc.) you will be required to pay for the first 3 months of that leave and after that you don’t pay dues until you return to work and this is according to the AFA-CWA by-laws. If there are months that you don’t fly enough and they cannot be auto-deduct from your 20^th paycheck you’ll need to pay them yourself (always good to check that 20^th paycheck).  If you ever receive an invoice from the International office that means you owe dues and will need to pay them via online and or check sent to them.

            Our International Membership department has stepped up the progression on informing FA’s of their delinquencies and sending out Standing 2, 3 and 5 letters to inform you what you need to do to become current.  Here is a synopsis of the progression of steps for non-payment… Standing 2 letter indicates you are now in bad standing and this is the first stage of the AFA-CWA delinquency process.  A flight attendant goes into S2 when you have ONE or more dues billings that are over 90 days old and remain unpaid.  Standing 3 letter indicates that the FA remains delinquent after receiving the initial “Bad Standing” warning letter.  You now receive your S-3 letter certified mail return receipt (if AFA International has a incorrect address on file the LEC President or Secretary will put it into your co-mail file at work and it is treated as if sent via certified mail).  Nonpayment could result in discharge per our FA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Section 26 C & D.  Standing 4 is in pending status which means your International membership department is researching your account for you.  Standing 5 is your final warning and this becomes very serious.  After receiving your S-2 and S-3 letters for nonpayment, our International AFA office in Washington DC sends a letter to Alaska Airlines requesting discharge for nonpayment and a copy of this letter is also sent to your LEC President.

            If you find yourself unable to pay the full amount you need to contact the International office to set up a payment plan called a Promissory Note Agreement.  They’ll send the agreement of which you must sign it and send it back for it to be valid.  Once this is agreed upon you must make your MONTHLY payments that have been agreed upon until the balance is paid in full.  If you do not make your monthly payment for the promissory note that could be revoked and if that happens you will need to make your payment in full to avoid a S-5 letter.  Deferral of dues can only occur if you are on a current leave.  If you have received anyone of these notices please do not disregard and either contact the International office or myself so that we can resolve the issue.  You can reach me via email at lschristou@comcast.net

Hello Seattle Flight Attendants!

The next AFA-CWA Base Meeting is going to be held on October 17, 2013 from 1-4pm at the Sea-Tac airport.

Due to the time crunch for bidding, I wanted to send out this information ASAP. I will update you with the exact location and provide an agenda next week!

If you have an agenda item that you would like to discuss at the meeting please contact LEC Secretary Linda Christou at lschristou@comcast.net

We hope to see you next month!

            Laura Masserant: 360.633.5905 lmasserant@yahoo.com

            Jake Jones:  206.617.7499 jjones@alaskamec.org

            Linda Christou: 206.409.0354 lschristou@comcast.net

            Tonnette Monroe: 206-790-9913 tonnettecmonroe@gmail.com

Hello Seattle Flight Attendants,

 First of all, I want to thank all of the Flight Attendants who were able to work as scheduled, VJA’d and especially the 11 Flight Attendants who were junior assigned last weekend. Junior Assignments require additional sacrifice to personal schedules and valued time off and I recognize the hardship this may cause.

While many were able to keep their commitment to work I understand the frustration and disappointment in having your weekend plans ruined by Reassignments and Junior Availability. Each of you came to work and performed your duties with exceptional professionalism and the expectation to fulfill your commitment to the operation. We continue to show the company why we excel in the industry for customer service and operational excellence!  For those that were out sick or taking care of family members our thoughts are with you and we wish you and your family a speedy recovery.

 Junior Assignment is never an easy topic to dissect. What caused it to happen? Does the company have enough staffing? Did the junior assigning procedure follow the contract and assign in order?

These are all valid questions that I have done my best to address this week.

 First of all, the sick calls started growing on Thursday of last week. This meant that the reserve pool that covers the weekend is taking a hit earlier than anticipated. On Thursday July, 18^th the sick calls reached 83 in Seattle. Normally, Seattle averages about 74 sick calls a day for both lineholders and reserves.

 On Friday July, 19^th the sick calls remained higher than normal, 80 Flight Attendants.

 On Saturday, July 20^th the sick calls returned to the normal average of 74 Flight Attendants.

 To minimize the need for junior assigning the company offers VJA. On the 18^th the company granted 6 VJA. On the 19^th 11 VJA trips were granted and on the 20^th 27 VJA trips were granted.

 Friday afternoon Crew Scheduling starts assigning trips to reserves for Saturday. When they run the number of sick calls versus available reserves it became clear that the numbers were not going to mesh and even with 27 VJA requests granted, the previous 2 days of sick higher than normal sick calls meant the average number on Saturday could not be managed with available reserves.

 Keep in mind that the company manages not only sick calls from Flight Attendants at home. They also manage sick calls from on-line illness and injury. Last weekend several Flight Attendants become sick on line which meant scrambling to cover flights out of domicile. In one instance, a PDX FA graciously offered to cover a flight out of Boston or the flight would have cancelled.

 In fact, Portland also saw 4 junior assignments last weekend.

 Reserve coverage does not only cover sick calls. The amount of reserves on any day must cover the average sick call of 74 trips and minimum staffing of an aircraft if operational issues arise.

 This does raise the question that maybe the company should evaluate the number of reserves and the reality of sick leave use. I have discussed this issue with the company on several occasions and the fact is that there is no way to anticipate a high sick call event.

 When the average sick call amount is 74 Flight Attendants the company does plan for a higher average of 74 in reserve coverage. Adding any more reserves than this number does two things: (1). It increases the overall reserve positions and (2) Means less flying for the reserves on the majority of days in the month (impacting paychecks).

 I have the JA stack of paper on my desk and I have confirmed that Crew Scheduling followed the contract and called Flight Attendants in order. They started with the most junior person available and legal to fly and went up the list from there. There are a couple of reminders I want to offer to you about this:

1.      Reserves cannot be JA’d.

2.      Any lineholder who traded out of a day of work cannot be JA’d.

3.      Crew Scheduling can contact FAs who are coming in from a trip via ACARS if they are next on the list for an assignment.

4.      If Crew Scheduling leaves a message on your cell phone, your home phone, or with one of your family members for you to call that you are NOT required to call them back if you are off duty and/or on a day off.

 Remember to reach out to any of your Local Executive Council (LEC) Officers if you have any questions on a Junior Assignment and you can refer to Section 9 of the contract for clarification and procedures that must be followed during a JA event.

As I write this today, I have been notified that we are Junior Assinging for this weekend, too. I am actively tracking the JA assignments and have Kieran Whitney, Manager of Crew Scheduling, on speed dial to address any questions or concerns.

I want to thank everyone, again, for their professionalism during this frustrating time.

Hello Seattle Flight Attendants!

For those of you who are avid facebook users we are pleased to announce the launch of the new AFA Council 19 facebook page!

To locate the page simply search AFA Council 19 in your facebook browser-

Once you locate the page click “like” and the page will appear on your favorites list.

The intent of this page is to offer Flight Attendants another avenue for information and education. While we welcome your comments and feedback, please remember to adhere to the Personal Conduct guidelines outlined in the Alaska Airlines System Regulations 2.120 #27 which states, “Ensure your conduct reflects credit on Alaska Airlines and consider the welfare of the Company. Avoid actions or statements that could discredit or harm the reputation of the Company.”

My personal guideline is this: If your grandmother would not approve do not post the comment or picture!

Please consider the facebook page as an additional avenue for information. The MEC website, www.alaskamec.org, is always your best resource for AFA contact information and the latest news!

In solidarity,

Laura Masserant, LEC President- Seattle

            Laura Masserant: 360.633.5905 lmasserant@yahoo.com

            Jake Jones:  206.617.7499 jjones@alaskamec.org

            Linda Christou: 206.409.0354 lschristou@comcast.net

            Tonnette Monroe: 206-790-9913 tonnettecmonroe@gmail.com

The Seattle Benefits committee has several openings. The committee meets up to two times a year and does not demand a lot of your time. However, we do desire people who have a passion for learning and sharing retirement information!

If you have an interest in planning for retirement and helping others plan for their retirement release send Laura Masserant an email : lmasserant@yahoo.com.