This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants
Message from the LEC President
Aloha nui kākou,
I hope everyone is having a safe Labor Day weekend with your ‘ohana, and for those of you who are flying, wishing you and your crew safe flights throughout your workday.
For those of you from the island of Kaua‘i: We are working with the Company to monitor the effects and impacts of Hurricane Lowell to the island.
Please keep yourselves and your ‘ohana safe during this time and tune in to your Civil County Weather Alerts for more information. Should you need support, please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us in the leadership as well as our AFA Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
With the Summer Season now ended and we are getting into Fall, I wanted to provide everyone with some updates on what we have been working on since taking office back in July.
Alaska 737-800 Interisland Flying
Since the announcement by the Company of the fleet replacement for our 717s and the supplemental flying by the Alaska Crews for interisland service next month, I have been engaged in many meetings with the Company to discuss this situation on behalf of our Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants.
My message to the Company has been simple, pointed, and stern to the fact that interisland flying belongs to us at Hawaiian Airlines.
As many of you may have heard in my advocacy for our jobs at the All Employee Town Hall, my stance on this issue is not denying the facts of the situation that we are in with the aging 717 fleet, but more so on the impact to our local jobs and the bid lines for our HNL base.
In an effort to approach this issue on multiple fronts, I have decided to activate our Local Government Affairs Committee that is led by Chairperson, Wilisoni Fatafehi and supported by Maria Kahele in meeting with Hawai‘i Legislators both in the State and County levels for support and attention in holding Alaska Air Group accountable for their commitments to both the employees and to the people of Hawai‘i.
Our Secretary, Soon Kim who has just returned from Baltimore from her Advanced Leadership Training was also active during her time in Washington DC in meeting with Senator Hirono’s Staff in bringing these issues to light as well.
On that same note, I too had a meeting with Senator Brian Schatz in person in Honolulu in a collective effort to ensure that the Company remains committed to maintaining our jobs and bid lines here in Hawai‘i, and the commitments to the communities in Hawai‘i.
These of course are efforts that require more discussions and meetings as this situation develops. We will continue to assess this situation as it progresses these next few months when the Alaska crews and its 737s begin doing a limited amount of interisland flying to help supplement our overall network in the islands.
The Alaska 737s will be scheduled primarily in the midday hours operating only three (3) roundtrip flights between Kahului (OGG) as well as Honolulu (HNL). Our 717 fleet and crews will still be operating normal schedules to the other islands including to Maui around the three (3) roundtrip flights that Alaska 737s and its crews will be doing beginning next month in October.
It is important for everyone to know that the 737s will be in the Alaska livery and will not be painted in the Pualani livery until such time we have a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) and our crews have completed transitional training on the Boeing 737s.
We double checked the bid lines to ensure no loss of flying will occur in October for our HNL base and that the Alaska 737s operating the three (3) roundtrip flights are supplementing the existing flight schedule. This means, that the Company is adding more flights to the existing interisland network by utilizing the Alaska 737s to do limited flying between Kahului (OGG) as well as Honolulu (HNL). This will allow the Company to focus the 717 utilization on the other segments and increase the flight frequencies between the islands and pull back the need to utilize the A321s for interisland flying and use them for North America flights where they are meant to be.
I want to assure everyone again, that we will be monitoring this situation closely to ensure that the limited flying remains limited, with no impact or loss to our bid lines in Honolulu. Should this change for whatever reason, I will be ready to direct our Grievance Committees both at the Local and MEC level to enforce our Contract to the fullest extent and protect our bid lines.
Pay Check Auditing
Since we’ve migrated over to a new payroll system back in January, I have been working closely with the Crew Payroll team, who are all legacy HA payroll employees to provide a breakdown chart on how to read your new pay checks and balance them to your hours flown.
I am happy to report that we have made that possible thanks to the efforts and willingness of the HA Crew Payroll team in putting it together.
This Pay Guide is now available via the Inflight Sharepoint Website under the ‘Crew Scheduling, Payroll & Planning’ tab.
Please see the images boxed in ‘yellow’ to access these documents to better help you read, understand and perform a self-check/balance of what you are being paid.
For any questions or concerns, HA Crew Payroll encourages you to reach out to them.
Please contact HA Crew Payroll: HA.crewpayroll@alaskaair.com
For those of you who have reached out to payroll before via email, please double check that you are emailing the correct email address. Since the Alaska system migration, like our Company emails, the HA Crew Payroll email has migrated over to the @alaskaair.com domain.
If your previous emails still has the @hawaiianair.com domain in the address, please discontinue emailing that address and use the one mentioned above.
Social Media Investigations
As many of you have been hearing, the Company is very strict on employees posting on social media while on Company Time, on Company Property and in Company Uniform.
It is important for everyone to know that while you are on-duty your priority is to your job as a Flight Attendant. Recording videos or making content onboard flights or on Company property and time puts you at the risk of being investigated and possibly disciplined for what you are posting.
My recommendation to everyone is to please be careful and aware of what you post and the content you choose to create, especially at work, on-duty and in uniform.
To be specific, when it comes to taking selfies and pictures of yourself and the crew in a professional manner, the Company has not had issues with that. But when it comes to recording video content or reels during the flight, even on break or simply going to work, the Company may have an issue with that as you are representing the Company by being in uniform or on Company property.
Doing social media is completely fine, but when you are at work, or in uniform representing the company, please use your upmost discretion when doing so and avoid having to go through a disciplinary investigation.
HNL Base Council Meeting + Meet the AFA Joint Negotiations Committee
We are happy to announce that we will be holding a HNL Base Council Meeting with updates from the Local Leadership and Committees with time for Q&A as well as hearing from the AFA Negotiations Committee for our JCBA with time for Q&A.
This meeting will be held in Honolulu on Friday, November 6th at the Airport Conference Center located on the 7th floor of the parking structure above Terminal 1.
There will be two (2), two (2) hour meeting sessions on that day.
1st Session – 0900HST – 1100HST
0900 – 1000HST – Local Council Meeting
Updates from the Leadership & Committees as well as Q&A
1000 – 1100HST – AFA Joint Negotiations Committee
Meet and engage with the AFA Negotiations Committee:
Tim Green – JNC Chairperson, Martin Gusman – HA JNC Member, Jeff Fuke – HA JNC Member, Virginia Fitz – AS JNC Member, Heather Reier – AS JNC Member, Paula Mastrangelo – AFA Senior Staff Negotiator, Lea Franzoi – JNC Support Representative
Break – 1100 – 1200HST (1-Hour)
2nd Session – 1200HST – 1300HST
1200 – 1300HST – Local Council Meeting
Updates from the Leadership & Committees as well as Q&A
1300 – 1400HST – AFA Joint Negotiations Committee
Meet and engage with the AFA Negotiations Committee:
Tim Green – JNC Chairperson, Martin Gusman – HA JNC Member, Jeff Fuke – HA JNC Member, Virginia Fitz – AS JNC Member, Heather Reier – AS JNC Member, Paula Mastrangelo – AFA Senior Staff Negotiator, Lea Franzoi – JNC Support Representative
For those of you who have questions and are wondering about the state of the Joint Negotiations and its progress, I encourage you to come and attend in-person. Meet and engage in dialogue to get your information and updates directly from the Negotiating Committee.
As many of you know because the Alaska Air Group Headquarters are in Seattle, the Negotiations and the Committee are always there and are rarely in Hawai‘i as a whole.
I encourage everyone once again, to come and meet the entire AFA Negotiations Committee as well as your Local Leaders and Committee Chairs and stay up to date with everything going on in our Union! Don’t leave important information about our futures to gossip and rumor. This is the best way to get your questions answered and get your information from the source!
We will be sending out communications later this week and throughout the next two months leading up to Friday, November 6th.
We will be serving HEAVY PŪPŪ as we all know food is what brings us together especially in Hawai‘i.
I want to Mahalo everyone for keeping strong throughout this year and being steadfast in maintaining who we are as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants. I know it’s been hard and enduring the struggles of navigating through the losses we are experiencing from the change of our service to our guests as well as the diverse flying that connected Hawai‘i to the world.
While things are constantly changing and may be inevitable, we will always remain who we are as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants.
I will continue to push and advocate for our rights in our contract enforcement and ensure that our identity and culture at Hawaiian Airlines remains present.
The life of Hawaiian Airlines brand does not belong to Alaska Air Group or its shareholders. It belongs to us, the people of Hawai‘i. No matter what people say, Hawaiian Airlines will always be us and we to it. You can’t have one without the other.
I am proud to be a part of this legacy and will continue to be proud – as we all are – in being Hawaiian Airlines.
Continue to stay informed, and reach out to any one of us in the leadership or on the Committees.
Fly safe, keep each other safe!
Me ka ha‘aha‘a,
Kela Chong
LEC President
hnl.lecp@afahawaiian.org
Hawaiian Airlines Local Executive Council 43 – HNL
Association of Flight Attendants – CWA, AFL-CIO
