Pursuant to the AFA-CWA Constitution & Bylaws Article III.A.2 [Local Councils and Local Executive Councils: Establishment of Transitional Local Councils for Newly Organized Carriers], International President Sara Nelson has appointed Temporary Transitional Officers to represent AFA Transitional Local Council 35 Virgin America. AFA solicited input from Virgin America (VX) Flight Attendants for names of potential appointees and each potential appointee must have received a minimum of two recommendations and signed a commitment to serve. President Nelson commends VX F/As for the level of interest and engagement regarding the two positions, and she sincerely thanks all those who were willing to represent the newly formed council.
Melissa Osborne has been appointed as Temporary Transitional Local Council president and James Ikehara as secretary.
Temporary Transitional Local Council President Melissa Osborne
Melissa Osborne has been a San Francisco-based Flight Attendant with Virgin America for nine years. In addition to her flying duties, she served in a variety of roles to include Inflight Instructor, Red Carpet Facilitator, Refresh Design Team, Inflight Team Leader and Air Transportation Supervisor. She came to Virgin America after enjoying 7 years at Aloha Airlines, which ended with the company going out of business in 2008. Based in Honolulu, Melissa also served as support to the grievance chair at AFA Aloha, which included contract research and participation in arbitration hearings. In addition to almost 17 years in the airline industry, she served as a public school teacher in Hawaii, California and Arizona. Melissa has been living in Phoenix for the last 5 years and spends free time with her three children and dog. She enjoys gardening, cooking, kayaking and working on home improvement projects.
Temporary Transitional Local Council Secretary James Ikehara
James Ikehara has been a San Francisco-based Flight Attendant with Virgin America for five years. In addition to his flying duties, he has participated in various activities of the Promo Team, and was a member of the A320 ETOPS Cadre. In May, he will also help to certify the A321 as a member of the A321 ETOPS Cadre. Prior to coming to Virgin America, he worked for Visa, Inc. at their Foster City headquarters for almost 21 years, with the last 10 years as their Director of the Executive Briefing Center. James lives in San Francisco and spends his leisure time playing in his violin and viola in the Bohemian Club orchestra at their city club, as well as attending their two yearly events at the Bohemian Grove in the Russian River.
Term of office, elections, membership drive and other engagement opportunities
Melissa and James will serve as Local Officers until AFA can hold an election to fill those positions. AFA will also be conducting a membership drive at Virgin America over the next 30-60 days. Every effort will be made to ensure at least 50% of the VX F/As become AFA members prior to initiating nominations and elections, which will occur no later than 60 days from today pursuant to Article VIII.C.1.a [Nomination and Election of Officers: Local Council Officers and CWA Convention Delegates].
Click here to download an AFA membership application >
Virgin America Flight Attendants who are interested in assisting with the membership drive or getting involved in any way should take a few moments to complete the volunteer interest form. Any other AFA Alaska members who are interested in volunteering may email vx@afaalaska.org.
Click here to access the Council 35 Involvement Interest Form (Virgin America only) >
Member of the Master Executive Council (MEC)
By virtue of office, the Council 35 president is now a member of the AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC). Each local president (15 SAN, 18 LAX, 19 SEA, 30 ANC, 39 PDX and now 35 VX) along with the MEC president, vice president and secretary-treasurer make up the MEC, which is the executive-level leadership structure at AFA Alaska. The MEC meets approximately monthly. Our next meeting is in Seattle this coming week: Tuesday-Wednesday April 25-26, and Melissa will be representing Virgin America Flight Attendants in that meeting.
Virgin America Flight Attendant Compensation
AFA is aware that non-represented employees at Virgin America typically receive wage increases around this time of year. We are very concerned that VX Flight Attendants have not received a wage increase in several years, which currently places VX F/A pay at the bottom of the industry. Consequently, AFA and Alaska Airlines management have agreed to meet on Thursday, April 27th in order to discuss this and other subjects. Along with MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Council 35 VX President Melissa Osborne will also represent VX F/As in those discussions.
We know Virgin America Flight Attendants have many more questions. AFA is planning on additional communications in the coming days and weeks. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Congratulations to Melissa, James and all the Flight Attendants at Virgin America!
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee
Your AFA International Officers – Sara Nelson, Deb Sutor and Kevin Creighan
