Dear Flight Attendants,
Tomorrow is the official transition from the TwinHill to the Land’s End Business Outfitters (LEBO) uniform. It has been a long, hard road leading up to this milestone—three years, in fact. For many Flight Attendants the consequences of being repeatedly exposed to the TwinHill uniform will linger on long after February 10, 2014. We could revisit our differences with management over this issue—and they do remain—but in the interest of achieving closure we will not. At the end of the day, it is high time that we are transitioning out of the TwinHill and we are thankful that management ultimately did the right thing.
Even if you have never had an issue with any of the TwinHill pieces, no Flight Attendant may wear TwinHill uniform pieces going forward. Please be considerate of your fellow Flight Attendants who have suffered so greatly for the past many years by following this directive. Additionally, management has communicated clear intent to remove Flight Attendants who violate this policy from duty without pay.
Although we have no reason to believe this will occur, if management attempts to discipline you keep in mind you are allowed to have a union representative to be present. If you are given a Record of Discussion (ROD), you should be provided with a copy of it before it is put into your personnel file. A ROD is not discipline.
If you are removed from duty without pay, contact one of your Local Executive Council (LEC) officers or grievance representatives for follow up. AFA will review each circumstance on a case by case basis to determine the appropriate course of action. However, keep in mind that AFA supports management’s position: absolutely no TwinHill pieces may be worn going and everybody must be in the Land’s End Business Outfitters uniform. If you have any concerns or questions regarding the LEBO uniform, contact an Inflight supervisor or manager.
What to do with your current TwinHill items? After making them security-compliant by removing buttons, logos, etc., they should be cut up and disposed of in the trash. Unless, of course, you would like to store the items as exhibits for pending litigation. Under no circumstances should they be donated.
Alaska Airlines will be conducting a system-wide “decontamination” of the jumpseat coverings and straps with an anti-microbial cleaning agent while all aircraft remain overnight tonight. AFA does not believe surface treatment with an anti-microbial cleaner is a sufficient risk mitigation strategy, so we advocated to replace all jumpseat covers and straps. Ideally this would have happened all at once, but we would have been willing to accept a phased approach if the latter was impractical. Management does not believe either is necessary and so no replacement strategy is planned. We find this decision to be extremely unfortunate and potentially short-sighted. AFA will monitor the situation in the coming weeks and hope for the best.
We’re very excited to finally see our entire work group back in a consistent uniform looking sharp and feeling safe. “Good bye” to TwinHill and “Hello” to Land’s End Business Outfitters!
In solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn and Sandra Morrow
