Latest News

May 8, 2017 12:00

Joint Negotiating Committee and Merger Representative Positions

Thanks to everyone who applied for the JNC and Merger Representative positions. The applications will now be reviewed by the MEC and interviews will be conducted over the next several weeks. Once the positions have been appointed, an announcement will be sent out by AFA email and will also be posted on the Council 35 page of the AFA Alaska website.

Become A Member, Have Your Voice Heard!

Completing an application ensures that you have the right to vote in officer elections and on tentative agreements. If you haven’t already had the chance to complete an AFA membership application, you can download and print one by clicking here. The AFA membership application is not a form that can be completed online; it must be filled out, signed in ink, and returned to an AFA representative or mailed to AFA. Signing up to receive AFA email communications is not the same as completing a membership application.

Village Visits

For several days last week, Local Council President Melissa Osborne, Local Council Secretary James Ikehara, and several other AFA Alaska leaders visited the Villages in JFK, LAX and SFO to share information about AFA, answer questions, and provide AFA membership applications. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! Additional Village Visits will be held over the next few weeks. You can also find this information on the Council 35 Facebook page.

Don’t Forget to Wear Your AFA Pin

The AFA pin is an approved uniform piece and should be worn on the left collar. If wearing both your AFA pin and anniversary pin, the anniversary pin should be placed closest to the tip of the collar.

Your AFA pin represents our combined strength and unity as we work toward achieving improvements for all of us and should always be worn with your uniform. If you don’t already have an AFA pin, you can pick one up from an AFA representative during an upcoming Village Visit. Visit the Council 35 Facebook page for “pin pics” of the day.

Have your own pin pics to share? Send them to us (along with the name of everyone in the picture) at vx@afaalaska.org.

Seniority Integration

Seniority will be integrated based on competitive (bidding) seniority date in accordance with the AFA Constitution & Bylaws. Competitive seniority date is often referred to as “date of hire” although the actual application is more complicated than that. A previous communication on the AFA seniority integration policy can be found here.

FAQs

I just renewed my passport last month. Am I eligible for passport reimbursement?

Management has agreed to offer passport reimbursements retroactive to Jan 1, 2017.

How do I request a passport reimbursement?

Like taxi reimbursement requests, Flight Attendants requesting passport renewal reimbursement should submit their receipt to an inflight base admin, who will coordinate with accounts payable to process these requests.

Will I be eligible for the retroactive pay increase if I was on special assignment?

Any pay category tied to the step scale will be applicable for the new rates and retro pay. Additionally, sick and catastrophic sick hours will be counted in the calculation for retro pay. Disability benefits as well as worker’s compensation are paid through a third party. AFA is investigating how the pay raise will affect those individuals.

How will we receive our retroactive pay?

The retro pay will be included on the 5/31 payroll, and will be applied as lump sum payment itemized as “Retro” on ADP earnings statement.

When and where will we see our new pay rates?

The new pay rates will be posted in earnings statements in ADP. The first paycheck accounting for the new rates will be 5/31. The 5/15 payroll (remaining payment for April bid period) will still show the old rates.

When will the new PED policy be implemented?

This week, AFA will meet with management to discuss a timeline and process for implementation of the PED policy. In the meantime, the current VX PED policy remains in effect. Stay tuned for an update soon.

I tried to swap a trip and it was denied due to “18-hour rule.” I thought this was changed to 12 hours?

Management has stated that implementation of this provision in the LOA will be on the deadline date of 6/1/17.

How many more initial training classes are planned for this year? Will they all be hired as VX Flight Attendants or will they be hired by AS?

Management has confirmed that there will be 4 more initial Flight Attendant training classes for the year 2017 at VX. AS and VX will need to continue to hire and train individuals to meet their respective operational needs through 2019. AS F/As and VX ITMs will not be able to work on one another’s aircraft until differences training is complete and we have a joint seniority list.

Is it true that Alaska is planning to close the JFK base due to sick calls?

Alaska management has stated they do not have any plans to make immediate changes to the JFK base. However, they have also said that they are concerned with the high volume of sick calls at JFK and they are evaluating the long-term viability of the base.

I am not getting any emails from AFA Alaska Council 35. What can I do?

Please be sure to subscribe to Council 35 emails using a non-Virgin America email account. You can subscribe online at http://www.afanewsletters.org/subscribe. If you encounter any problems with the online subscription page, please email us at vx@afaalaska.org.

Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts! You can reach us at vx@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,

Your Council 35 Officers – Melissa & James

May 5, 2017 18:37

SEA SCHEDULING COMMITTEE REPORT

LEC Chair, Martin Vance and LEC Vice Chair, Rita Tillou

We are offering additional training classes in Crew Access beginning May 1, 2017. We encourage FAs to attend who may need a little more help understanding Crew Access. Topics that could benefit FAs attending class would include: Setting up Personal Filters, Text Alerts, How to post for grab, Direct Trade, and SIP/SPLIT trips. Also, we will cover what options are in your Reports and how to utilize them for best benefit.

Additional benefit for FAs this time are that classes are offered BOTH at Airport and at the Flights Ops building this time!

For class schedule and availability, FAs can sign up via the SignUp genius~ this is found at:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4babae2fa1f58-crew6

FILTERS are your Friend

Did you know with Crew Access you have the ability to create Filters for up to 5 TEXT ALERT SUBSCRIPTIONS? You also have the ability to create numerous personal filters when searching Crew Access to navigate easier viewing when searching for specific days, trips, layover cities or FA position. Filters can be a one use option or saved for future use and ease when searching in Crew Access and deleted anytime at your discretion.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TEXT ALERTS?

With summer flying upon us don’t miss out on your Dream trips, Layovers and Premium Pay flying when it becomes available. Sign up for text alerts to alert you of premium pay trips in open time, specific trips you want to fly, or even desired layover cities.

To Create a Filter:

Go to trip Pool

Highlight Filter

Choose Start date End Date (may be left blank if you want it to continue)

Min days or Max days (Length of trip)

Layover (Designate your favorite layover)

Choose Role (FA Position, if preferred)

Mark box Show only Premium Trips

SAVE Filter

NAME your filter

Mark the box SUBSCRIPTION

Then go to:

Top left corner Hamburger Menu

Go to SETTINGS under Allow notifications mark the box “Allow SMS notifications”

Review PERSONAL INFORMATION make sure it’s correct with a phone number that ALLOWS TEXTS

Verify your Personal Information in Peoplesoft is accurate and up to date with a Phone number that allows Texts. This can be found in FA page Other Schedule Options, Open Trip Text Notifications, follow prompts.

Helpful Hints

Published Roster it is the “accurate” view of your schedule.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT NAME OF POSTING FA FOR GRAB IS NOW SHOWING

FA posting a trip for Grab or Direct Trade their name and position NOW shows. Be aware that if Trip was posted before the recent patch was done the FA name willNOT show this updated version. (FA may want to unadvertise trip and repost for Grab).

IMPROVEMENT HOW TO PRINT YOUR TRIP (PAIRING)

When you look at your trip in your Roster pairing is in BLUE click on this trip (pairing) will appear with a PRINT option.

FLIGHT LOADS ARE BACK

Schedule and Bidding

Under My Schedule and Trading

Flight loads will show 5 days out

You can email sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org with questions

May 4, 2017 16:00

LEC Scheduling Committee members Chase Vandergrift and Jacob Rahn will be hosting refresher base sits Starting May 9^th in the SAN crew lounge. Please stop by with any questions or if you need assistance.

May 9th, 7:00a-12:30p	Inflight Lounge	Jacob
May 10th, 7:00a-12:30p	Inflight Lounge	Jacob
May 11th, 7:00a-12:30p	Inflight Lounge	Jacob
May 17th, 5:30a-11:00a	Inflight Lounge	Chase
May 22nd, 7:00a-12:30p	Inflight Lounge	Chase
May 24th, 10:00a-2:30p	Inflight Lounge	Chase

Tips:

Watch the training videos on the Inflight Webpage

If you are unable to attend, contact us at SAN.scheduling@afaalaska.org. We are happy to set up a time and work with you.

In Solidarity,

Your LEC Officers and LEC Scheduling Chairs

May 3, 2017 20:00

Last Friday (April 28), an AFA email was sent out soliciting interest in two merger-related positons: Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member and Merger Representative. These are two very important roles in the integration process. You can review the April 28 communication, which contains detailed information about the positions, by clicking here.

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member

The JNC Member will be responsible for working with the Alaska JNC Members to negotiate a merged agreement with management. Once a merged agreement is ratified and in place, the JNC Member will continue to serve as part of the contract interpretation committee. We will be appointing one Virgin America AFA Member to this position.

Merger Representative

The Merger Representatives will be responsible for verifying key employment dates with all Virgin America Flight Attendants and reconciling the Virgin America seniority list. Once that process is complete, the Merger Representatives will work with the Alaska Merger Representatives to compile the integrated seniority list. There are two Virgin America Merger Representative positions that will be appointed.

How to Express Interest

Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest letter and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Linda Christou at linda.christou@afaalaska.org. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 5, 2017 at 5 PM PDT.
Linda will contact applicants to coordinate an interview with the MEC. Depending on the number of applicants for each positions, telephone interviews may be conducted. If needed, telephone interviews will be conducted on Tuesday, May 9.
Interviews for finalist candidates will be held at the MEC meeting on Tuesday, May 16 or Wednesday, May 17.

Questions

Any questions regarding JNC or merger representative positions should be directed to MEC President Jeffrey Peterson at jeffrey.peterson@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,
Your Council 35 Officers – Melissa & James

May 3, 2017 17:00

A message from your AFA PBS Committee

There have been a few recent changes with PBS with more to come! We’ll talk more about that in a moment but first we’ll cover the basics. Please read along and hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of our bidding program.

First, a reminder that the PBS Committee is here to help you specifically with your bids. We aren’t trained to assist you with questions unrelated to bidding such as IMD help, Crew Access/trading questions, vacation trading, payroll, etc. Those types of questions are best addressed to the Alaska IT desk, your payroll analyst or your Local AFA Scheduling Committee. Their names and email addresses are always on the PBS Info Page as part of the monthly pairing information for your base.

Helpful Hints

The program reads your bids from the top down

This is one of the most important things people need to remember when bidding. If you want to ‘Prefer Off’ certain days or want to ‘Avoid’ something for the entire month then you need to say so at the top of your bid, at minimum prior to your first ‘Award’ line. Whatever is most important to you (days off, avoiding redeyes, etc.) should come first. Certain lines such as Waive rules or Set Conditions will automatically be at the beginning and can’t be moved. Prefer Off and Avoid lines entered after Award lines do not apply to the previous Award lines…since the program reads the bid from the top down those lines will not yet apply. If you’re bidding for a pairing that would violate any of your Prefer Off or Avoid lines, then the pairing would have to be requested higher in the bid than those lines.

If you enter anything in your ‘Current’ bid, even one line, then your ‘Current’ bid is used to build your schedule

The program doesn’t skip from Current bid to Default bid…it’s one or the other. If you are intending for the program to read your Default bid, check to make sure you haven’t accidentally entered any line in your ‘Current’ bid. Making this mistake is not considered a valid bid protest.

A line preceded by a number was a line entered by you…lines without a preceding number are supposed to be there and are auto-generated by the program. See the PBS Info Page for an example.

Do you prefer to be on Reserve?

If so, you must begin your bid with ‘Start Reserve Bid’. Then enter ‘Start Reserve’ and follow that with your reserve preferences. With so much growth lately, you may be surprised that you held a line of pairings and didn’t want one. The program tries to build everyone a line of pairings if mathematically possible. If you prefer Reserve, you must start your bid with ‘Start Reserve Bid’.

On the cusp of Lineholder and Reserve? You may want to ‘Waive’!

Many of you that are on the cusp of lineholder and reserve may not realize you might need to ‘waive’ certain contractual rules in order to hold a line of pairings.

Waiving down to ‘Allow 24 Hours Off in 7 Days’ and waiving the ‘No Same-Day Pairings’ rule could be the only way for you to hold a line. If you see others junior to you holding a line and you didn’t, it’s quite possible it was only because they ‘waived’ those rules.

Check your bidding number on the seniority list on the Inflight webpage at the beginning of each month. Then check the PBS Info Page for the number of reserve lines in your base for the next month. This will help you to determine how close you are to still being on reserve. If you’re close to the bottom lineholders then you need to strongly consider entering those ‘waive’ lines if you hope to be awarded a line of pairings instead of reserve.

Layover rest is not the same as ‘legal rest’

For bidding purposes, your ’48 Hours Off in 7 Days’ rest (or 24 Hours Off in 7 Days if ‘waiving’) must be at your domicile, not on a layover. A layover does not count as contractual rest during line construction. You are able to waive this rule during trading on Crew Access, allowing layover rest to count towards CFR’s, but not during bidding.

Prefer Off ‘Day of Week’ bids are no longer ‘forgettable’

Maybe people don’t use ‘Forget’ and ‘Redo From’…if you don’t use these then you don’t need to worry about this.

If you still wish to forget a bid involving a day off, you’ll need to use ‘Prefer Off’ by using a specific date. Instead of saying ‘Prefer Off Fridays’ with the plan to later forget that line, you’d need to ask for individual Fridays off by date. You will now be able to later ‘forget’ that line.

Are you changing bases this month?

With so much hiring lately there is a lot of movement between bases. Your default bid will not carry over when you change bases. You’ll have to re-enter your default bid. Print it out before the move so you have something to help you re-enter your old default bid when next month’s bidding in your new base opens.

Our most frequent question during Bid Protest

Why didn’t I hold a line while others below me did? Did those people below you have vacation TFP? A carry-in trip? This gives them TFP credit that you didn’t have when it tried to build them a line. Were you illegal for a trip on the 1st of the month due to your flying the end of the previous month? Maybe that small reason prevented you from holding a line since you couldn’t take a pairing on the 1st or 2nd. Did they ‘waive’ the ‘No Same Day Pairings’ rule and/or allow for ’24 Hours Off in 7 Days’ and you didn’t? Did they enter the waive for the ‘Co-Term’ rule if in LAX? Did they allow for ‘4k’ flying and you didn’t?

Trust us in that the program will always try and build you a line if mathematically possible when taking your legalities and bids into consideration. It wants to build everyone a line in order to ‘cover’ the operation and staff every pairing if possible.

Line awards and Coverage Reports are now posted on the Inflight webpage

For the line awards, visit the Inflight website > Schedule and Bidding > Line Bidding > PBS Awards. The line awards are now showing ‘color coding’…different colors for normally awarded pairings, Coverage pairings, normally awarded Reserve days and Coverage Reserve days.

A recent program update made the following changes to PBS:

Navtech is now ‘NAVBLUE’. They were purchased last year by Airbus and they’ve chosen to change the name of their new subsidiary.

Any mention of Arctic number has been replaced with Employee number. This refers to your 7-digit PeopleSoft number.

Your ‘Calendar’ no longer shows pilot-related FAR 117 numbers. Also, most pilot-related information has been removed from your personal information

New terminology for some ‘Set Condition’ bids makes them clearer. For example: The previous ‘Minimum Days Off’ is now ‘Minimum Days Off In A Row’, ‘Maximum Days On’ is now ‘Maximum Days On In A Row’ and ‘Consecutive Days Off’ is now ‘Consecutive Days Off In A Row’.

Color coding of line awards on the posted line awards. Different colors designate pairings (or on-call days) if they were assigned during the normal award process or were assigned as a ‘Coverage’ pairing or reserve day.

Welcome to Adam Clarey!

Adam was selected by the MEC as a new member of the Joint PBS Committee! He is currently Seattle-based and has been a Flight Attendant for 13 years. Other AFA joint committee members include Rebecca Asbell (PDXFA) and Stephen Poynter (SEAFA). Alaska Airlines joint committee members are Inflight Crew Planners Kelly Yeager and Sabrina Blevins.

Upcoming PBS Changes

There’s been some confusion between the changes to our crew tracking program (Crew Access/JCE) and upcoming changes to PBS. These are of course two separate programs. Here’s what’s changing with Navblue’s PBS program:

We recently went to a new look to the Inflight webpage…that’s called a ‘user interface’. Navblue is transitioning all of their customers to a new ‘user interface’ by the end of 2017. The new Navblue website will have the same internal programming but it’s how you interact with the program that will be changing. It’s a whole new ‘look’ but after taking some time with it we believe everyone will grow accustomed to it and maybe even like it better than the current version.

Navblue’s new user interface was designed to be more tablet-friendly. It also allows you to work on your bids when off-line, saving your work to submit later when you’re back on the Internet. It utilizes ‘filtering’ when searching for pairings and allows easy transferring of desired pairing numbers onto your bid. Color-coding of bid lines will help you see more clearly the structure of your bids…and will hopefully make it more obvious when a bid is in the wrong place!

We anticipate introducing the new Navblue website to everyone in mid-July after bidding is finished. You’ll be able to use both the current and the new websites for a three month period and then the ‘off switch’ will be flipped on the current version. By mid-October we plan on using only the new website going forward.

We’re not going to sugar-coat it…it is definitely different and you will need to allow some time to learn how to use the new PBS website. Our best advice is that you don’t wait until the last minute! During the three-month transition period use the new program as often as you can. Changes made to your bid on either the current or new version will be reflected on both websites. Whichever version you last submit your bids on will be the bid that is processed. If you’re struggling, make sure your default bid will carry you until you feel more proficient in using the new website. There will be training support to help you through this transition…PowerPoint presentations, videos and live help at your base.

Thanks for reading! For help with your bidding, email PBS.QA@alaskaair.com

April 30, 2017 12:00

AFA is pleased to announce that out of domicile jet bridge trades (§12.C.7) will be implemented on Monday, May 1, 2017. As a reminder, out of domicile jet bridge trades will count towards the out of domicile pick-up limitations of two per bid month per §12.H.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Zac Weeks

April 29, 2017 09:45

Many Flight Attendants received a notification from the Peoplesoft system account with Employee Records: “This email is to inform you that a contract increase has been processed for you that has changed your rate of pay. As of 05/01/2017 your rate has increased to $xx.xx. If you have any questions about your increase please email Employee Records….”

Alaska Airlines management has confirmed this is a notification error only and that pay rates have not been adjusted.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

April 29, 2017 08:20

AFA believes this message is an error because it refers to a contractual rate increase for “DOS + 3” (CBA §21.A), which is due in December 2017. We are attempting to verify with Alaska Airlines management now. Stand by for more info!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

April 29, 2017 05:00

The next step in the integration process is to appoint a Joint Negotiating Committee Member and two Merger Representatives. Information about each of the positions as well as how to express interest can be found below.

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member (1 position)

Pursuant to Section X.D [Merger Policy and Related Employee Protective Provisions: Contractual Protection] of the AFA-CWA Constitution & Bylaws (C&B), the AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) is seeking one Virgin America AFA member to serve on the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for merged contract negotiations.

Purpose of the JNC

The purpose of the JNC is to obtain interim safeguards, including a fence agreement with management (which maintains separate Inflight operations for a specified period of time), and merging the collective bargaining agreement(s) and/or respective work rules. Many issues will need to be decided in order to provide for a smooth transition into one, combined carrier.

Scope of the JNC

From AFA-CWA C&B Section X.D.4: “The members of the negotiating committee shall have complete and full authority to resolve any and all trackage* disputes between the flight attendant groups including those arising from the interpretation or implementation of any agreement embodying interim safeguards.”

*Trackage is a somewhat antiquated term originally associated with the railroad industry.

Duties of the JNC

Attend initial training of new JNC members.
Conduct a review of the respective agreements (or work rules) to identify commonalities, differences, areas of cultural preference, benefits of each agreement (or work rules), and unique issues associated with specific air service.
Review collective bargaining agreements and employment terms at comparable airlines.
Create the Union’s opening position (“opener”) for merger negotiations.
Interface with counterparts at Alaska Airlines and engage in discussions to reach mutually acceptable provisions on merging the two Flight Attendant groups.
The MEC President is an ex-officio (i.e. “by right of holding another office”) member of the JNC.

Expectations/Qualifications

Appointed by the AFA Alaska MEC and terms are served to completion at the approved of the MEC. Takes direction from the chairperson of the JNC (i.e. in this case the AFA Alaska MEC President) with input from the AFA International Collective Bargaining Department (i.e. staff negotiator) and Legal Department (i.e. staff attorney). After successful ratification of the JCBA will continue to serve as a contract interpretation resource for the JCBA.
Maintain a complete record of negotiations including proposals, notes and communications, and such record is the property of AFA-CWA.
Public interactions (including social media) must reflect favorably on AFA Alaska. If requested by AFA Alaska, JNC members must be willing to reasonably limit social media interactions for the duration of JCBA preparation, negotiations and implementation.
Ability to tolerate controversy amongst one’s peers.
Willing to travel for training, preparation, negotiations, roadshows and other meetings as needed.
Must be willing to adjust her/his schedule as needed, sometimes with very little notice.

Flight Pay Loss/Expenses

6 block-hours for each 8 hours of work.
Travel time is unpaid; exceptions will be treated on a case-by-case basis.
Meal & incidentals and other expenses to be reimbursed according to AFA Alaska Policy Manual and AFA-CWA C&B.

Merger Representative (2 positions)

One of the most important aspects of any merger of airlines is the integration of the seniority list. The AFA Constitution and Bylaws provides for the Master Executive Council (MEC) to appoint two merger representatives from each airline. Merger representatives have complete and full authority to act on behalf of the Flight Attendants of their respective airline for the purpose of compiling necessary employment data and a single flight attendant seniority list. More information about duties and responsibilities of merger representatives are spelled out in Section X.C of the AFA Constitution and Bylaws.

Duties and Responsibilities

Determine seniority numbers for each Flight Attendant by reviewing and determining date of bidding for seniority, initial training date, number of days of initial training, and if seniority was accrued for training (and if so, how many days were accrued).
Evaluate all protests to determined seniority, determine validity, and adjudge accordingly.
Compile and certify a combined system seniority list.

Qualifications

Must be a current Virgin America Flight Attendant and AFA member.
Ability to analyze written data and information with high attention to detail.
Ability to commit time necessary to complete assigned responsibilities, including flexibility to meet on short notice. Some travel will be required.

How to Express Interest For the Positions

Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest letter and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Linda Christou at linda.christou@afaalaska.org. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 5, 2017 at 5 PM PDT.
Linda will contact applicants to coordinate an interview with the MEC. Depending on the number of applicants for each positions, telephone interviews may be conducted. If needed, telephone interviews will be conducted on Tuesday, May 9.
Interviews for finalist candidates will be held on at the MEC meeting on Tuesday, May 16 or Wednesday, May 17.

Questions

Any questions regarding JNC or merger representative positions should be directed to MEC President Jeffrey Peterson at jeffrey.peterson@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

April 28, 2017 19:00

AFA and the Virgin America (VX) leadership team (management) met in Seattle, WA yesterday to discuss VX Flight Attendant wages, work rules and other concerns. After negotiating into the late evening, the parties reached agreements on several interim improvements to pay and work rules. Improvements to work rules will be detailed in this communication; pay was discussed in an earlier communication.

Summary of provisions in the “Interim Improvements” letter of agreement (LOA):

Adoption of the Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant personal electronic device policy
Reimbursement of expenses for passport renewal
Union Business provisions establishing a solid foundation for AFA Local Transitional Council 35 Virgin America
Walk/waive option reduced to 16 hours from the current 18 hours
Reserve pick up on days off
“Last resort” Red Eye tagging of Lineholders/Reserves
Window for Swaps and Drops reduced to 12 hours from the current 18 hours
Requirement of adequate notice to AFA regarding any proposed work rule changes and an opportunity for input to such changes
Commitment to discuss implementing a grievance procedure for disciplinary issues

AFA VX Interim Improvements Letter of Agreement (4/27/2017) >

AFA appreciates the Virgin America leadership team’s partnership in identifying and implementing these interim work rule improvements.

As stated in our previous communication, AFA would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the efforts of our sisters and brothers on the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) negotiating team. Although the improvements that AFA achieved this week are not directly connected to that committee’s negotiations, their foundational work is recognized and appreciated. Once again, AFA sincerely thanks the TWU negotiators for their service.

Contact your local president (AS) or your Council 35 VX officers if you have any questions or concerns.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Joint Negotiating Committee and Merger Representative Positions

Become A Member, Have Your Voice Heard!

Village Visits

Don’t Forget to Wear Your AFA Pin

Seniority Integration

FAQs

I just renewed my passport last month. Am I eligible for passport reimbursement?

How do I request a passport reimbursement?

Will I be eligible for the retroactive pay increase if I was on special assignment?

How will we receive our retroactive pay?

When and where will we see our new pay rates?

When will the new PED policy be implemented?

I tried to swap a trip and it was denied due to “18-hour rule.” I thought this was changed to 12 hours?

How many more initial training classes are planned for this year? Will they all be hired as VX Flight Attendants or will they be hired by AS?

Is it true that Alaska is planning to close the JFK base due to sick calls?

I am not getting any emails from AFA Alaska Council 35. What can I do?

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member

Merger Representative

How to Express Interest

Questions

Helpful Hints

The program reads your bids from the top down

If you enter anything in your ‘Current’ bid, even one line, then your ‘Current’ bid is used to build your schedule

Do you prefer to be on Reserve?

On the cusp of Lineholder and Reserve? You may want to ‘Waive’!

Layover rest is not the same as ‘legal rest’

Prefer Off ‘Day of Week’ bids are no longer ‘forgettable’

Are you changing bases this month?

Our most frequent question during Bid Protest

Line awards and Coverage Reports are now posted on the Inflight webpage

A recent program update made the following changes to PBS:

Welcome to Adam Clarey!

Upcoming PBS Changes

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member (1 position)

Purpose of the JNC

Scope of the JNC

Duties of the JNC

Expectations/Qualifications

Flight Pay Loss/Expenses

Merger Representative (2 positions)

Duties and Responsibilities

Qualifications

How to Express Interest For the Positions

Questions

Recent Posts

Local Councils

Master Executive Council

Negotiations

Contract

Committees

News By Month

News By Category

Want To Stay In The Loop?

Connect With AFA