AFA Alaska

Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian

Click here to report an issue to AFA
You are here: Home / Latest News

As the term of office for the current MEC officers will end on December 31, 2016, your Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews this week for the upcoming MEC Officer term.  We would like to thank the candidates who expressed a willingness to serve and interviewed for the positions.

In accordance with the AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws, each of the five Local Executive Council (LEC) Presidents is afforded one vote for each officer position.  After thorough deliberation, the LEC Presidents have elected the following candidates:

MEC President Jeffrey Peterson

Jeffrey Peterson grew up in Anchorage, AK, and graduated from A.J. Dimond High in south Anchorage.  Jeff achieved a Presidential Scholar Award in 1991 and went on to attain a BA in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego.  Prior to becoming a Flight Attendant, he spent several years in hotel management working for Marriott International and a franchise company associated with Marriott Hotels.  He started out his Flight Attendant career in 1999 in the Los Angeles domicile.  Jeff has also been based in Seattle and now San Diego.  He has served as AFA-CWA Alaska MEC President since July 1, 2011, and this will be his third term of office.  Jeff currently splits his time between his family’s condo in Puerto Vallarta and the AFA office in Seattle.

MEC Vice President Brian Palmer

Brian started his career with Alaska Airlines as a Flight Attendant in 2006.  Initially based in Anchorage, he also spent time based in Los Angeles and Portland, and is currently based in Seattle.  Brian first became involved in AFA work in 2009 as a member of the Council 39 Portland Reserve Committee when he became frustrated with the quality of life that he and other reserve Flight Attendants were experiencing.  He went on to serve as Council 39 Reserve Chairperson and LEC Vice President.  Brian was first elected MEC Vice President in January 2014 and is honored to have been reelected to a second term of office.

Prior to his career as a Flight Attendant, Brian held various leadership positions in the hotel and retail banking industries.  He currently splits his time between Atlanta and the Seattle area.

MEC Secretary-Treasurer Linda Christou

Linda has been with Alaska Airlines since 1980.  She started out as a Union volunteer and became more involved by joining the Council 19 Seattle Inflight Service Committee and was eventually appointed Local Chairperson of the committee. While serving on that committee, Linda had a desire to do more to help and subsequently ran for and was elected Council 19 LEC Secretary.  Linda has served in that role, along with being a Grievance Representative, since July 2011.  She is very excited to start her new position as MEC Secretary-Treasurer and looks forward to serving all of our Members.

Prior to being with Alaska, Linda attended Green River Community College and had an emphasis in Political Science which is what drew her to get involved with Union work.  Outside of work, Linda enjoys spinning and gardening.  She also enjoys cooking, entertaining, and collecting wine with her husband.  Linda also enjoys volunteer work, focusing on raising money for The Moyer Foundation, which is a foundation for “children in distress”.

The newly elected MEC Officers will serve a three-year term of office from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2019.  More information about their duties and responsibilities can be found in the AFA Constitution and Bylaws and the AFA Alaska MEC Policy Manual

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Council 19 Membership Committee Update

The Seattle base now has over 2055 flight attendants…can you believe that??

Please remember that all AFA dues are deducted from the 20th paycheck and those dues are for the current month, not the previous month (like your flying).  If you didn’t fly enough or if you are on a leave and not coordinating sick leave/vacation, or you are coordinating but do not have enough TFP to cover everything that is deducted, you will owe dues.

If you have moved it is important to update your information with AFA. When you update this information with Alaska the change it not automatic with AFA. Also, if you have changed your email you need to update this information. You can update with AFA International by going to http://www.afacwa.org/change_of_address

Did you know that not one penny of your dues is used towards any political agenda.  Donating to Flight Pac is what helps causes that better our working environment for our profession.

Over the past 3 years 97% of the Seattle members have paid their dues and our Council has been recognized for this achievement and we thank you for fulfilling your obligation to pay your union dues! The majority of the monthly budget covers pay for local work done on behalf of your local council AFA committee members and hotels for committee trainings.

If you ever have any questions about your dues please feel free to call or email me at 206-409-0354 or at linda.christou@afaalaska.org

Council 19 LEC Committee Chairperson: Linda Christou

http://afaalaska.org/sea

http://afaalaska.org/membership

Council 19 Retirement Committee Update

The method of paying the Administrative Charges for the 401(k) plan have changed, as was noted in the last Retirement Board meeting minutes last spring.  All plan participants have been notified, and a legal notice is available on the Vanguard website.  For some, although the fees were not transparent earlier, the fees will actually decrease.  The original method was a ‘sliding scale’ which was based on account balance.  The new plan is a flat $12/per participant each quarter.

Have you logged on to your Vanguard account? It’s easy to do and everyone should know how to monitor their allocations, make changes, and track their retirement accounts.

Log on to Alaskasworld/Benefits/Retirement to view the retirement website. There is helpful information located on this page that you should review.
Locate Vanguard.com to log on to your 401(k) account.
There is a new feature that allows you to increase your 401(k) allocation each year.
Are you considering retirement? Please review the information listed on the Retirement page on Alaskasworld and contact your AFA Retirement committee with any questions!

Council 19 LEC Committee Chairperson: Tim Roddy

http://afaalaska.org/sea

http://afaalaska.org/retirement

MEC Officer Interviews

MEC Officer Interviews will be held during the MEC Meeting October 24th-26th. MEC Officers serve a three year term.  We will be interviewing candidates who expressed interest in holding one of the MEC officer positions for the upcoming term of January 1, 2017 – December 31, 2019.

Position Candidate(s)
MEC President Jeffrey Peterson
MEC Vice President Brian Palmer
Kelly Letourneau
MEC Secretary/Treasurer Linda Christou

The five Councils will be represented at the MEC Meeting and will each cast one vote for each position.

LEC President Laura Masserant will represent Council 19 at the October MEC Meeting.

Please email  Laura.Masserant@afaalaska.org with any comments.

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council is passing along this important message from our International officers as a service to our members who had their primary residence impacted by Hurricane Matthew. Please note the AFA-CWA Disaster Relief Fund is open to contributions either by check or electronic payment. Information on how to make a donation is now available at www.afacwa.org.

afa-cwa-disaster-relief-fund-logo

Help from the AFA-CWA Disaster Relief Fund For Hurricane Matthew

We know that disasters can change lives forever. While we can’t stop destructive events from happening, we can, as a Union, assist our members with their recovery. AFA established the disaster relief fund after September 11th to assist our members whose lives were placed in harms way. AFA members and retirees, whose primary residence is in the counties listed below and who have suffered damage and/or dislocation, are eligible for $200.00 from the AFA-CWA Disaster Relief Fund. It is a gift made possible by the generosity of your fellow union sisters and brothers with AFA.

Florida Counties: Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns, and Volusia.

Georgia Counties: Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, McIntosh, and Wayne.

North Carolina Counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Harnett, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Pender, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Tyrrell, Washington, Wayne, and Wilson.

South Carolina Counties: Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Hampton, Jasper, Lee, Marion, Orangeburg, Sumter and Williamsburg.

If you would like to apply for AFA-CWA Disaster Relief Funds, download the Disaster Relief Fund Application and fax it to the International AFA EAP Department at 202-434-1411 or mail it to AFA-CWA EAP Department, 501 Third Street NW, 6th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001-2797.   You can also e-mail this same information to lfoster@afanet.org or phone in the necessary information to 1-800-424-2406.

We extend our heartfelt sympathy to AFA members affected by Hurricane Matthew and their families during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

Sara Nelson, International President

Debora Sutor, International Vice-President

Kevin Creighan, International Secretary-Treasurer

afa-cwa-application-for-disaster-relieve-fund

Information prepared by Judith Anderson, AFA Air, Safety, Health and Security Department (ASHSD)

AFA members are invited to participate in a University of Colorado health study that is intended to assess the health effects of flight attendants’ onboard exposures to second-hand smoke. AFA has reviewed the study and sees no reasons to discourage participation by AFA members. This bulletin gives you the “skinny” to review so that you can decide if you’d like to share the information with your members and invite them to participate.

The study is led by University of Colorado pulmonologist, Dr. Bill Vandivier, and is funded by a Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI) grant. FAMRI was established in 2000 with $300M in funds from a large class action lawsuit against big tobacco that was settled in 1997. The organization funds research to assess the health effects of exposure to tobacco smoke.

The purpose of the study is to compare the (primarily respiratory) health of people in three groups – flight attendants who flew for any length of time before the smoking ban, flight attendants who have flown for any length of time since the smoking ban, and a “control group” of people who have not worked as flight attendants. The intent is for the control group to be made up of family/friends of the flight attendants in the study (esp. friends) because they would have similar life outside of flying. Control group members need to be 50 or older because the flight attendants who flew pre- ban are not expected to be younger than that, and you want a similar age group to control for any effects of age.

Participation involves travel to the University of Colorado clinic in Denver, where participants spend about 3.5 hours completing a series of health and exposure surveys (some of which can be completed in advance, if preferred), plus a physical, lung function, volume, and diffusion (how effectively air moves across the lung wall – measure of oxygen transfer/uptake) tests, and a nasal swab.

A few notes regarding the survey questions: First, there are some questions about potential occupational exposures to chemicals other than second-hand smoke (SHS) such as fuel fumes. That’s to control for the respiratory health impact(s) of those exposures and focus on the effects of SHS. Second, the majority of the health questions ask about respiratory health (to be expected) but some ask about depression/anxiety “in the past 7 days,” cognitive function “in the past 4 weeks,” and whether the person answering the questions is currently taking anti-depressants. AFA asked about the relevance of those mental health/cognitive questions and this was the answer: “The study looks at the long-term effect of secondhand smoke exposure on the development of lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD has many effects outside the lung, including increased cardiovascular disease, anxiety, depression and use of health care resources. It also worsens cognition and quality of life. So they ask those questions to have a deeper understanding of the effects of secondhand smoke exposure beyond lung function.” Finally, all personal health information is encrypted and de-identified to ensure confidentiality. Pressed on that last point, the investigators assured AFA that the data collected will not be shared with the airlines under any circumstances.

To defray some travel costs, participants who live in Denver are paid $50, in the Denver area (but not in Denver) $100, and outside of the Denver area the choice of either $100 or a hotel room for a night. The research team has already recruited about 150 people, but they are hoping for 600 (or even more) and want to encourage people to sign up because the larger their sample size, the greater the statistical “power,” which allows them to more reliably answer their research questions.

To sign up, members can call 303-724-6067 or send an email to famri@ucdenver.edu. Any more questions, please call or email Judith Anderson – judith@AFAnet.org or 206-932-6237.

The following AFA Council 30 Anchorage Flight Attendants were elected to a Local Executive Council (LEC) term of office beginning January 1, 2017, and ending December 31, 2019. Certified Council 30 Anchorage election results are posted on www.afacwa-elections.org, or click here.

Council 30 Anchorage officers-elect

LEC President: Lisa Pinkston

LEC Vice President: Karen Farrell

LEC Secretary: Laura Rueckert

The Master Executive Council (MEC) congratulates the officers-elect and we sincerely thank all those who stepped forward to run in the election.

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

National Child Indentificaiton Test Kits

The Association of Flight Attendants has joined the American Football Coaches Association to help protect our children. All items are completed and stored at home. If ever needed, you can provide this information to authorities to help reunite a missing child with your family.

Get your kit in the Seattle Inflight Service Center/Crew Room and in the Seattle Flight Ops Recurrent Training Room

Over 800,000 children are missing every year- that’s one every 40 seconds! 

Why should we fingerprint our children?

  • 450,000 children run away each year
  • 300,000 children are abducted each year by family members
  • More than 58,000 children are abducted every year by non-family members

That’s more than 800,000 children in America missing each year – one child every 40 seconds. Yet, when the National Child Identification Program began; less than two percent of parents had a copy of their child’s fingerprints to use in case of an emergency.

The National Child Identification Program is a community service initiative dedicated to changing these statistics by providing parents and guardians with a tool they can use to help protect their children. The ID Kit allows parents to collect specific information by easily recording the physical characteristics and fingerprints of their children on identification cards that are then kept at home by the parent or guardian. If ever needed, this ID Kit will give authorities vital information to assist their efforts to locate a missing child.

order-forms

For more information on this program visit www.childidprogram.com

Help protect your family ~ A gift of safety, from our AFA family to yours.

In solidarity,

Council 19 LEC Officers

Council 19 EAP Committee Update

Our MEC EAP Chairs Elizabeth Dillon and Jeanne McCleave are working on a Return to Work policy with HR, Inflight,  and AFA. The working group consists of members from management and AFA: Leslee Cabulagan (Manager Inflight Performance)  and Sara Gray (Manager of Benefits) are leading the group. Ron Calvin (Managing Director of Inflight), Melanie Buker (AFA SAN VP), Elizabeth Dillon and Jeanne McCleave (AFA MEC EAP co-Chairs) are also working hard to create the program. The group will be presenting a proposal to Ben and Brad before the end of the year.
The 6th annual FADAP conference was attended by EAP Committee members in September. There was a huge turnout, with 43 Alaska employees including Inflight Management, AFA officers, EAP’s and mentors, as well as flight attendants. If you have never been to the FADAP website, it’s a fantastic resource for anyone you may know who is struggling with substance use or dependence.
Lastly, we will be holding a Fall EAP meeting on October 25th and we would like to welcome our newest EAP Representative, Caroline Berthiume. On October 26th, Heather Healy, AFA International EAP Director, will facilitate a 2 day initial EAP class for the Inflight Managers in Seattle. 
 
Please remember that EAP is a peer led group of Flight Attendants for Flight Attendants and it is 100% confidential. We are here to help you. Please call or email us at any time.

Council 19 LEC EAP Chairperson: Lisa Haugen

http://afaalaska.org/sea

http://afaalaska.org/eap

Council 19 Virtual Local Council Meeting

 November 2, 2016 ~ 1:00-3:00 pm

You’ve asked and your LEC Officers have listened–We are pleased to announce our first virtual Local Council Meeting!  Mark your calendar for Wednesday, November 2.  We’ll be broadcasting the meeting from 1 to 3 PM, Pacific time.

Link to agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHSWZs-CiGeZigW4zMyG80bMbTNr7xndBIL_y5d6IHg/edit?usp=sharing

If you have an agenda item email your LEC Officers at sea@afaalaska.org before November 1, 2016.

System Requirements

AFA Alaska uses YouTube to stream live broadcasts such as our Local Council meeting.  In order to watch the broadcast, you’ll need to be able to view YouTube videos on your computer or mobile device.  Check to make sure that you can access YouTube on your computer or device at http://www.youtube.com.  A YouTube app is also available for iOS and Android users.

Using Live Chat During the Meeting

To interact using live chat during the meeting, you’ll need to be signed in to YouTube using a Google account on a computer. Please note that live chat is not available on mobile devices. No need to worry if you only have a mobile device, we’ll have other ways for you to ask questions and give feedback during the meeting.

If you don’t already have a Google account, you can sign up for one for free.  Instructions for creating a Google account can be found at http://support.google.com.

If you have any questions about this process let your LEC Officers know. We will be sending out additional information on how to access the virtual meeting next week.

In Solidarity,

Your LEC Officers

Apps To Help You Save Money On Food

Our AFA Employee Assistance Program (EAP)/Professional Standards Committee recognizes that Flight Attendants may be facing increasing challenges when it comes to accessing affordable food, whether on the road or at home. We want you to know that you are not alone. In response to these difficulties, we have compiled a list of apps to help […]

What You Need To Know About The FAA Capacity Cuts

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced plans for a 10% reduction in flight capacity across 40 markets, starting this Friday. According to news reports, these schedule reductions will begin on Friday and will gradually increase throughout the weekend until they reach the full 10% by the following week. Reports also suggest that all Alaska […]

Council 47 (LAX pmHA) LEC Officer Election Results

Polls closed at 12 PM PT today for the election of Council 47 LEC Officers, representing Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants based in Los Angeles. The following AFA Flight Attendants have been elected to Local Council Officer positions: LEC President: Joshua AokiLEC Vice President: Paul IkiokaLEC Secretary: Beth Hayes View the certified election results here >> These newly elected […]

Pre-Merger Alaska MEC Committee Interviews—December 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants In accordance with Article VI.C of the AFA Alaska MEC Policy and Procedure Manual, the terms of office for the MEC Committee Chairpersons and other MEC-level positions align with those of the MEC Officers. Since the current term for the MEC Officers will conclude on December 31, […]

Merged MEC Committee Interviews—December 2025

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants The integration of our Master Executive Councils (MECs) is progressing steadily. Several committees have successfully merged over the past few months, and we are now planning for another committee to merge on January 1. As part of the committee merger process, our MEC will […]

Recent Posts

News By Month

News By Category

AFA News Now Air Quality Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) AS/HA Merger AS/VX Merger Benefits Committee Committees Communications Committee Contract Contract 2014 Negotiations Blog Council 15 SAN Council 18 LAX (pmAS) Council 19 SEA Council 30 ANC Council 35 SFO Council 39 PDX Council 47 LAX (pmHA) EAP/Professional Standards Committee Extension 2021 Blog Featured Government Affairs Committee Grievance Committee Hotel Committee Human Rights & Equity Committee Industry News Inflight Service Committee Inflight Training Committee JNC Blog Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Latest News Local Councils Master Executive Council (MEC) Membership Committee Membership Engagement Committee Message from the MEC President Mobilization Committee Negotiations Pairing Construction Preferential Bidding System (PBS) Press Releases Reserve Committee Retirement Committee Scheduling Committee Uniform Committee

Want To Stay In The Loop?

Stay up-to-date on AFA Alaska news and information by signing up for our email and text message updates. Click a button below to get started or update your preferences if you're already a subscriber.
Sign Up for Emails
Sign Up for Text Updates