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Council 19 Government Affairs Committee Update

Government Affairs started out the quarter with our new chair Kris Hall attending her AFA 101 committee training on July 11th. She was excited to learn about the foundations of the AFA and how the AFA has grown to become the union it is today. Loving all things history, she enjoyed learning about how and why the AFA came to be and is proud to be an active member of a union steeped in struggles and triumphs.

July 18-July 21 she attended the Next Gen CWA Conference in Detroit where she met with other AFA-CWA Next Gen activists and attended workshops collecting ideas and asking questions on how to best organize the Alaska Airlines flight attendant group. Finding the flight attendant workgroup unique in and of itself, she appreciated meeting and gathering with other AFA members from other airlines and listening and inquiring about their differences and similarities in mobilizing their workgroups.

During September and working with our MEC Chair Krystle Berry, the Seattle Government Affairs Committee participated in the National Voter Registration Day.  We canvassed the Seattle terminal updating Flight Attendants’ voter registration address as well as registering Flight Attendants to vote in the upcoming November elections.  We also had Flight PAC information and handed out bag tags to those who signed up to participate.

With the Presidential elections on the horizon  and on everyone’s minds this Fall, the Governmental Affairs Committee has been actively searching for new members and is excited to announce their newest member, Tiffany Roget. Tiffany Roget comes to us with an impressive background in government, politics and research. We very recently added her to our committee and are both excited and thrilled to see the many places she will take us with her time and dedication!

Remember that Election Day is November 8th, 2016! So many decisions that affect our workplace are made in Congress—your vote as an AFA-CWA union member matters. Your voice counts. The best way to promote aviation safety and better improve the future of our profession and the working conditions on our airplanes today is to be able to help elect Senators and House Representatives who support and defend issues that are important to flight attendants. Some of these concerns are protecting U.S. aviation jobs, making sure all flight attendants have mandated rest requirements to reduce fatigue, keeping dangerous weapons such as knives off of planes, receiving human trafficking awareness and improving air quality. Donating to FlightPAC can ensure all of this. Our union dues are never used to contribute to campaigns. All contributions to Flight PAC are voluntary donations. FlightPAC is non-partisan meaning we give to candidates who help stand and support flight attendants. If you’d like to donate to FlightPAC and help strengthen our voice in Congress, reach out to Kris for a donation card.

LEC Government Affairs Chairperson: Kris Hall

http://afaalaska.org/sea

http://afaalaska.org/governmentaffairs

 Council 19 Virtual Local Council Meeting

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.

More information about how to submit agenda items, the finalized meeting agenda, and how to access the meeting broadcast will be available in the weeks leading up to the meeting.

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 (live chat is not available on mobile).  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 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/161805?hl=en&ref_topic=3024170.  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.

In Solidarity,

Your LEC Officers

Council 19 Inflight Service Committee Update

First, we would like to welcome our newest members for the Seattle Base, Ross DeJong and Chris King.  We are looking forward to their input and expertise. Chris and Ross will attend the next AFA Committee 101 training that Brian Palmer, MEC-VP, hosts for our new committee members.

Here’s an update of what’s been going on…the ISC committee has been taking numerous polls to give feedback to the company:

  • Service flow and flexibility…looking at different ways to make the flow better for the customers.
  • Should we add an additional sparkling wine to our trans-con flights?  Most of the committee members said; yes but only if nothing was taken out of the beverage cart.
  • New pointed spatulas are coming and a better wine opener.
  • If you need to write up a particular service or flight make sure that you send it to catering.feedback@alaskaair.com
  •  Tidbits are back and if you weren’t here when we use to have them these are tips from the flight attendant group.  You can find them on the AFA website at afaalaska.org Go to Committees/Inflight…then go to “notes from your Inflight Service Committee” and Matthew will post them on the weekly Onboard News.

The last ISC quarterly meeting was held October 11, 2016

ISC Committee Chairperson: Linda Christou

http://afaalaska.org/sea

http://afaalaska.org/inflightservice

In June of this year, the AFA Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) presented Your Air Matters, a contaminated cabin air awareness campaign.  This month, we’re providing some important reminders and the resources available to help you should you find yourself in a situation where you believe you might have been exposed to contaminated cabin air.  We’d also like to provide some background on how AFA provides assistance and support in suspected air quality exposure incidents.

What Do I Do?

If you believe you might have been exposed to contaminated air aboard the aircraft, follow these steps:

1. Identify The Situation

If you encounter unusual fumes, odors, smoke, or haze:

  • Quickly rule out non-ventilation sources (i.e. ovens, coffee makers, garbage)
  • Report the situation to the pilots immediately.  If the source is the air from the vents in the cabin, there is possibly oil/hydraulic fluid contamination.
  • If no passengers are on board, step off the aircraft, especially if maintenance boards to test systems
  • Avoid breathing fumes coming from vents, if possible

2. Get Help If Sick

  • If in the air, notify the pilots to call Medlink
  • If still at the gate, ask the CSA to call paramedics.  Deplane if possible.
  • Seek medical attention as soon as possible.  Some tests must be performed as soon as possible to detect exposure.  Your symptoms can persist, worsen, or return after another incident.
  • Call AFA for help (call 206-457-2010, extension 1101 or email airquality@afaalaska.org)
  • Print and begin completing the AFA exposure checklist
  • Review the AFA International Air Quality website

3. Report & Document

  • File an I-21 (employee injury report) with the company
  • File an ASAP report with the company
  • Keep printed copies of each report
  • Send a copy of the completed I-21 form to the ASHSC Vice Chairperson.
  • Ask a supervisor to complete their Alaska Airlines air quality checklist with you
  • If sick, file a worker’s compensation claim and see a doctor as quickly as possible.  Claims do not start until you see a doctor.
  • Keep a symptom diary and document everything with a doctor

What Resources Are Available?

AFA Alaska Website

Information on what to do in the event of exposure to contaminated cabin air is available on the AFA Alaska website.  You can find the complete checklist at http://afaalaska.org/ashsc/airquality/checklist.  On your IMD or other mobile device, you can easily access this information by opening the AFA Alaska app or visiting afaalaska.org and clicking the “air quality exposure info” link from the home page.

Air Quality Exposure Quick Reference Card

Wallet size cards explaining what to do in a contaminated cabin air exposure event are available in each base.  These cards can be kept in a badge holder behind your crew ID or in your purse or wallet for when you need to access them quickly.  You can also print your own card from the AFA Alaska website by clicking here.

Local Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) 

The members of your Local Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee are available as a resource to assist you.  You can find contact information for your Local ASHSC on the ASHSC page of afaalaska.org.

What Happens Behind the Scenes?

Once management notifies AFA that a situation involving potential exposure to contaminated cabin air has occurred, a coordinated response process begins behind the scenes. MEC Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Vice Chairperson Yvette Satterlee activates AFA’s response procedures and makes contact with the crew.  Yvette ensures that the Flight Attendants have information about what to do if they’re feeling sick and what reports to file with the company.  The AFA Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Committee also contacts the Flight Attendants to offer their support.  The LEC Officers from the Local Council of the affected Flight Attendants are also notified of the situation and are available to provide assistance if needed.

After the incident, ASHSC, EAP, and the LEC Officers continue to assist the Flight Attendants.  This ongoing support takes the form of providing information about oil and hydraulic fumes for the medical providers of the affected crew members, coordinating operational debriefs with management, requesting aircraft maintenance records, and additional activities to help affected Flight Attendants through the treatment and recovery process.

Questions?

Please contact your Local ASHSC if you have any questions about contaminated cabin air.  You can find contact information for your Local ASHSC on the ASHSC page of afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,

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

 

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews at the September MEC meeting for the position of MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson. We would like to thank the candidates who expressed a willingness to serve and interviewed for the position. After thorough consideration, the MEC has appointed Stephanie Adams to the position.

Stephanie began her career with Alaska Airlines in 1995 as a Reservation Sales Agent, she spent an additional year as a Customer Service Agent, and in 1997 she became a Flight Attendant. For the majority of her career she has been based in Seattle with a brief time in Portland.

Stephanie began AFA work when she was elected as Seattle Council Representative in 2014. In 2015 she also became the MEC Grievance Representative. She felt compelled to begin AFA work as it combines her education with her longtime experience as a Flight Attendant. Her goal is to passionately protect all Flight Attendants under the purview of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Stephanie is a graduate of Seattle University School of Law and member of the Washington State Bar. Formerly, Stephanie acted as a family law attorney. She resides in Renton and enjoys spending time with her kids and traveling.

In her role as MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson, Stephanie will work closely with the Local Grievance Committee Chairpersons, AFA Staff Attorney Kimberly Chaput, and the AFA International legal department to represent and advocate for Flight Attendants. Stephanie’s appointment is effective December 1, 2016, and her term of appointment is concurrent with the term of the MEC Officers. She will report directly to the MEC.

In Solidarity,

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

In an effort to help you maneuver through the new Flight Attendant webpage, your LEC Officers have compiled the following information:

Inflight Resource Directory

Click the Administration tab on the left side

Click the Inflight Resource Directory Arrow on right side

This directory lists contact names, numbers, and emails for FAs to contact: Supervisors, payroll, performance supervisors, leave analysts, and much more.

inflight-resource-directory

Point Reduction Form

Click the Administration tab on the left side

Click the Performance tab on the right side

Click Point Reduction Form

If you have questions click on “…see Point Reduction Help…” and if you want to view your submission click on “…Point Reduction Look Up List.” It is important that you verify the dates you enter on this form.

point-reduction-form

Crew Care Form (To report hotel issues)

Click the Hotel Tab on the left side

Click the Hotel Links tab on the right side

Click on My Crew Care

If you have not registered on Crew Care simply enter your Alaska Airlines company email address (outlook email address) and follow the steps to complete the registration.

my-crew-care

Uniform Ordering/Catering Information

Click on Catering and Brand on the left side

Click on Uniforms

Direct links to order: New uniform items from Land’s End, name bars, and bag tags are located here.

Click on Onboard Service 

This tab allows you to look up a specific flight for service details.

Onboard Experience 

This tab provides a variety of information concerning aircraft environment, resources, etc.

uniform-link

If you have an issue with the catering on your flight send an email to: catering.feedback@alaskaair.com

Also, if you would like to read helpful hints from fellow crewmembers you can find these located under Tidbits on AFA’s website:http://afaalaska.org/inflightservice – news

Flight Attendant Performance Supervisor List

Manager: Leslee Cabulagan 206-392-6080, Leslee.Cabulagan@alaskaair.com

Michelle Kirschbaum/Jenn-Marie Mann – PDX, SEA “A” 206-392 6157

Michelle.Kirschbaum@alaskaair.com, Jennifer.Mann@alaskaair.com

Beth Swanson – SAN, SEA “B-I” 206-392-6227, Beth.Swanson@alaskaair.com

Noelle Berner (Starting Nov 1, 2016) – ANC, SEA “J-P” 206- 392-6143, Noelle.Berner@alaskaair.com

Natasha Kemp – LAX, SEA “Q-Z” 206-392-6146, Natasha.Kemp@alaskaair.com

Flight Attendant Payroll List

Brenna Bell (FA last names A-E) 206-392-6135, Brenna.Bell@alaskaair.com

Lois Overman (FA last names F-K) 206-392-6132, Lois.Overman@alaskaair.com

Michele Carcalean (FA last names L-Ri) 206-392-6284, Michele.Carcalean@alaskaair.com

Rachel Leitner (FA names Ro-Z) – 206-392-6133, Rachel.Leitner@alaskaair.com

Flight Attendant Leave Analysts

Ellen Santh Mayor and Tuyet Le

E-mail: faleave@alaskaair.onmicrosoft.com

Phone: (206)392-6079

Fax: (206)392-6198

Co-mail:SEADZ

We have created an Excel spreadsheet to review all the pairings that have been created and awarded in the ANC base.  We are excited to share that spreadsheet with all of you.

Click the following link to view the Pairings Spreadsheet:  Nov 16 Bid.xlsx

The spreadsheet contains:

  • Pairings (Pairing Numbers)
  • Days (Length of Pairing)
  • C/I (Check In Times)
  • C/O (Check-Out Times)
  • TAFB (Time Away From Base) which is listed as hours and minutes
  • ADC (Average Daily Credit)
  • Pay TFP (Total TFP you will be paid if trip is flown.  Inclusive of MPRs)
  • Sit TFP (Indicates how much tfp of Sit Pay is in the pairing)
  • TAFB/TFP (Time Away From Base per TFP value)
  • Duty Legs
  • D/H (DH legs)
  • L/O (Layover Location)
  • Compensation (inclusive of sit pay and per diem) and you can change the TFP Rate (located in the upper right corner of the spreadsheet) to reflect your step rate amount which will adjust the compensation column to reflect the accurate amount each individual FA will receive at their rate of pay.
  • Days (the days of the month that pairing operates)

We hope you find this information helpful and would appreciate your feedback.  If you find value in the document, we will do our best to provide it for you each month. If you have any questions about the spreadsheet, please contact us at anc@afaalaska.org.

Council 19 Scheduling Committee Update

We have recently added a new member to the committee, please welcome Melinda Jorge!!

Your Council 19 LEC Scheduling Chairs, Rita Tillou and Martin Vance attended SME training for JCTE last month. We are looking forward to additional training after modifications to the training mode are complete. Cutover to JCTE is planned for November 1st and base sits will be held during the first two weeks after the cutover.   Please stay tuned for more information in regards to the start date…..

We are receiving a lot of feedback on pairing construction and all concerns/compliments have been forwarded to the AFA Pairing Analyst for consideration. Due to the change in demographics of the Seattle base, we are looking forward to conducting another pairing survey in the first quarter of 2017. Not everyone will always be pleased, but hopefully a nice balance can be found to provide a better quality of life. 

All eyes are on Open Time lately and it appears that Crew Scheduling is still holding trips.  This is an ongoing issue that the MEC is battling during the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) meetings with management. 

The monthly Scheduling Committee meeting on September 29th provided an opportunity for the Scheduling Committee the ability to address the vacation bidding/trading system. Please remember that Seattle’s Vacation Open Time begins on October 28th at 2:00PM. 

Martin, Grant (Manager, Crew Scheduling) & IT are working together to add more preferences to the Open Time text alerts. At minimum, we would like to see pairing length and report time added to the preferences. 

Please remember to email sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org for your scheduling related questions!

Martin Vance – LEC Chairperson

Rita Tillou – LEC Vice Chairperson

http://afaalaska.org/sea

Council 19 Communications Update

 

Did you know that Council 19 has a Facebook page? Like it today to start receiving up to date information through your Facebook feed! Click the link below and like us!

https://www.facebook.com/AFA-Council-19-Seattle-538630496190284/?fref=ts

 facebook

 

Do you have the AFA Application downloaded to your IMD? Its easy to download:

  1. Open Safari and type afaalaska.org into the address bar
  2. Click the center icon at the bottom of the screen (arrow pointing up inside a square)
  3. Click “add to home screen”
  4. Click “add” in the right corner

 

get-the-application-copy

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 […]

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