Latest News – Page 183

May 6, 2016 17:00

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) and AFA International are closely monitoring the proposed acquisition/merger with Virgin America while management navigates the various approval processes. On May 25, 2016, the MEC and your newly selected Merger Representatives are scheduled to attend a special meeting called by our AFA-CWA international president. Pursuant to Section X [Merger Policy and Related Employee Protective Provisions] of the AFA-CWA Constitution & Bylaws, the purpose of this meeting is to review the merger, our constitutional protections and procedures, contract bargaining, representation and seniority integration. While preparations are already underway on these items, nothing can officially proceed until the financial transaction is final months from now.

AFA International President Nelson has met with the TWU International President Lombardo and confirmed that AFA will be the surviving union representing the unified group if the merger is finalized. There will be no representational election. In the meantime, TWU is continuing its regular representation activities as they work to secure a first contract for Virgin America Inflight Team Members (ITMs). We support their efforts to achieve a first contract.

In a merger, there is no statutory oversight of contract bargaining. Section 6 negotiations under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the process we are familiar with under regular contract negotiations, does not apply in a merger. Management will need to negotiate with us to address the merger of the work force and this can be an opportunity for Flight Attendants to achieve improvements. It is important that we not speculate on this process – especially prior to our meeting with AFA Legal and Collective Bargaining on May 25th.

AFA-CWA has experience with dozens of mergers. AFA Alaska will leverage this opportunity to achieve the best possible conditions and improvements for all Flight Attendants.

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green, Brice McGee; Merger Representatives Sandra Morrow, Marie Maxwell; AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput; and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

May 2, 2016 05:00

The Master Executive Council (MEC) will be conducting interviews for one (1) member to serve on the AFA System Board of Adjustment.

Scope

Members are to serve on the System Board of Adjustment for the purpose of arbitrating any disputes or grievances that may arise under the terms of the Agreement between Alaska Airlines and its Flight Attendants.

Policy/Responsibilities

There shall be two members selected by the MEC from active members in good standing to represent the Association. Members will be selected at-large without regard to Local Council or domicile.
Any person seeking a position as a System Board of Adjustment Member must submit a resume. Candidates must interview with the MEC.
System Board Members shall be selected for a two (2) year appointment period in accordance with the AFA Constitution and Bylaws. Appointments will be reviewed in January of each even numbered year. Selection shall be made, insofar as possible, to ensure that both members will not be new at the same time.
The System Board Members will act in the best interest of the membership and the Association and will be consistent with the Agreement between the Flight Attendants and Alaska Airlines.
The MEC President shall have the ability, in the event of an emergency, to appoint a qualified member in good standing to fill an ad hoc position on the Board, should the alternate not be available.
The MEC on an ad hoc basis, by majority vote, may appoint an expert as a substitute for one member of the System Board of Adjustment.

Qualifications

Willingness to attend the requisite grievance training(s)
In depth knowledge of the contract
Understanding of the principles of just cause
Adherence to Grievance Committee policies, procedures, and standards of ethical conduct
Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive and personal information
Maintenance of member-in-good-standing status
Ability to remain in good standing with the company
Ability to analyze written data and information with high attention to detail
Strong written and communication skills
Strong computer skills

Expressing Interest and Interviewing Schedule

Interviews will be conducted during the June MEC meeting on Tuesday, June 28 at the AFA Alaska MEC office in Seattle.

To express interest for the position, please submit a declaration of interest and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Satterlee at yvette.satterlee@afaalaska.org no later than 5 PM Pacific Time on Monday, June 20, 2016. Yvette will be able to provide additional information regarding transportation and booking of flights if necessary.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; LEC Presidents-Elect Timothy Green and Brice McGee; MEC Grievance Chairperson Jennifer Wise-MacColl and MEC Grievance Representative Stephanie Adams

April 29, 2016 18:00

Norwegian Air International (NAI), a subsidiary of a Norwegian airline, has headquartered its operations in Ireland to take advantage of lower labor and regulatory standards. This runs counter to U.S. law and the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement. NAI’s business plan has called for hiring pilots and Flight Attendants under individual contracts that run $18,000 a year for Flight Attendants or utilize pilots based in Asia to fly between Europe and the United States without serving Ireland.

Despite calls from AFA, ALPA, and other U.S., and European labor groups, U.S. and European passenger carriers, and more than 200 bipartisan members of Congress, the DOT announced Friday, April 15 that it will tentatively approve NAI’s application for a foreign air carrier permit. AFA has already voiced our strong opposition to this decision.

Help stop this by participating in our call to action today!

The NAI scheme threatens our career and the future of the U.S. aviation industry. A flags-of-convenience model in the U.S. shipping industry has already forced U.S. companies out of the market and lost more than 97,000 jobs. Should NAI be allowed to operate into the U.S., we are potentially looking at a similar result for Flight Attendant jobs.

TAKE ACTION NOW! Register your objection to the DOT ruling to allow Norwegian Air International to operate on an Irish certificate and trample labor standards in the U.S. and E.U.

We need each and every Flight Attendant and the traveling public to take the following actions. We only have a few weeks to stop this threat to our jobs!

Fill out the form to register your objection to NAI with the DOT. The deadline is May 6, 2016.
Call your Representatives and tell them to support HR 5090. Find your Representative at house.gov and call their D.C. and home offices.

“I am a Flight Attendant and constituent. I am urging you to co-sponsor H.R. 5090, to enforce the high labor standards negotiated in the E.U./U.S. Open Skies agreement. And, I urge you to also sign on to the Collins/Garamendi letter to Secretary Foxx to deny the NAI foreign air carrier permit. We can’t let U.S. aviation be destroyed like U.S. shipping. This is about my job, our nation’s economy and our safety and security.”

Join the picket line in front of the White House on May 12 to show our unity and strength in opposition to the recent tentative approval of NAI.

WHAT: Airline Workers Mobilize to #DenyNAI

WHEN: Thursday, May 12 at 12:00pm ET

WHERE: 1601 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20050

WHO:

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA)
Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA)
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
Transport Workers Union of America (TWU)
The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD)

Don’t delay—take action now!

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Government Affairs Committee Chairperson Bev Bullock

April 22, 2016 06:00

NATIONAL GROUP PROTECTION

SEATTLE BASE VISIT

MAY 2-6, 2016

SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS – 2016 ENROLLMENT

From May 2^nd—6^th, National Group Protection (NGP) will be in the crew lounge in Seattle to communicate the AFA supplemental benefit plans. Please look for the NGP benefit counselors during the on-site enrollment to enroll or make changes to your existing coverage. Please make an effort to come to the crew lounge during this week.

Accident Insurance
Critical Illness Coverage
Whole Life Insurance

There are some benefit enhancements/upgrades this year, so please take the time to sit down with a benefit counselor and review your options. This is also an excellent time to make sure you have filed for your annual health screening benefits, which are part of the accident and critical illness benefit plans.

Forget to File Wellness benefits—-NGP CAN RETRO FILE 2 YEARS OF WELLNESS BENEFITS!

Supplemental – these plans supplement any existing coverage
Voluntary – members choose to participate
Limited Underwriting – no medical or physical exams required
Family Coverage – available with all of the plans
Portable – members can continue coverage if they leave the company
Payroll Deduction – premiums are paid through payroll deduction

If you have any questions regarding the upcoming enrollment, please contact National Group Protection (NGP) at 800-344-9016.

April 22, 2016 00:12

PBS Update May 2016

May Bid Awards Q&A

Summer Update

The AFA PBS Committee and your Local AFA Council 19 leadership received a number of questions this month about bid awards. Hopefully this information will help to understand the current state of staffing and bid awards. Remember, the company has 2 PBS members on the committee in addition to the 2 AFA PBS committee members.

Why were lines so high this month?

Besides the normal ramping up in flight hours for the summer, the SEA base experienced 15 flight attendants leave employment with the company or go ‘inactive’ (medical leave, etc) just prior to bids opening. When you take into account that each person would have potentially flown a May schedule of approximately 82tfp, the goal for May was 82.5tfp, this means over 1200tfp is not covered and must be accounted for during the bid award.

There’s no way to add new people to the base at the last minute to cover a situation like this. Consequently, the existing active crew in the base is required to fly more to cover that time.

The company is hearing our concerns over staffing levels. As a result, they have added a fourth initial class this year. Hopefully we will see additional staffing in the SEA base to help control the increase in premium pay trips in Open Time. It is our hope that the lack of premium pay equates to flight attendants picking up trips from the one ways. Hiring close to 300 new FA’s this year will hopefully help reduce the use of premium open time to cover a lean staffing model.

What is the ‘threshold’?

Seniority 1234 Category SEA-ALL FA JONES 098765
Minimum window < 76.5> Threshold < 82.5> Maximum window < 92.5>

The ‘threshold’ is shown on your ‘Reasons Report’ on the ‘Results’ tab in PBS. It is the goal set by program administrators (the PBS Committee) in order to achieve the correct staffing for that month.

There is a connection between the posted ‘base line average’ you see on the PBS Info Page each month and the threshold. The PBS Committee attempts to keep the threshold set as close as possible to the posted line average. Changing the threshold will alter the staffing for that month:

The higher the threshold, the more days people essentially have to work.

The lower the threshold, the less days people have to work.

During the summer schedule, the threshold is always higher because there is more flying to cover. This is true in all bases, not just SEA. Throughout the rest of the year, except for December, the threshold tends to be lower. Contractually, the threshold number has to fall between 78tfp and 85tfp.

Why was the low/minimum for a line raised this month in SEA?

In the example above you can see the ‘Minimum Window’ and the ‘Maximum Window’ as well as the “Threshold.” Historically, the low window averages 10tfp below the posted base line average. The AFA PBS Committee was asked by the MEC this month to try to refrain from changing the threshold. The threshold is the goal for everyone’s line and ideally is the same as the posted base line average. In the past the PBS committee may have adjusted that threshold number up or down, a bit, in order to achieve the company’s staffing numbers for lineholders and reserves.

Many flight attendants bid with the idea that the posted ‘base line average’ is the goal to consider when adding up the tfp value of the pairings they request. When the threshold number is kept as close as possible to the line average number this provides some consistency to the bidding process. You’ll know in advance what tfp number you need to reach to have the program ‘stop’ after awarding you the trips you want.

A consequence of not changing the threshold is that the low window number or high window number may need to be moved to achieve the company’s required lineholder/reserve ratio. The PBS Committee does not know in advance if that would be necessary to move numbers until the first bid run.

After doing the first bid run in SEA for May the PBS committee knew there was problem. Using the full 20tfp between windows (minimum window/maximum window) and the threshold at 82.5tfp (the same as the line average), the program was only was creating 247 reserves. The company necessity for May is 278 reserves.

Raising the low window to 76.5tfp (from 72.5), those FA’s with who may have received a very low line are now probably flying one more trip or receiving higher time trips. Adhering to the company’s request of 278 reserves, the higher minimum for a line equates to additional flying pushed onto lines. The result is fewer pairings/tfp left over and affects if someone may hold a line or is bumped to reserve. Moving the low window to 76.5tfp achieved the company’s desired number of 278 reserves.

Why was my line built all the way to 92tfp while others only 77tfp?

There will always be flight attendants with lower lines and flight attendants with higher lines due to the broad bidding window (20 tfp difference). The threshold, or goal, is an “average” and flight attendants will end up with lower total tfp or higher total tfp as a result. The line average is pulled down by bids that, for contractual reasons/Denial Mode/legalities, etc are unable to be awarded more pairings to reach the threshold.

The majority of lines are likely higher than the threshold because the program is designed to stop when you’ve reached or exceeded the threshold. Few if any stop at exactly 82.5tfp. For May, a majority of flight attendants exceed that number.

If your line hasn’t reached that ‘threshold’ or goal for the month then the program will attempt to give you one more pairing if legally possible. The total tfp for the month you end up with has a lot to do with the type of trips you bid and what your tfp total is when it tries to give you one more pairing.

If you bid turns and you are just short of the threshold, you end up with a line total just barely over the threshold because you were given one more turn. If you bid for multiday trips, and have not reached the threshold, you might end up on the high end of the bidding window. This is because that additional needed pairing is worth a lot more than a turn.

Some airlines restrict the window~ meaning a narrow tfp difference. Let’s say we have a 10tfp-bidding window like our fellow flight attendants at Envoy (formerly American Eagle). That bid awards take longer because it’s harder to find a solution that gets everyone into a small window. The Envoy FA’s also end up flying more pairings that they didn’t ask for. This is because the pairings they ask for don’t necessarily fit inside that small window when it gets to that last pairing to be awarded. They need a pairing worth less or worth more because that’s the only pairing that will ‘fit’ into that small window.

So in other words, the larger the window the better because it enables you bid accordingly and fit in the trips you asked instead of trips forced on your line that you didn’t want. But with the bigger the window, the more you’ll see a bigger spread between those with a lower line and those with a higher line, creating dissatisfaction among some bidders.

FYI, most Navtech customers have a bidding window from 15-20 flight hours (tfp-equivalent).

This is a lot of information and we realize that you will have questions. It is our desire to be as transparent as possible, even if that mean overwhelming you with information. We are here to help break it down, so don’t hesitate to contact us.

Seattle Officers, AFA PBS Committee, and Seattle Scheduling Committee.

April 15, 2016 20:00

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews this week for the two open merger representative positions. The MEC would like to thank the 33 candidates who demonstrated willingness to represent our Flight Attendants. Of the initial candidates, 6 finalists were selected. After thorough deliberation, the MEC has appointed Sandra Morrow and Marie Maxwell to the positions.

Sandra Morrow is a Los Angeles-based Flight Attendant currently serving as Council 18 LEC President. Sandra was hired in 1984 as a Jet America Flight Attendant and came to Alaska when the two carriers were later merged. After the merger, Sandra represented the Flight Attendants of the Long Beach-base and has held a variety of different Union positions. Sandra’s previous merger experience makes her uniquely qualified to take on the role of merger representative.

Marie Maxwell is a San Diego-based Flight Attendant hired in 2012. Previously, Marie spent over 20 years working with Microsoft. During her time at Microsoft, Marie held a variety of sales, marketing and operations roles, managed teams ranging between 5 to 25 people, and presented plans, programs and results to her senior leadership. She was involved in multiple reorganizations, which included merging teams as well as integrating diverse organizations. She was recognized for her ability to collaborate across teams, drive results through ambiguity and for her focus on customer satisfaction.

In their roles as merger representatives, Sandra and Marie will be responsible for ensuring compiling the necessary information to merge the Flight Attendant seniority lists in the upcoming Alaska Airlines/Virgin America merger. They will work closely with Virgin America’s merger representatives, the MEC, and the AFA International Office.

Current information about the Alaska Airlines/Virgin America merger can be found at http://afaalaska.org/merger.

In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; and LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green & Brice McGee

April 14, 2016 18:00

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews this week for the position of MEC Inflight Service Committee Chairperson. We would like to thank the eight candidates who expressed a willingness to serve and interviewed for the position. After thorough consideration, the MEC has appointed Stephanie Garnett to the position.

Stephanie is a Seattle-based flight attendant and she has just completed her 17^th year with Alaska Airlines. Previously she was a stewardess for Pan American.

Stephanie is a graduate of Washington State University with a degree in mathematics. She has been a member of the Inflight Service Committee in Seattle for about 10 years and has also served on the Air Safety, Health, and Security Committee in Seattle for the last 4 years.

As a part her committee work, Stephanie has had the opportunity to work on some interesting projects including creating the packing for the universal juice drawer, working on the universal aisle cart packing and most recently researching the Space Bins. She is also a SOAR award winner.

Stephanie has been married to her husband Dan for almost 45 years. They have two sons who are married and have given them five grandchildren. Dan and Stephanie have recently adopted 2 kittens to fill their empty nest.

In her role as MEC Inflight Service Committee Chairperson, Stephanie will work closely with the Local Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons and inflight management to represent and advocate for Flight Attendants in all areas related to onboard sales and service. Her term of appointment is concurrent with the term of the MEC Officers and she reports directly to the MEC.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt

April 8, 2016 17:00

Numerous Merger Representative applications

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) has received numerous applications for the two Merger Representative positions. We thank all the applicants in advance for their willingness to serve. The MEC will be conducting a conference call later this evening to review the applications and to select those who we will schedule for a phone interview during our MEC meeting next week.

Union representation

AFA and the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), the union representing the Virgin America Inflight Team Members (ITMs), have been in touch to discuss a smooth transition for the Virgin America (VX) ITMs should the merger achieve proper approvals from the VX shareholders and the appropriate regulatory agencies. Our unions have a history of working together to address issues for Flight Attendants in a merger, and this is good news for all Alaska F/As and Virgin America ITMs. AFA and TWU will meet to discuss issues in greater detail in the coming weeks.

* * *

Stay tuned for additional updates as more details become available!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; and LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green and Brice McGee

April 7, 2016 10:32

AFA-CWA Council 19 Base Meeting **Updated**

When: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016

Where: Meeting location will be at the BEIJING ROOM on the mezzanine level (south end) of SEA-TAC Airport at the Sea-Tac Conference Center

Time: 1pm-4pm

(Parking will be validated on any floor except floor 4 in terminal)

Your AFA Officers are preparing for the annual AFA Board of Directors (BOD) meeting and we need to discuss the agenda items for the BOD and seek your input. We will be posting the agenda items for review and look forward to discussing them with you at the May 17th meeting.

Please bring all your Open Time trading questions for our scheduling experts; we will be having a Q&A regarding Open Time trading. If you can’t attend our base meeting send us your trading questions to sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org.

We will be discussing Alaska’s acquisition of Virgin America, and share any information we have about merging together.

Agenda

I. Call meeting to order

A. Call for late agenda items

B. Late agenda items

C. Announcements

II. AFA BOD agenda items

III. LEC Update

A. Officer Update

B. LEC President Report

C. LEC VP Report

4. LEC Sec and Membership Report

5. Committee Report

6 . Budget Review

IV. Open Time Trading Q&A

V. Virgin America Q&A

If you would like to add an agenda item please contact LEC Secretary Linda Christou at lschristou@comcast.net by May 8th.

In Solidarity,

Your Council 19 Officers

April 5, 2016 05:00

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. 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 Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant and AFA member in good standing (dues current)
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.

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Satterlee at yvette.satterlee@afaalaska.org. The deadline for applications is Friday, April 8 at 5 PM PDT.
A member of the MEC will contact finalist candidates to schedule a telephone interview. Telephone interviews will be conducting during next week’s MEC meeting on April 12^th or 13^th.
Merger representatives will be selected by the MEC by the conclusion of the MEC meeting

Questions

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

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; and LEC Presidents-elect Tim Green and Brice McGee