Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian
Thank you! The vote participation of 89.3% sends a strong and united message — Together, we will see this negotiation process through, as we continue to work toward achieving a contract that fully recognizes our part in the success of Alaska Airlines!
In Solidarity,
Becky Strachan, Lisa Pinkston and Jan Bottini-Strait
Dear Flight Attendants:
Polls closed today at 12 PM PST for voting on the Tentative Agreement (TA) reached by the Negotiating Committee on December 12, 2013. The results of the vote are as follows:
| Voting FOR the agreement | 824 | 30% |
| Voting AGAINST the agreement | 1900 | 70% |
| Total Votes | 2724 | 100% |
| Participation Rate of Eligible Voters | 89.3% |
As indicated above, the TA has failed.
More than ever, this is a time for all of us to come together and stand united. You have spoken through your votes and the Negotiating Committee is prepared to go back to the table and send management a message that we demand more improvements!
Prior to the Negotiating Committee going back to the table, a new survey will be sent out to you to help the Committee to determine what areas of importance need more attention and focus. You can expect to see an invitation to participate in the survey in your email within the next several weeks. If you are receiving this email, we already have your email address on file for your survey invitation. Please ensure that info@alaskamec.org is in your address book to prevent any potential spam filtering or bounce back from our email servers.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, and Sandra Morrow
Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo
Washington, DC – Flight Attendants at Alaska Airlines, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), today voted down a tentative agreement with management. Through the vote, Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants sent a strong message to management that they expect more for their award-winning contributions to the airline.
“Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants have collectively declared today that management’s proposal fails to address the needs of Flight Attendants and does not reflect our true worth. We remain unified as a group and focused on our future. Through tireless effort, we have helped create a successful strategy that has resulted in increased profits for our airline. It is well past time for management to hear us and negotiate an agreement that meets the priorities set by Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants and that can be ratified,” said Jeffrey Peterson, AFA President at Alaska Airlines.
Negotiations began two years ago and, in May 2013, AFA filed for mediation with the National Mediation Board. During negotiations, Alaska Airlines earned record-breaking profits and continued to earn top awards and accolades for customer satisfaction with the assistance of the Flight Attendants. Next, AFA will re-survey the over 3,100 Flight Attendants to determine their top priorities. The National Mediation Board retains oversight of future negotiations.
The Association of Flight Attendants is the world’s largest Flight Attendant union. Focused 100 percent on Flight Attendant issues, AFA has been the leader in advancing the Flight Attendant profession for 68 years. Serving as the voice for Flight Attendants in the workplace, in the aviation industry, in the media and on Capitol Hill, AFA has transformed the Flight Attendant profession by raising wages, benefits and working conditions. Nearly 60,000 Flight Attendants come together to form AFA, part of the 700,000-member strong Communications Workers of America (CWA), AFL-CIO. Visit us at www.afacwa.org.
The Association of Flight Attendants Scholarship Fund is intended to provide financial assistance to dependents of our active members who will be attending a college or university. At this time, there are two scholarship opportunities available, with deadlines for the application process in April 2014. Please visit www.afacwa.org for further information!
February 13, 2014
As of mid-day today, 2368 votes have been placed, which is 80.3% of all eligible to vote. Let’s move this into the 90’s! The vote is far too important to let someone else decide your future!
Your dues must be current in order to vote. If you believe your dues are in arrears, contact AFA Member Services at 1-800-424-2401 (Press 7). They are open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm Easter Tim.
If you are current on your dues and have not received your ballot and instructions, please contact the AFA Ballot Helpline at 1-800-424-2401 (Press 1, then Ext 706).
Due to severe weather the AFA International office is closed but staff are working from home during business hours. Leave a message with the requested information and somebody will contact you in the morning.
If you have already voted and wish to change your vote, the last recorded vote is the one that counts. If you do not vote, it does not count one way or the other. All votes must be submitted by noon Pacific Time on Friday, February 14, 2014.
We anticipate results will be validated by early afternoon tomorrow and AFA will communicate the certified results as soon as possible.
Finally, our group is extremely passionate and emotions have been running very high in regards to the vote. Your Master Executive Council (MEC) and Negotiating Committee request that we all take a moment to reflect on our interactions with each other—particularly on social media. (Your leaders are certainly not excluded here.) This is a great opportunity for us all to step away from the keyboard for the evening, take a deep breath and begin focusing on moving forward with grace and kindness.
We thank you all for being so engaged and we’ll know the results soon!
In solidarity,
AFA at Alaska Airlines
Roadshow FAQ #2
General:
Q. Is it normal to clarify language in a TA after it is presented to the Membership?
A. Yes. Once the provisions are reviewed by many parties in various forums (e.g. AFA leaders, Flight Attendants on social media, roadshow participants and workplace discussions), questions inevitably come to light that may not have been anticipated by the parties in negotiations. Clarifications are sought in those instances to answer these “what if…” questions. It is a robust and healthy exercise that ultimately results in much-improved contract language.
Q. If I have already voted can I change my vote?
A. Yes, the last vote recorded will be what is counted.
Q. When do the polls close on February 14th?
A. The polls close at 12:00pm (noon) Pacific Time on February 14th.
Section 12 Exchange of Sequences
Q. Will FA to FA trading begin at the same time as the Quartile System?
A. Yes each individual’s FA to FA trading will open when that individual’s Quartile opens.
Section 14 Vacation
Q. Does the 960 tfp requirement for the extra week of Vacation (Longevity PTO) for those who have completed 25 years of service as an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant include vacation and sick leave?
A. Yes, see definition of ‘Flown TFP’ in Section 5 Definitions of the TA.
Section 21 Compensation
Q. Will all the current pairings remain the same after the new Minimum Pay Rules are in place?
A. The goal of Minimum Pay Rules is to require pairings to become more efficient or pay a penalty for remaining inefficient. For example the minimum pay rules will either pay us for long sit times or cause the pairing to have lower sit times. The pairing optimizer program is designed to minimize soft time such as Minimum Pay Rules but the optimizer will not be able to completely get rid of them. It is not possible to predict with any degree of certainty which pairings will or will not be affected.
Section 32 Attendance Policy
Q. Does use of the Quarterly Point Reduction Form have a quarterly flying requirement?
A. No there isn’t a quarterly flying requirement to use the Quarterly Point Reduction Form. However the form cannot be used for any Single Continuous Occurrence (SCO) that touches one of the four paid holiday blackout dates (New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).
Q. If I call sick on-line while on a multi-day sequence, do I need to have departed (“wheels up”) after the first leg following the layover on each day or just the very first leg of my sequence?
A. Sick on-line requires that you call in sick following wheels up of the first leg of your sequence. Everything thereafter is considered a sick on-line just like in the current contract.
February 11, 2014
IMPORTANT TENTATIVE AGREEMENT VOTING INFORMATION
There is a severe weather system moving toward Washington, DC, and it is possible that the AFA International office will be closed Thursday and/or Friday. While the actual electronic voting is handled by an independent 3rd party company, if you have questions or trouble voting and need to reach the AFA Ballot Helpline or Membership Services, the response time may be delayed. If you call either and receive voice mail, leave a message and AFA staff will be checking and responding to messages remotely.
We urge everyone to vote as soon as possible. Polls close this Friday, February 14, at noon Pacific Time. If you have already voted and wish to change your vote, the last recorded vote is the one that counts. If you do not vote, it does not count one way or the other.
Need Assistance: Contact the AFA Membership Services or the AFA Ballot Helpline, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm Eastern Time.
Your dues must be current in order to vote. If you believe your dues are in arrears, contact AFA Member Services at 1-800-424-2401 (Press 7).
If you are current on your dues and have not received your ballot and instructions or need assistance with voting, please contact the AFA Ballot Helpline at 1-800-424-2401 (Press 1, then Ext 706).
Leave a message if the call is not answered directly.
PERCENTAGE VOTED TO DATE
As of mid-afternoon today, 2121 of eligible voters have cast their votes, or 69%. We urge everyone to exercise their right to vote. This is too important to let somebody else decide your future!
In solidarity,
AFA at Alaska Airlines
Please join us in welcoming Bethany Gilbo to the Reserve Committee, effective February 12, 2014. Bethany has been an Alaska Flight Attendant since December 2011 and was with Horizon prior to joining Alaska. This is her first time being involved in a union position. She is looking forward to helping Reserve Flight Attendants gain knowledge about their work group and contract while working to make the transition to their new career as easy and understandable as possible.
The main purpose of the Reserve Committee is to help Flight Attendants to interpret and understand the reserve portion of the contract and serve as a liaison between Crew Scheduling and Flight Attendants holding a reserve schedule. They may be contacted through the PDX AFA Hotline at (503) 396-4089, option 4 or through the AFA website at http://alaskamec.org/pdx/reserves.
Yours In Solidarity,
LEC President Cathy Gwynn, LEC Vice President Brian Palmer, and Local Reserve Committee Chairperson Hannah Winit
February 10, 2014
As of 1pm PT today, 1963 votes have been placed, which is 64.1% of all eligible to vote. That is 329 more since Friday or an additional 10%. This vote is far too important to let someone else decide your future!
Your dues must be current in order to vote. If you believe your dues are in arrears, contact AFA Member Services at 1-800-424-2401 (Press 7). They are open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm ET.
If you are current on your dues and have not received your ballot and instructions, please contact the AFA Ballot Helpline at 1-800-424-2401 (Press 1, then Ext 706).
If you have already voted and wish to change your vote, the last recorded vote is the one that counts. If you do not vote, it does not count one way or the other. All votes must be submitted by noon Pacific Time on Friday, February 14, 2014.
Roadshows begin in San Diego tomorrow and then on to Los Angeles on Wednesday and Orange County on Thursday. Help AFA get out the word and encourage your fellow Flight Attendants to vote on the Tentative Agreement!
In solidarity,
AFA at Alaska Airlines
Dear Flight Attendants,
Tomorrow is the official transition from the TwinHill to the Land’s End Business Outfitters (LEBO) uniform. It has been a long, hard road leading up to this milestone—three years, in fact. For many Flight Attendants the consequences of being repeatedly exposed to the TwinHill uniform will linger on long after February 10, 2014. We could revisit our differences with management over this issue—and they do remain—but in the interest of achieving closure we will not. At the end of the day, it is high time that we are transitioning out of the TwinHill and we are thankful that management ultimately did the right thing.
Even if you have never had an issue with any of the TwinHill pieces, no Flight Attendant may wear TwinHill uniform pieces going forward. Please be considerate of your fellow Flight Attendants who have suffered so greatly for the past many years by following this directive. Additionally, management has communicated clear intent to remove Flight Attendants who violate this policy from duty without pay.
Although we have no reason to believe this will occur, if management attempts to discipline you keep in mind you are allowed to have a union representative to be present. If you are given a Record of Discussion (ROD), you should be provided with a copy of it before it is put into your personnel file. A ROD is not discipline.
If you are removed from duty without pay, contact one of your Local Executive Council (LEC) officers or grievance representatives for follow up. AFA will review each circumstance on a case by case basis to determine the appropriate course of action. However, keep in mind that AFA supports management’s position: absolutely no TwinHill pieces may be worn going and everybody must be in the Land’s End Business Outfitters uniform. If you have any concerns or questions regarding the LEBO uniform, contact an Inflight supervisor or manager.
What to do with your current TwinHill items? After making them security-compliant by removing buttons, logos, etc., they should be cut up and disposed of in the trash. Unless, of course, you would like to store the items as exhibits for pending litigation. Under no circumstances should they be donated.
Alaska Airlines will be conducting a system-wide “decontamination” of the jumpseat coverings and straps with an anti-microbial cleaning agent while all aircraft remain overnight tonight. AFA does not believe surface treatment with an anti-microbial cleaner is a sufficient risk mitigation strategy, so we advocated to replace all jumpseat covers and straps. Ideally this would have happened all at once, but we would have been willing to accept a phased approach if the latter was impractical. Management does not believe either is necessary and so no replacement strategy is planned. We find this decision to be extremely unfortunate and potentially short-sighted. AFA will monitor the situation in the coming weeks and hope for the best.
We’re very excited to finally see our entire work group back in a consistent uniform looking sharp and feeling safe. “Good bye” to TwinHill and “Hello” to Land’s End Business Outfitters!
In solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn and Sandra Morrow
