AFA Alaska + Hawaiian

Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian

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Question:

 

Wondering what your position is on this is article

http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/12892492/1/american-flight-attendants-got-13-million-more-thanks-to-delta.html

I expect us to exceed and surpass.

 

Answer:

 

Negotiations are a dynamic and fluid process.  Many external situations impact and complicate contract negotiations.  It is indeed an interesting and exciting story that at the final hour the Delta pay raise impacted the AA/US Airways negotiations and gave them the leverage to get even more money in the rates.

 

The Delta pay raise (and the AA/US Airways TA rates) alter the comps that are in the industry now.  However, if you compare the AA/US Airways TA rates to our TA1 rates in the chart posted on our website, you will see that our TA1 rates were higher in many steps.  Know that we intend to improve on those $ amounts even still.

 

Thanks for your comment and know that our outside economist consultant, Dan Akins, is the same person who was at the table advising the AA/US Airways Flight Attendant Negotiating Committee.  We have a great team representing our collective interests.

 
 

Comment:

 

Please communicate with the company during negotiations that we expect retroactive paychecks for all the time wasted since we voted down our last TA. A great number of us are simply going to vote NO again if we are not given retro checks.
As always, thank you very much for your tireless efforts on our behalf.
Comment:

 

Hello, AFA negotiating team

 

I am a LAX Flight Attendant coming up quickly on my first year with the company. Not only am I a Flight Attendant, but I am also currently serving as active Air Force Reserve Airmen in the United States Air Force, something I have been doing for almost five years now. I am proud to serve, and also blessed by the protections in place by the USERRA act that allow me to pursue my career with this great company. I understand that negotiations for sick leave are still on the table and I wanted to bring to your attention some things that uniquely affect me as a Reservist in the U.S military. I am required to serve a minimum of one weekend a month, and 15 days annually in the Air Force Reserve. Often I do more time than that. When I go to work for the Air Force, I lose out on quite a bit of my benefits as a Flight Attendant. Each day I am gone I lose 5 TFP from my Reserve Guarantee, while I understand this, I am not working for Alaska Airlines on those days after all, Alaska told me many times that they were a Veteran friendly company. Many Veteran friendly companies offer pay to make up the difference from you military pay, or even pay you for a certain amount of days you are working for the military. Alaska offers neither of those benefits. Let me stop here to say that I do not feel that I am entitled to those benefits, though I would appreciate them, but I do feel entitled to say that Alaska Airlines should not boast about being a Veteran Friendly company when they do only what is required by Federal law under the USERRA act. Along with losing pay from Alaska Airlines, I do not accrue any sick leave the days I am on Military Leave. This becomes a serious problem when I attend annual tour, like I did in August and September of this year. I was out on military leave for over 23 days, and did not accrue any sick leave at Alaska Airlines. Even though I am serving in the Reserve those days, and not working at Alaska Airlines, I still get sick like every other person, and would like to receive some kind of sick leave when taking a required military leave. Jury Duty is paid, and is also a requirement from the United States government. When I serve in the military on my required days I am losing so much, sick leave, pay and money towards my retirement. I understand that there are not very many military reserve and guard Flight Attendants at Alaska Airlines, but this is a benefit I feel that all members should have. I ask for sick leave accrual, and pay while on military leave not only for myself, but for other Reservists and Guardsmen who plan on retiring from their respective branch. I am on my way out of the military, but you will still hear my voice asking for these benefits for our military men and women when I am a civilian again.

Thank you for taking your time to read this, if you have any question feel free to contact me, I included my email above.

 

Answer: First of all, Thank you for your service and your commitment to our country’s security.

 

It is unfortunate, but in the airline industry, even in pilot contracts where military reservist activity is more common, the norm is compliance with USERRA.  Many companies support reservists and make accommodations and supplement reservist pay.  However, that is not common in the airline industry.

 

With regard to your sick leave concern, Alaska and Southwest are the only carriers in the US where the sick leave amount accrued is based on a percentage of credited TFP.  At all other carriers, it is based upon whether or not an employee is “active” for a majority of the month (usually 15 days).  The accrual is a set number of ‘Hours.”  If a reservist is absent for 2 weeks at another US carrier, s/he would typically not get any sick leave accrual for that month.  We agree that this is a bad situation, but unfortunately, it is the context in which our management looks at military accommodations in our contract.

 
 

Comment:

 

Horizon just added a flight to SCC. Now the ANC base has lost flying to SCC, FAI, and ADQ. We are hearing OTZ is NEXT?!?
WE NEED SCOPE IN OUR CONTRACT or the ANC BASE WILL not doubt CLOSE. It’s just a matter of time before Horizon takes over all the arctic flying.
 

Comment:

 

My concern is regarding the SCOPE section in the current negotiations. PLEASE protect our flying! NO outsourcing of fa’s and flying of existing and future routes under AS or QX. any changes brought by management should be re-negotiated by our union!

Thank you, NO compromises please!
 

Comment:

 

Getting more Concerned about Horizon taking over our flying in the state of Alaska. Some of us want to work day trips due to family obligations and more day trips are disappearing. Please look more into SCOPE for our contract. It might be another company soon
 

Comment:

 

Nothing in the Voice feedback box anymore. It’s online now. FYI
 

Comment:

 

SCOPE
Outsourcing FA jobs

Clarify the language regarding type of a/c, or number of seats that AS or AAG is allowed to outsource.

i. e. 100 seat or more a/c must be flown by AS FAs
 

Comment:

 

Scope needs to be added and defined
 

Comment:

 

Please present and fight for SCOPE!!!! We need more money, benefit protection and retro pay, but Job Security is of utmost importance!!!!
 

Comment:

 

I would like to know if the length of the pay scale is even being negotiated.It takes 17years to reach the top of the scale and that’s ALOT longer than most of the other airlines . AA 12 years , Delta and Southwest 12 years I believe as well
 

Comment:

 

I am joining many of my co-worker concerns in regards to the language and protection or lack of, relating to “scope” language. My hope is that this item is a top priority as with the other top items to be discussed and taken into consideration in the up coming meeting in October. Lets get that contract we deserve!! Thank you!!
 

Comment:

 

Since sick/OJI is still on the table, I urge you to fight for those of us who have been seriously injured on the job. 3 months of continued medical insurance is not adequate. The COBRA premiums are unattainable when out on workers comp and living on a severely reduced income. The medical care from workers comp is beyond sub par, wrought with denials and/or delays. This is not how you get injured workers back to health and work. Please advocate for drastic improvements in this contract. The American TA is calling for 6 months of continued salary and benefits (more for certain incidents). I believe we should fight for at least that.
Thank you for reading my comment.
 

Comment:

 

Before you go back into another session, I just wanted to re-iterate the importance of having very specific SCOPE language that protects our jobs and our flying specific aircraft.

The other thing we should not compromise on is how we accrue sick leave. No hard time requirements. It needs to stay as it is. Past committees have fought hard to gain our sick leave policy and we need to stand firm.

Thanks for your consideration.
 

Comment:

 

I would like SCOPE to be clear in our new contract so that AS Flight Attendants have job protection. Please open this up again so that there is clear language and protection for us. Thank you.

 

Get ready to show your solidarity on November 12th

Please be sure to bid Wednesday, November 12 off for our next RED Hot informational picketing event!  If you aren’t able to bid the day off, you can also bid around the picketing time for your base.  Your Negotiating Committee is counting on your support to demonstrate our solidarity to management on the opening day of the scheduled November mediation session.  More information including a sign-up link and meeting location for each base will be coming soon!

Picketing times for each base

Base Time
ANC 12 to 2 PM
LAX 8 to 10 AM
PDX 6 to 8 AM
SAN 8 to 11 AM
SEA 3 to 5 PM

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt and MEC Mobilization Chairperson Adam Clarey

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Jake Jones, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

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Mediation started off today in Chicago on a positive note. The parties, as mediated by National Mediation Board (NMB) Mediator Victoria Gray, signed tentative agreements (TAs) in the following sections:

  • 8 – Hours of Service,
  • 10 – Scheduling,
  • 11 – Reserve,
  • 12 – Exchange of Sequences,
  • 15 – Leaves of Absence,
  • 27 – General Association Information, and
  • 28 – Domiciles.

 

Some of the highlights include: $2.50 Reserve premium reinstated, no pre-plotted ER days (scheduled AM/PM only), eliminated Quartile System and clarified Open Time Trial and “Back to Book” provisions.

 

One of the previously announced provisions (but worth repeating) is a 15% year over year cap on insurance premium increases in Section 23 Insurance Benefits.

 

The parties anticipate working late into the night as we begin to exchange comprehensive proposals on the economics. Stay tuned for further developments!

 

In solidarity,

 

Your Negotiating Committee—MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Jake Jones, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

 

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Some Flight Attendants have asked to compare the value of the AA/US TA minimum “day” (based on duty period not calendar day) to the Alaska current and TA1 values. The AA/US TA has a duty period minimum (DPM) of 5.0 block-hours, which equates to 5.7 TFP at the conversion of 1.13 TFP per block-hour. The Alaska current and TA1 DPM is 4 TFP.

AA-US TA DPM comparison in TFP

Contract negotiations resume this week in Chicago

 

Contract negotiations resume this coming Monday through Wednesday in Chicago. Victoria Gray, with the National Mediation Board (NMB), will mediate the session. AFA anticipates very significant developments this week.

 

Your Negotiating Committee and management have been working to finalize language in preparation for this session

 

Since the August session in La Jolla, your Negotiating Committee and management have been hard at work seeking to finalize language in various open sections. As a result, the parties are very close to reaching tentative agreements (TAs) in many non-economic sections of our Contract. Reaching TAs in those sections early this week will pave the way to passing comprehensive economic proposals including compensation.

 

Management has signaled positive expectations for this week

 

Over the past few weeks, management—including executive management—has made several very positive statements directly to AFA leadership as well as individual line Flight Attendants regarding expectations and goals for this session. Management had said they are coming prepared with a serious comprehensive proposal and are aiming to reach a TA on the entire contract this session.

 

This is great news to AFA and we are cautiously optimistic, but…

 

AFA considers this a positive development and we are cautiously optimistic. However, keep in mind that AFA’s objective is clear: the TA must meet the requirements determined by the Flight Attendants in the negotiations survey and in comments to the Negotiating Committee. Even if those criteria are met, AFA will not rush to publish a TA until we are reasonably satisfied that we have secured the absolute best deal possible and all the “i’s” are dotted and the “t’s” are crossed.

 

What does this all mean?

 

Think positive thoughts and stand by for potentially big developments this session!

 

Don’t forget the Solidarity Event November 12th…

 

Mark your calendar and plan to bid Wednesday, November 12th off for our next RED Hot informational picketing event!  If we don’t get a deal this session, come demonstrate our solidarity to management on the opening day of the scheduled November mediation session.  More information including a sign-up link and picketing times for each base will be coming. Your Negotiating Committee is counting on your support!

 

In solidarity,

 

Your Negotiating Committee—MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Jake Jones, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

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It’s time for the 15th Annual EAF Online Auction!!!

 

Event organizers are seeking donated items for the 2014 charity Fundraiser of the Year event.  Auction coordinators are hard at work soliciting local and international businesses for those big-ticket items and some of the Flight Attendant auction coordinators have asked AFA for assistance in getting out the word. They need your help too!

 

Auction donation ideas

 

Do you have a service or product you could donate to the auction?

 

Do you rent out your cabin, condo, or timeshare?

 

Are you “famous” for your gourmet goodies?

 

Does anyone in your family or friends own a small business who could donate items or services?   

 

Do you sell Cookie Lee, Pampered Chef, Avon, Tupperware, crystal, or candles?

 

Themed Gift Baskets are always popular; get together with a group of co-workers and put a basket together.

 

EAF auction low on employee donations this year; donations are tax deductible

 

The auction is low on employee donations this year, so if you have anything that’s in like new condition or a side business the EAF would love your donation. Donations are tax deductible – Tax ID #91-1567484.

 

How to donate

 

Drop off or deliver items to: EAF Auction 19530 International Blvd #108, SeaTac

WA  98188.  If you would like to co-mail the donation, please contact Sundi

Rees at: sundi.rees@alaskaair.com for information on how to proceed. Or call 206-824-1665 for more information. Please leave a message.  Donations needed no later than Oct. 10th.

 

Auction bidding is from October 17-31st online at www.biddingforgood.com/aseaf.

Hello Seattle Flight Attendants,

Please remember that Thursday is the Council 19 Meet & Greet!

Where: Hilton Sea Tac Airport- Elliott A

When: 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Then, we will head to Andy’s Town Hall & Social at 3:00 pm. If you have not RSVP’d to Andy’s Town Hall & Social please do! The RSVP link is located on the FA homepage.

We hope to see you there!

“Has [Alaska Airlines management] specified exactly how much more productivity they want from the flight attendants? I know many people are wondering this. If they have, maybe you could let us know! 🙂 And is it more TFP in general or…? Thanks! :-)”

 

From Alaska Airlines Vice President of Inflight Services Andy Schneider:

This is a good question. The goal is to get as much of a FAs pay into hard-time flying as possible.  We believe airlines that are able to do this for all workgroups will be more sustainable over time and less susceptible to the industry’s seemingly endless cycle of ups and downs.  Our goal (every work group has productivity goals) over the next three years is to achieve 77% of pay through hard time and 23% through other items (sick leave, training, deadhead, vacation, etc). I want to reiterate that the purpose of all of this is to build a strong company that will be here for an entire career and is more immune to the down-cycles that have plagued many of the industry’s employees’ careers.

A secondary belief is that those who work more should accrue the benefit and not subsidize those who chose to work less. For example, health care coverage costs the same for someone working a great deal or very little. The rates of accruals are the same for a flight attendant who works a full schedule (the contract defines the line average that the company is required to build as between 78 TFP and 85 TFP) as it is for those who work less.  In most jobs, employees who work less accrue less benefits.

Having said that, we are keenly aware that many Flight Attendants enjoy flexibility and we are not interested in scaling that back.  As you know, we are working hard to modify the Open Time system to allow for more flexibility than Flight Attendants have today.

As a last thought, we opened with several suggestions with the stated intention of putting any dollars that would be saved through productivity increases right back to wages for Flight Attendants, and we also ultimately heard AFA’s concerns about personal productivity within pairings, which lead to agreement on minimum pay rules which actually reduces the amount of pay through hard time, but was still the right thing to do, so we agreed to it.  We are fully aware that the negotiating committee has strong thoughts about what we have asked.

This is an important communication regarding the Maternity Leave provision of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Section 15.D and Company policy as stated in a newly published Maternity Leave Handbook. If you are currently on/or beginning MLOA please read this entire article.

Over a year ago, management reached out to AFA to express concern that Section 15.D.2 (shown below), might be in violation of The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.

…[A] Flight Attendant may continue to work through the twenty-eighth (28th) week of pregnancy. After the twenty-eighth (28th) week of pregnancy, the Flight Attendant will be presumed disabled due to her pregnancy. After the twenty-eighth (28th) week of pregnancy, or whenever such Flight Attendant’s Doctor determines that she is unable to work due to her pregnancy, whichever occurs first, the Flight Attendant will request maternity leave.

Management asserts that presuming a Flight Attendant is disabled due to pregnancy after 28 weeks may be discriminatory under Federal Law. Since adoption of the original language in 1994, the Association is not aware of any Flight Attendant who has requested to continue working after 28 weeks of pregnancy. AFA and management had a series of brief discussions regarding a change to the language, which would preserve the intent of the language and eliminate any concern with compliance under the Act.  Management proposed much broader changes to the language than AFA felt were necessary and unfortunately the discussions quickly ended.

Management advised AFA that it was considering imposing a new company policy allowing a Flight Attendant to continue working after 28 weeks. AFA responded that an immediate grievance would be filed, due to the clear contract language in Section 15.D.2.

In July 2014, AFA became aware that management had posted a new Maternity Leave of Absence Handbook online, without notice to AFA or communication to the Flight Attendant group. On page 4 of the handbook a single sentence was added,

If you do not intend to continue to fly after the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, your leave may begin on the date indicated on this form (the first day of the twenty-ninth week of pregnancy).

Based on this change AFA has filed a grievance.

Why is this happening now?

Setting aside the legal arguments regarding the language, it appears the inflight management became concerned with this language because some Flight Attendants (depending on their respective state laws) qualify for both Short Term Disability and Unemployment. For example, a Flight Attendant could get STD because of her pregnancy, but could also claim unemployment because she was not being allowed to work when she was capable of doing so. In the last year, management has been reporting to Washington State that Flight Attendants are on a voluntary medical leave as opposed to a required leave, or due to disability. Alaska is reporting to the state that Flight Attendants who go out on Maternity Leave are able to perform their duties but are voluntarily choosing not to work. This has resulted in Flight Attendants’ having their claims denied and then having to go through the appeals process to obtain unemployment. Most have had to hire attorneys to assist with the process.

State law stipulates the terms of unemployment, and the state (not the employer) ultimately determines if an employee is eligible for benefits. Flight Attendants for many years have qualified due to the unique situation in which they find themselves. They are medically disabled from performing their Flight Attendant duties; however, they are perfectly capable of working in a normal job. It is truly unfortunate that management is making the process more difficult for Flight Attendants. They have changed they way they report a maternity leave status to the state; they have removed the mention of unemployment from the Maternity Handbook; and they have unilaterally implemented a new policy allowing Flight Attendants to continue working after the 28th week of pregnancy.

It is very concerning that these changes were made with no notice or communication to the Flight Attendant group. If management is so concerned about correcting what they see as a violation of Federal law why didn’t they immediately communicate it to Flight Attendants?

If you are preparing to go out on a Maternity leave, the changed policy requires you to do the following:

  • Fill out the Maternity Notification From (S-131)
    • This notifies the company of your pregnancy
    • It gives you the option of choosing whether you want to continue to fly.
  • You may receive an email from your leave coordinator asking when you would like to go out.

If you choose to continue working, you can do so until you elect to go out on leave (sometime after 28 weeks) or until your doctor determines that you are not fit to fly, whichever is earlier. If your doctor allows you to work until delivery, that would be acceptable under this policy.

If you are currently out on a Maternity Leave, there may be benefits to returning to work under this new policy. Please contact your leave analyst to do so:

  • Sabrina Blevins (last names A-K) at (206) 392-6124
  • Beth Swanson (last names L-Z) at (206) 392- 6122

The bottom line is that AFA does not condone discrimination based on pregnancy. The language in Section 15 was agreed to by the parties and has been in place for decades—through three contracts! It stipulates that Flight Attendants are disabled from performing their Flight Attendants duties, which is directly related to the physical requirements of our daily job and the limitations of advanced pregnancy. We do not agree that Alaska has the unilateral right to change a 20-year-old contract provision without our agreement—especially when its action can have a negative effect on our flight attendants! This is especially true given that we have never had a Flight Attendant raise an objection to the language in 15.D.

This new policy places a tremendous amount of pressure on pregnant Flight Attendants, who are often relatively junior, to continue flying in order to obtain pay and medical coverage. The practical reality is that Flight Attendants may be forced to continue flying, resulting in an increase in sick online due to pregnancy.   In the extreme, it could cause a Flight Attendant to risk her health and safety by continuing to fly when she otherwise would not have done so. AFA objects not only to the new policy but the way it has been implemented, with little to no information nor explanation of what choices a Flight Attendant has available to them.

AFA will be providing a list of requested edits to the Maternity Leave of Absence Handbook. In the interim, if you are going out or are currently out on Maternity Leave and have questions, we strongly encourage Flight Attendants to contact their local AFA Maternity Representative for assistance. You’ll find contact information at http://afaalaska.org, then by selecting your base from the local council menu.

In addition, there will be a Seattle Maternity Roundtable on October 16, 2014 from 12:30 – 3:30. If you are considering starting a family or are currently pregnant, this is an excellent chance to receive important information regarding Maternity Leave.

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt, MEC Benefits Chairperson Terry Taylor and MEC Grievance Chairperson Jennifer Wise-MacColl

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On Wednesday, July 15, our Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) representatives met virtually to discuss ongoing safety concerns, operational challenges, policy updates, and workplace improvements impacting Flight Attendants across the operation. Representing you at the meeting were Deb Wallstrom (ANC), David Lake (SEA), Kalin Lackey (PDX), Bradley Young (SFO and MEC ASHSC Vice […]

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