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Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian

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For bidding purposes, please save the date for our first Council 15 San Diego Local Council Meeting!

San Diego Local Council Meeting
Monday, October 20, 2014
11 AM to 2 PM 

Joining us at the meeting will be special guests Jeffrey Peterson, MEC President, to address Negotiations and Stephen Poynter, MEC Scheduling Vice Chairperson for PBS, to answer your PBS questions.

The meeting will be held in the Sharie D. Shipley Media Center at San Diego International Airport.  The center is located in Terminal 2 on the Baggage Claim Level.

From the Commuter Terminal ride the Airport Loop Bus. Get off at the third stop. Walk into Terminal 2 Baggage Claim, take a left and walk to the very end. The Media Center is on the left side of the far end wall.

If you wish to submit an advance agenda item, please email it to LEC President Stephen Couckuyt at san15pres@gmail.com no later than October 16th.

AFA Council 15 Logo

Inflight management recently announced a voluntary training called “Making the Connection” via Inflight Bulletin 2014-0173, which seems to be visible to Seattle-based Flight Attendants only. The training is intended to provide Flight Attendants some familiarization with the duties of a Customer Service Agent and vice versa. AFA was informed of the program but it was rolled out without negotiating the terms of the training with the union.

Available for pick-up in Seattle Open Time

“Making the Connection” is currently being offered in Seattle only and may be picked up out of Seattle’s Open Time. It is available on Mondays through October and is a trial. If the class is successful, the program may be rolled out system-wide.

Flight Attendants in other domiciles are being allowed to pick up the training; however, be advised that management is not offering hotel accommodations in Seattle in order to position for the class. Compensation is quoted as 6 TFP, which is contractually consistent.

“Making the Connection” is not cross training!!!

The training is designed to foster a better understanding between the Flight Attendant and Customer Service Agent workgroups—nothing more. This is not cross training and AFA leadership and IAM leadership will pursue our respective dispute resolution processes if employees of one workgroup are required to perform duties of the other. However, we have no reason to believe this will happen.

AFA disputes the program “follows the same rules as Recurrent Training”

From the bulletin: “This program follows the same rules as Recurrent Training for rest requirements, date change requests and attendance (sick leave and Failure to Report to training would apply).” Through the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, AFA is disputing that the program as described actually follows the contractual Recurrent Training rules for attendance, sick leave and to a certain extent date change requests.

Once AFA and management achieve agreement on the concerns, one or both parties will communicate the outcome. In the meantime, be aware that several aspects of this voluntary training class are in dispute.

In solidarity,

Your MEC—Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt

MEC 5B Logo (Email)

The Negotiating Committee is grateful for the amazing response of our Flight Attendants and their willingness to share their financial struggles with us.  This is a personal issue and we value your honesty and trust.

We are concerned but not surprised by the number of responses.  We know, however, this is not all of you.  We have heard some say that this survey was available for a short period of time and flight attendants could not continue to participate.  That is incorrect.  We are committed to gathering your stories for as long as it is necessary to ensure that everyone wanting to share has had the opportunity.

Because of the statistics involved in this survey and our desire to understand all of the needs of our group, the sooner you can return your survey the better.  This helps us have stable statistics as we move forward in negotiations.

To make this easier for you to respond, we are going to attach the questionnaire in this communication.  Please return it to one of the negotiators below or whichever one you feel most comfortable with.  If you have any questions please continue to ask.  We are here to help and listen.

ANC SEA & PDX LAX & SAN
Lisa Pinkston Christina Frees Kristy Stratton
lvarner22@mac.com freesitintime@gmail.com stratton.kristy@gmail.com

AFA Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Financial Aid Questionnaire

All information will be handled with the utmost care and confidentiality.  Your name will not be shared outside the Negotiating Committee.  The information collected is strictly for negotiation and statistical purposes.  Individual Flight Attendant names will be removed and kept confidential.

1. What is your name? Answer:

2. Where you are currently based? Answer:

3. Are you on reserve (Y/N)? Answer:

4. Are you on active status or on a leave of absence? Answer:

5. What is your average monthly paid TFP? Answer:

6. What is your pay step? Answer:

7. What is your household size? Answer:

8. Are you the sole provider (Y/N)? Answer:

9. Do you have a second income (job, rent out rooms etc) to subsidize your monthly income? Answer:

10. At any time in the past 5 years, while you were an Alaska Flight Attendant, have you applied for any form of financial assistance, government, local, third party assistance or loan deferment/forgiveness (Y/N)? If so, what type?
Answer:

11. Are you currently receiving, or have received any of the following types of financial assistance in the past five years while you were an Alaska Flight Attendant? (You do not need to tell us what type of assistance if you do not wish, simply answer with A, B, C, D or AFA Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Financial Aid Questionnaire all of the above.) (Y/N)? Answer:

A. Government (food stamps, WIC [Women, Infants & Children] assistance, housing, low income housing, medical, school lunches, cash, other) (Y/N)? Answer:

B. Local (lost cost, subsidized or reduced housing, rent, mortgage, utilities, phone, water, electric, trash, food bank, local charity, non-profits, other) (Y/N)? Answer:

C. Third-party (family, friend, church, Employee Assistance Fund, car payment, free or reduced rent, mortgage assistance, cash, other) (Y/N)? Answer:

D. Deferment or forgiveness program (student loan, mortgage, etc) (Y/N)? Answer:

12. Would you be open to being contacted in the future in regards to this topic (Y/N)? Answer:

If yes, please provide the best way to contact you (email / phone / text / other):

We understand this can be a sensitive topic. On behalf of the Negotiating Committee, thank you for participating and assisting us in collecting this information.

MEC 5BSS Logo (Web)

Dear Seattle Flight Attendants,

WOW! What an amazing week for AFA at Alaska. You all answered the call and came out to support your negotiating committee and for that we all THANK YOU for your dedication and support!

If you have not seen the update from the table this week go to: http://afaalaska.org/negotiations/negotiations-update-august-29-2014 for more information!

You can also log on to the AFA FaceBook page, afaalaska, to see pictures from all of the base events and links to the local media.

Your local officers in Seattle were blown away by the turn out on Wednesday! We counted approximately 200 Flight Attendants, friends, family members, and support from local unions. We especially would like to thank Teamsters and AFT for coming out to support us! Let’s keep up the RED HOT momentum as we move into the next few sessions.

Stay Informed, Stay Connected, and Stay Strong!

AFA-CWA Council 19 Local Base Meeting and Town Hall Forums

AFA-CWA base meeting is on September 9th

Time: 11am-1pm

Where: Seoul Room, SEA TAC conference center, mezzanine level, south end of the terminal

Parking is paid on all levels except 4.

Join your LEC Officers after the meeting for an informal Town Hall style meeting from 1pm to 4pm.

Click to view the agenda:

http://afaalaska.org/sea/council-19-afa-cwa-local-base-meeting-9914

September 10, 2014 Town Hall Meeting

Time: 11am-4pm

Where: Seoul Room, SEA TAC conference center, mezzanine level, south end of the terminal

Parking is paid for on all levels except 4

Upcoming October Events:

October 24th Town Hall Forum

Time: 11am-4pm

Where: Seoul Room, SEA TAC conference center, mezzanine level, south end of the terminal

Parking is paid for on all levels except 4

We hope to see you at one or all of these events!

AFA-CWA BASE MEETING

Council 19 – Seattle

September 9, 2014

11:00 Base Meeting

1:00 Town Hall Meeting

 

Meeting.  location will be at the SEOUL ROOM on the mezzanine level (south end) of SEA-TAC PORT

Parking provided at airport with the exception of the 4th floor

I. Call meeting to order

         A.  Call for late agenda items

1.  Late Agenda Items  

B.  Announcements

II.  LEC Update

         A.  Officer Update

B.  Committee Updates

C.  Budget Review

D.  Donation – Project Help 

III.  Update on Negotiations

Your Negotiating Committee just wrapped up 4 days of mediation under the direction of NMB Mediator, Victoria Gray, at the La Jolla Marriott in San Diego, CA.  

The days were long and stretched into the night as both teams were frustrated as we grappled with complex issues and tough decisions.  We did reach some consensus.

Thank you to everybody who worked yesterday and who attended informational picketing system-wide.  Your enthusiasm was a big encouragement to your NC.  The SAN Flight Attendants stopped by our caucus room to show their support!

This session we did TA 3 Sections: 

  • Section 9 JA
  • Sick Leave Make-up Program (which will end up in Section 16)
  • Section 23 Insurance Benefits
  • Section 32 Attendance Policy

Section 9 – JA

We retained protections from being JA’d when trading away days off one’s line provided you don’t replace those days with anything else and all the improvements from the TA.  Additionally, a FA cannot be JA’d into or while on a vacation.

Sick Leave Make-up Program

This will allow F/As to restore their sick leave on a 1:1 basis under conditions of the program.

Section 23 Insurance Benefits

We achieved the 15% year on year cap on health care contributions and maintained the annual cost share caps from the TA.

Section 32 Attendance Policy

  • In the TA a FA does not have to complete one leg to avoid the 2.5 points when calling in sick-on-line.
  • For record improvement, we improved the flying requirements compared to TA1.
  • We retained the increased 6 bank points and negotiated that a FA will have the choice to use her/his Quarterly Point Reduction Form prior to having bank points apply.

Your Negotiating Committee will meet with management’s team in SEA in September to work on language clean-up for Section 12 and parameters for an automated Reserve Repositioning Calendar.

The next mediation session is scheduled for October 6-8 in Portland, OR. We also have a mediation session scheduled in Washington, DC, November 12-14.

Please check out the Negotiations Update video on our You Tube channel at http://youtu.be/GDX3CDjZZN8

Wear your RED pin, stay informed and stay engaged.  Keep an eye out for more opportunities to show your spirit and voice your thoughts to management!   More information can be found on our new website at afaalaska.org.

In solidarity,

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

MEC 5BSS Logo (Web)

Thank you!

Thank you to all of our Flight Attendants for your support today.

To those working and proudly wearing your red pin–thank you!

To those who helped organize and spread the word–thank you!

To those who showed up with signs and voices representing the entire work group–thank you!

Watching your solidarity shine today was encouraging and reenergizing. So many of you took the time to make this day a priority. We are proud and grateful.

We will continue to work hard to bring you what you’ve earned and deserve.

In solidarity,

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

 

MEC 5BSS Logo (Web)

 

Get ready to show your solidarity at tomorrow’s RED Hot informational picketing in all five bases!  The Negotiating Committee is currently at the table with management during this week’s mediation session.  Your support is critical to show management and the public that we stand behind our Negotiating Committee in their efforts to achieve the contractual improvements we deserve!

Click here to sign up to participate in tomorrow’s event

Information For Tomorrow

Picket times for each base are as follows:

ANC – 11 AM to 2 PM  ▪︎  LAX – 8 AM to 10 AM  ▪︎  PDX – 6 AM to 8 AM
SAN – 8 AM to 11 AM  ▪︎  SEA – 4 PM to 6 PM

Already Working?

If you’re already working tomorrow, you can show your support from wherever you are!  Take a picture with your RED AFA pin and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with hashtag #afaalaska.  Then check out our AFA Alaska tagboard at afaalaska.org/tagboard and watch our sea of RED online!

If you have any questions about tomorrow’s picketing event, contact your Local Mobilization Chairperson.  You’ll find contact information at afaalaska.org/mobilization.

That’s a Wrap on Government Affairs Focus Month!

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Human Rights & Equity Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2026

On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, our AFA Human Rights & Equity Committee Chairpersons met for their regular quarterly meeting to advance ongoing activism, promote workplace equity, and champion meaningful policy improvements across our workplace. Your representatives attending the meeting were Nyachan Chuar (ANC), Soon Kim (HNL), Bruni Agosto-Pinal (pmHA LAX/SEA), Aaron Miller (PDX), Erika Daniel […]

MEC Town Hall Video and Q&A Recap – September 23, 2026

Whether you joined us live or are ready to watch on your own schedule, the full recording of our September 23 MEC Town Hall is now available! Catch up on the discussions and hear directly from our MEC Officers and AFA panelists. Watch the video anytime on our AFA Alaska + Hawaiian YouTube channel using the link below. (Note: […]

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – September 2026

In September, our Hotel Committee participated in two meetings: the standing monthly meeting with Crew Hotels on September 14, and a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) with the company’s hotel procurement vendor, API, on September 23 (pmAS) and September 24 (pmHA) in Seattle.  Representing you at these meetings were Dori Marron (ANC), Jarod McNeill (SEA pmAS), […]

Register Now: Reserve Webinar – Wednesday, October 21

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants When Crew Scheduling calls at 3 AM with a change to the trip you self-assigned, do you know your contractual rights? Understanding what management can—and cannot—do on reserve is your strongest line of defense. Join our Reserve Committee for “Is This Legal?”, the second installment in our three-part pre-merger […]

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