Master Executive Council (MEC)
- Our AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) met this week on Tuesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 13 to conduct their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants.
- As part of the meeting, the MEC met with members of inflight, labor relations, and executive management to discuss issues and concerns that are facing our work group and need to be addressed.
- The next Regular MEC Meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday, August 11. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your LEC President if you have any questions.
The July 2022 Regular MEC Meeting was held this week on Tuesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 13. The meeting consisted of updates provided by our MEC Officers, LEC Presidents, Grievance Committee, Scheduling Committee, and Mobilization Committee. Our MEC also reviewed written reports submitted by other AFA MEC Committee Chairpersons about their current programs of work.
Meeting with Management
As part of most Regular MEC Meetings, our MEC meets with management to review current issues and challenges that Flight Attendants are facing. Attendees from management this month included Managing Director of Inflight Operations Michaela Littman, Associate Vice President of Finance & Resource Planning Ryan St. John, Managing Director of Guest Products Todd Traynor-Corey, Vice President of Labor Relations Jenny Wetzel, and Managing Director of Labor Relations Carmen Williams.
Some of the topics that were discussed include:
- Plans for onboard service changes. Management shared plans with our MEC for proposed changes to how onboard service is conducted and associated future technology. Our MEC expressed concerns with how the proposed changes could impact Flight Attendants and asked that management reconsider several aspects of their plan.
- Distribution of Flight Attendant staffing by base. Our MEC has again requested that management add staffing to all bases. Bases outside of SEA need additional Flight Attendants to provide relief, especially to Reserve Flight Attendants.
- Cross-utilization of Reserve Flight Attendants between domiciles. Our MEC has again requested that management discontinue the practice of cross-utilizing reserves between domiciles. Excessive use of this practice is unnecessarily burdensome on Reserve F/As. With current staffing levels, our MEC believes there is no need for management to continue this practice.
- Flight Attendant staffing levels. Management is examining the possibility of offering staffing adjustment leaves in the upcoming months.
- Quality of pairings. Our MEC shared that Flight Attendants are looking for improvements to pairing quality. In particular, there are concerns with pairings being scheduled with long duty days that push contractual limits and subsequent minimum rest on layovers.
- Issues with hotel and transportation information in Crew Access. Some pairings have incorrect/missing hotel and transportation information in Crew Access. As a result, Flight Attendants are having to wait for hotel rooms and/or are being sent to the wrong hotel. Our MEC believes that this is unacceptable and needs to be fixed immediately.
- Layover hotel availability and planning. In anticipation of high demand in certain cities, our AFA Hotel Committee approached management last year and requested that management take a proactive approach in securing additional hotel rooms for crews. Management did not take meaningful action on the request and now is having challenges securing hotel rooms.
- Concerns with cutover to new worker’s compensation administrator. Management has recently switched to a new vendor to administer worker’s compensation claims. Our AFA Benefits Committee has received reports that the new vendor is not responsive to Flight Attendants in addition to other concerns.
- Lack of practical, hands-on experience during Initial Training (IT). Ongoing concern about the lack of practical, hands-on experience in the current IT program. New hire Flight Attendants need to be set up for success and given adequate time to become familiar with the flow of duties on live flights as part of IT.
MEC Policy & Procedure Manual Amendments
During the June 2022 Regular MEC Meeting, a review of the AFA Alaska MEC Policy & Procedure Manual was conducted to consider possible updates and amendments. At that meeting, one agenda item was amended and tabled until the July 2022 Regular MEC Meeting and another was referred back to the originator to be rewritten and resubmitted.
This month, our MEC took action on two agenda items for amendment of the MEC Policy & Procedure Manual—the agenda item that had previously been amended and tabled and a rewritten version of the agenda item that had been referred back to the originator at last month’s MEC Meeting. Both agenda items were adopted. These agenda items will be incorporated into the manual and posted to the AFA Alaska website early next week.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this month’s Regular MEC Meeting, please reach out to your LEC President.
