Management announced a major policy shift last night that, starting October 1, 2026, California-based pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants in SFO, LAX, and SAN will be required to take an additional and redundant step to record their time worked by punching in and out using a timekeeping system. According to management, this new procedure applies to duty periods, airport standby, deadheading, required training, and other paid company business, such as CBTs, drug testing, and mandatory meetings.
Our Master Executive Council (MEC) unequivocally and strongly condemns this decision. Forcing Flight Attendants to navigate redundant punch-in and punch-out requirements is a completely misguided approach to compliance with California law. It introduces unnecessary administrative obstacles and operational friction into our daily work lives, risks creating widespread compliance confusion surrounding missed punches, and creates a potential distraction from our primary safety duties, all without offering a single tangible benefit to Flight Attendants.
Management has explicitly conceded that this system does not alter how we are paid under our collective bargaining agreement (CBA), does not change how attendance is tracked for purposes of the CBA, and does not change our actual check-in process. Adding an extra layer of tracking for routine duty and company activities is unacceptable and disrespects the professional environment our Flight Attendants operate in every day. While they make these claims, the opportunity for confusion, technical errors, and distractions from duties are substantial. We believe this change requires negotiations in order to comply with our contractual rights.
Our MEC stands firmly together in objecting to this burdensome policy and is taking immediate action to demand that management halt this rollout and postpone implementation. As always, we are ready to engage with management to establish practical, realistic solutions that fully respect our work environment and our CBA without imposing unnecessary administrative burdens on Flight Attendants.
Jeanne Patricia Kaiser says
I want to know why and where this CA timekeeping came from. Does this apply to CA based Pilots? Does this apply to CA based CSA’s? What about our Mechanics who are CA based? DOES THIS APPLY TO ALL OTHER AIRLINES WHO HAVE BASES IN CA???? What is the purpose of this?
If I am on a multi day trip, do I punch in every day? Crew Scheduling knows where we are…WHY does the government in Sacramento need to know where we are every minute and why can’t they get that information from Alaska? This is unnecessarily burdensome when we are trying to do our safety duties and could result in missed items and loss of time with guests. Please fight for us!! This is not part of our contract and we are not being paid by California for their unwise regulations.