Human Rights and Equity Committee
Chairperson Aaron Miller
Happy PRIDE from your Human Rights and Equity Committee!
June is PRIDE month! It’s a time to celebrate and reflect upon LGBTQ+ history, embrace and support who we are now, and look to the future for our continued protection and prosperity.
While PRIDE as we know it is still relatively young, LGBTQ+ people are not. Many indigenous cultures acknowledge the variety humans exist in, with some even revering and assigning sacred honor to those possessing “Two-Spirits” as some Tribes on Turtle Island refer to just one of our many variations. Even western cultures have sometimes acknowledged LGBTQ+ people as existing, though most often with aggression and a taboo perspective.
But it is in recent times that LGBTQ+ people have found our place on the global stage as a culture of our own. That is in no small part to the struggle, voice, and sacrifice of our queer elders before us.
‘The first PRIDE was a riot!’
This common phrase among our community is a reminder of the spirit in which PRIDE was born. It began with trans women such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson standing up for each other and their siblings against oppressive police forces seeking to harm, arrest, and punish LGBTQ+ people for being who they are. PRIDE began as a grassroots local defense movement, standing up and fighting back against a dominant culture that wished to crush LGBTQ+ people, relegate us to back alleys, and end our lives in violence.
To this day, LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, are targeted, with rights being stripped currently, and many enduring harassment, bullying, and violence. Therefore, our voices are rising again in defense just as much as celebration. Our struggle continues to defend against a culture of hate and against violence towards us that has never been returned in kind. This speaks to the core of PRIDE that is our love, our enduring spirit, and the legitimacy of our existence and rights. LGBTQ+ people do not wish to harm, dominate, or erase anyone, but as PRIDE highlights, we wish to embrace each other with love and celebrate our diversity.
It is in this spirit that we wish all our LGBTQ+ siblings and our steadfast allies a very happy PRIDE month of June. Please continue to stand up for each other, protect each other, and live fully in who you are. You are loved, you are sacred, and you deserve to be here just as much as everyone else! HAPPY PRIDE!!
ASHSC Committee
Chairperson Kalin Lackey
We are excited to introduce our new chairperson, Kalin Lackey!
Kalin has been an Alaska Flight Attendant for a little over 35 years and has been based in PDX for most of that time. Over the years Kalin has served on several Union committees, including our AFA EAP, Mobilization committee, and currently our Safety (ASHSC) committee for the past four or five years.
Kalin is honored to have been appointed to the chairperson position. She is passionate about keeping our group safe and improving our work environment. In her personal time, she enjoys hiking, biking, travel, hanging out with her husband Mike, Chocolate Lab Gage, and two cats, Tucker and Daisy. She is also an avid reader and loves to bake for people, and for all the wonderful doggies in her life. She is looking forward to leading our local ASHSC committee and looks forward to meeting those of you she hasn’t met. Until then, safe travels!
Officers note: On behalf of Council 39, we thank Blair Kimball for his years of service leading our Air, Safety, Health & Security Committee. We are happy Blair will continue to serve as a committee member.
Scheduling Committee
Chairperson Melodie Anderes
§8.Q Contactability
If you answer a call from Crew Scheduling when you are not on duty you are obligated to accept any legal assignment.
If you are on your way to report and answer a call from Crew Scheduling and they are adjusting your report time, you have to take the new time.
If you miss the call (it goes to voicemail) you can return their call after reporting as scheduled keeping your scheduled report.
State Sick Leave Bank
State Sick Leave Banks have been uploaded. Take a moment and double check that the correct amount was uploaded and moved from your SickFA (CBA) to your State Sick (CBA). You can find this line in your SickFA CBA. Contractually, they should move 40.0 TFP from your Sick bank to your State Sick bank. If you did not have 40.0 TFP, then they would have moved whatever Sick Leave balance you had to your State Sick bank.
To access your balances, go to the Inflight page > Administration > Pay & Benefits > Rainmaker Logon > Crew Pay Manager > Bank Balances
We will be hosting a PBS Base Sit in PDX on Monday, June 9 from 0600 to 1400. We will be in the FA Crew Room for best access to computers. Bring your bidding questions. Hope to see you there!
Local Membership Committee
LECS Bethany Badalamenti
AFA Membership services launched the new Membership Hub in April. Emails were sent on or about April 21st to Flight Attendants signed up to receive emails from AFA. We recommend logging into your Membership Hub Account if you haven’t already done so. Please be sure you check your junk or spam folder; the email was sent from AFAPortal@cwa-union.org.
· Flight Attendants must use their personal email address. Company email addresses cannot be used.
· Each Flight Attendant who received the email will be able to sign in immediately.
· The welcome email contains the AFA Hub Help page which can also be found on each Hub page of their accounts.
Once signed in to the Hub you can:
· Check your current balance
· Make payments via credit card or ACH (check payments)
· Review your dues history
· Set up recurring monthly payments
If you did not receive the email and it isn’t in your junk or spam folder, you can access your account by going to afacwa.org/hub and selecting forgot password.
With the ratification of our new CBA, there were changes to §26.F for collecting dues in arrears that began starting with the April 20th paycheck.
§26. F.2.
Separate and apart from all deductions for initiation fees and dues referenced herein, the Company will deduct an additional amount equal to one (1) month’s dues for the purpose of satisfying any current or future dues arrears obligation from the reconciliation paycheck of each month. Such arrears deduction shall continue until the entire dues arrearage is satisfied.
Please familiarize yourself with this section of the contract.
For Portland-based Flight Attendants, if you have any questions or issues with the Membership Hub, please reach out to LEC Secretary Bethany Badalamenti at bethany.badalamenti@afaalaska.org. If you are not based in Portland, please reach out to your Council’s Membership committee at https://afaalaska.org/membership.
Grievance Committee
LECP Steve Maller
Recent grievance committee activity includes disciplines issued for flight delays, CBT incomplete violations, sick leave abuse, personal conduct, and required item violations. Please ensure you have a process to remember all required items when you leave home or a layover hotel. (Pro tip: A checklist taped to your front door or always keeping items in the same place in purses or bags, etc.) If a forgotten item, such as your crew ID or IMD, results in a delay of the flight, you will almost always receive a step of progressive discipline.
Personal conduct investigations have increased across all workgroups. Please remember your conduct, whether online or at work and on layovers, can be scrutinized and investigated for potential violations of the Flight Attendant manual (FAM) or the company’s Our People Policies. Always consider how your actions may be perceived by management and remember your conduct can be scrutinized if it might reflect poorly on the brand/company. If you have any questions about your conduct, please reach out to any LEC officer or Grievance Committee member.
A word about rumors…
Officers and committee members have heard some pretty wild rumors lately about investigations. Please consider how you would feel if you were being investigated for something and rumors got back to you that were completely unfounded and false. It can be very hurtful. We know it’s human nature to speculate and gossip, but please be careful about spreading salacious or outrageous rumors. Remember…these are our coworkers, who may well be completely innocent of any rumor circulating. Let’s be better…let’s give ’em a break!
Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC) Update
The Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC) is hard at work combining the seniority lists for the merged Alaska-Hawaiian Flight Attendant group.
Coming in June, seniority verification letters will be mailed to Flight Attendants at their registered mailing address to confirm pre-merger seniority bidding dates. There is a 45-day period to review the letter and respond with any challenges via U.S. mail. In AUGUST and SEPTEMBER, the SMIC will review any challenges and respond to Flight Attendants who challenge their pre-merger seniority bidding date via U.S. mail.
For more information, please see the previously published AFA Alaska MEC Newsletter Update from May 28, 2025.
In Solidarity,
Steve, Krystle and Bethany
