Local Council Meeting Reminder
Originally published October 4, 2022
November 4th, 2022
Time: 11am – 1pm
PDX Airport, Village conference room
Please join us for our bi-annual local Council meeting. Your LEC officers will be available to share up-to-date information pertaining to the Council and committees. We will also be joined, via conference call, by members of the Delta AFA organizing team.
Election Day is November 8th
Don’t forget to VOTE on November 8th. Next year will be critical for Flight Attendants. The FAA is up for reauthorization in 2023. We need members of Congress who will fight for our issues. We cannot sit this one out!
Voting is key to our credibility with Congress. Turning out in large numbers to vote is critically important to ensure our voice is heard. Voting — not how you vote but whether or not you exercise this constitutional right — is public record. When we’re able to say with credibility “Flight Attendants vote!” it increases our ability to move our issues.
Annual Benefits Enrollment
This year’s Annual Benefits Enrollment period is here, meaning now is the time to make changes to your 2023 benefit elections for you and your family. The deadline to enroll or make changes is November 16th, so be sure to act now before time runs out.
You can enroll at myalaskabenefits.com. REMEMBER: This is the only time you can make changes to your benefits without a qualifying life event (birth, marriage, etc.) so be sure to enroll before the November 16th deadline.
AFA Monthly Membership Dues Obligations
Coming out of the pandemic, and with the unprecedented number of leaves that were taken by Flight Attendants, we are seeing challenges and confusion around Union dues that are owed during that time, as well as how dues payments are owed during other leaves, such as maternity, personal injury, or long-term worker’s comp.
If you are on a completely unpaid leave, you will still owe for the first three (3) months of that leave. Therefore, if you took a six-month COVID leave and you were not coordinating any vacation and/or sick leave to cover healthcare, life insurance, short term disability premiums, etc., then you would wind up owing $150 for those first three months. After that, you are not considered an “active” Flight Attendant and dues obligations are suspended until you return to active status.
If you are on a leave of any kind and you coordinate sick leave and/or vacation in any given months, you are responsible for your dues for those months (“dues obligated”) because you are on payroll and considered an active Flight Attendant. Even if you don’t receive any net pay, due to insurance premiums and other voluntary deductions coming out of your gross pay, you are still dues obligated for those months. Basically, if you are benefiting from an AFA contract financially, you owe dues.
We are also seeing an increase in Flight Attendants who are not working enough TFP in each month to cover all deductions and dues. Many Flight Attendants are dropping to minimal flying and not having enough net pay (after taxes and insurance premiums, etc.) to cover their dues obligation for the month. In these cases, dues must be paid directly to International.
How does this impact you?
We have a significant number of Flight Attendants who are currently in arrears and in bad standing. Members in bad standing will not have their votes counted in any elections, including voting on a new contract (tentative agreement.) You must be in good standing to have your vote counted.
Please see Section 26 of the JCBA for more information regarding dues and membership standing. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to any LEC officer or the AFA International membership services department at Contact Membership Services – Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (afacwa.org)
To make an online payment to AFA, click AFA-CWA Online Dues Payment
Stronger Together, Better Together: Join the Delta AFA Campaign
What happens at Delta matters for all of us. Delta Air Lines has undercut our careers by billions of dollars, spoken in place of Flight Attendants on Capitol Hill and, as globalization speeds up, no contract for Flight Attendants at Delta also jeopardizes job security for all of us. Delta CEO Ed Bastian wouldn’t do his job without a contract to protect him and his interests, yet the airline he runs spends tens of millions of dollars to deny Flight Attendants the same rights.
Undercutting our worth and standing at Delta ultimately means Delta is stealing from all of us. But we can change that by supporting Delta Flight Attendants in their efforts to gain AFA representation and the means to negotiate a contract. The only way to push our careers forward is through strength in numbers and continuing to set the highest standards at every airline.
You can do a lot to help our flying partners at Delta. Sign up to be a supporter, connect us with a Delta Flight Attendant you know, learn more about their campaign, and get tools to help organize.
Council 39 is joining the campaign. Show your support and help Delta Flight Attendants secure their Union! Sign up now >
