October Base Update
Council #19 – Seattle
Local Council Meeting:
WHEN: November 12th, 1-5PM
WHERE: Sea Tac Office Complex – South Tower (the same building as 13 Coins), Lower Level, Earhart Room. Parking is behind the building. Bring your ticket with you and we will validate.
AGENDA: Officer and Committee Reports – bring your questions
Informational TidBits:
- When will base transfers into/out of SFO be available? The latest (but not set in stone) information that we have is May 1st. Openings will be posted as they become available.
- Transition Training classes will be available after November for those who have been unable to attend. We do not yet have firm details.
- There will be Flight Attendant hiring next year, tentatively 360. This number is of course subject to change.
- The Seattle base Inflight Office will be moving into two new spaces, one with seating available next to the Spot On office, and another space in the former Virgin Village space behind Fireworks which will be largely administrative. The precise move dates have not yet been announced.
- Need assistance after the base closes? A new procedure is in place. You will no longer be able to reach a supervisor after the Inflight Offices close. Instead, management has created a system of duty managers in Crew Scheduling. This is a new procedure, we are not sure what to expect.
- There is a significant shortage of IMD replacements. Some flight attendants who’s devices are no longer working have been told by IT support and by Spot On that there are no replacements available. They have been told that they must check out loaners before each trip, and return them after each trip. This is unacceptable. The latest information from Inflight management is that all IMD’s will be replaced by the first of the year.
Annual Benefits Enrollment:
Annual Enrollment will open for additions and changes on October 19, 2018, for changes to take effect on January 1, 2019. There are new benefits available. The AFA Benefits Committee will be conducting Base Sits in Inflight if you have questions, or need assistance. All changes and additions to your current benefits will be completed online through the Benefits Portal. As a reminder, since Short Term Disability coverage is offset by Social Security, if you are receiving your own Social Security benefits, it makes sense to discontinue supplemental Short Term Disability coverage. We will send out base sit schedules, later this week.
November Scheduling Issue:
Most of you are aware, or will undoubtedly hear about, the problem with some pairings not being entered by the company into the NavTech program for bidding. We did not find out about this until Friday, October 12th. Bids had already been awarded.
There were more than 1,200 single segments, which were to have been single positions (D positions). In addition to the segments not having been awarded, nor bid for, no hotels had been assigned for the pairings that were created after the fact. Since it was too late on Friday to reach out hotel vendor (API) we were made aware that it was likely that hotels would not be assigned until ‘some time’ on Monday, October 15th.
If a re-bid were to have occurred, it could not have begun prior to October 16th. This would mean that it would have been closed on October 21st, with awards final no earlier than October 23rd. It would have been October 25th before trading or open time pick-ups could begin.
In Seattle, there are 148 of these pairings (not bid lines, but individual pairings). All but a few only operate on one date. The pairings will be placed into open time for trading or pick up. If the stay in open time, they will be assigned to reserves or offered as premium trips.
Our current base size is 2,317 active Flight Attendants. After weighing all available information, Council 19 decided that due to the late notice and the fact that we’re bidding for a holiday month, this was a terrible time for delayed open time and trading to occur. Further, we considered the likelihood that there would be those who were unavailable and did not hear about the rebid. Since this is unprecedented, those on vacation would have had no idea that this was going on.
We were torn between the clear contractual violation, and the effect a delay of this magnitude would have on our base. After much discussion, the MEC voted NOT to have a re-bid. This was not an easy nor a unanimous decision. This was truly a ‘rock and a hard place’ situation for your officers. I am sure that this will be unpopular with some, just as a rebid with all associated delays would have been.
Are you “Connected”?
AFA Council 19 Website: http://afaalaska.org/sea
AFA Council 19 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AFA-Council-19-Seattle-538630496190284/
AFA Text Alerts: https://www.remind.com/join/sea19
AFA Reserve only Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/afacouncil19reserve/
In Solidarity,
Terry, Jake, Adam, Melinda and Megan
