LEC President Update: May 2016 – June 2016
Dear Seattle Flight Attendants,
In an effort to communicate the work done on behalf of the Seattle Officers, we are introducing a new quarterly update. This update is designed to inform and educate the members of the work done by their elected AFA Officers. We hope you find this update to be helpful and informative.
For this first report we will begin with the month of May. The Seattle Officer group was very busy with the day-to-day work of the union in addition to multiple meetings and conferences.
The LEC President does not bid a line and spends most days in the AFA office running the council’s day-to-day* business. The Vice President, Jake Jones, is also the MEC Scheduling Chair and does not bid a line. He spends the majority of his time at the Flight Ops building between the AFA office and his desk in the scheduling department. Secretary/Treasurer, Linda Christou, bids a line and attends to AFA work during and between trips. Council Representatives, Adam Clarey and Stephanie Adams also bid lines and attend to work during and between trips. When the LEC President is in Greece the Vice President and Secretary attend meetings, if necessary, on behalf of the LEC President. Most of the work done on behalf of the LEC Officers is via emails, phone calls, and text messages.
*Please note that each Officer, on a daily basis, can receive up to 20 emails, multiple phone calls, text messages, and visits in the AFA office from Flight Attendants with questions, comments, and concerns in addition to the meetings we attend. The LEC President can receive more than 30 emails per day from various sources.
The first week of May, Seattle grievance reps attended three meetings with members, participated in an AFA International conference call to review the upcoming BOD agenda items, and answered multiple emails/phone calls from members. Most common questions are scheduling/trading questions and medical/ worker’s compensation leave questions.
May 11-12: New Hire Graduation and Seattle base orientation. SEA Officers and SEA Reserve Chair, Carole Babcock, attend graduation and new hire orientation. One meeting attended to by a grievance rep.
May 17: AFA LEC Base Meeting.
Per the AFA Constitution and Bylaws, each council is responsible for holding two meetings per year~ with one meeting to held prior the annual AFA Board of Director’s meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to review the agenda items and seek direction from the members on how the President should place her vote on the agenda items. Please click the following link for the notes from this meeting:
http://afaalaska.org/sea/council-19-meeting-minutes-and-committee-reports
May 18: LEC President attended the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) meeting and the MEC Scheduling Meeting.
ADR is a meeting established to review concerns with management on a variety of issues that affect Flight Attendants. The desire is to resolve the issues and alleviate filing grievances.
MEC Scheduling meeting: MEC Scheduling Chair, Jake Jones, and LEC Scheduling Chairs, Martin Vance and Rita Tillou, meet with management to discuss current concerns and address issues.
May 19: Grievance reps attended two meetings with members. LEC President attended to work in the AFA office.
May 20-26: Attended the AFA Board of Director’s Meeting in Atlanta, GA. May MEC Meeting held Saturday in Atlanta. LEC Secretary Linda Christou presented to the Board on behalf of Council 19 for her work on membership. Council Rep Adam Clarey also attended the conference.
May 30/31: LEC President attended ADR meeting and Officers followed up with members on multiple issues from ADR.
June 1: Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP). LEC Officer Linda Christou and Council Rep Adam Clarey attended the annual training with members of EAP, ASHSC, and management.
June 2: LEC President attends monthly “tie in” meeting with Director of Seattle Base Operations, Carmen Williams.
June 6: LEC President attended to work in AFA office.
June 7: SEA Scheduling Committee meeting, Grievance rep attended one meeting, and Labor Leaders* Meeting.
Members of Seattle’s scheduling committee met to discuss current issues. Ron Calvin attended part of the meeting and the committee voiced concerns over pairings, quality of life, and summer staffing.
*Labor Leaders is a quarterly meeting attended by all labor leaders at Alaska and management at Alaska.
June 8: LEC President attended to work in AFA office.
June 11-15: LEC President attends CWA President’s meeting and Legislative affairs conference in Washington DC.
June 16: LEC President attended to work in AFA office. LEC Reserve Chair attended Quarterly Reserve meeting. MEC and LEC Reserve Chair(s) meet with Kieran Whitney and his staff to discuss/address current issues.
June 17: LEC President attended Benefits meeting with Employee medical relations, leave analysts, members from Matrix Absence management, MEC Benefits Chair and MEC Grievance Committee to discuss concerns surrounding current FA leave processes.
June 20: LEC President attended to work in AFA office and grievance rep attended one meeting. Seattle Base Safety Meeting attended by LEC Secretary, Linda Christou.
June 21: LEC President attended several scheduled calls with LEC Chairs and performance supervisors concerning grievance issues.
June 22-25: LEC President out flying the line.
June 26: LEC Officers had the privilege of participating in the Seattle Pride Parade.
June 27: Grievance reps attended two meetings. LEC President (elected to the AFA International Leadership Development committee) participated in conference call for upcoming training and attended to work in AFA office.
June 29: Base Orientation attended by Council Representative Adam Clarey and SEA Reserve Chair Carole Babcock.
June 28-30: MEC Meeting. Interviewed candidates for Joint Negotiating Committee.
What is an MEC meeting?
The Master Executive Council (MEC) is comprised of the 3 appointed MEC Officers, MEC President, MEC Vice President, and MEC Secretary and the 5 elected Local Executive Council Presidents (LEC). Each month the MEC meets to address concerns, discuss current topics affecting each base and the AFA committees, and review latest updates/issues from management.
The work of the MEC is captured in the newsletters we distribute to members. You can read the latest news from the MEC at:
You can find Seattle’s latest news at: http://afaalaska.org/sea
