Reminder: Deadline to complete Q2 CBT today June 30!
Trending Discipline
Layovers and the Alcohol Policy
Previously AFA provided a list of “What the company knows about me.” For layovers and hotels, this includes key swipes, hotel video images, and bar receipts that show times orders were placed and when paid. When a violation of the alcohol policy is suspected, the company can collect all of this information to provide evidence in support of the suspicion. Additionally, any “disruption” to a hotel property by an FA puts the company crew hotel contract at risk, and normally discharge to the offending FA is the result of these incidents.
RAP Violations
Management has been monitoring reserves and their location during the reserve availability period (RAP). FAs that are not within the base area during the entire RAP or reserves that leave base during airport standby have been discovered and this violation normally results in discharge. This includes commuting delays. If your commute flight arrives after your RAP begins, this would be considered a violation. Your Council 35 officers recommend that those FAs new to reserve, be sure to familiarize yourself with §11 of the JCBA to understand the rules regarding availability and contactability.
SFO Air Safety, Health & Security Committee (ASHSC) Update
By Brad Young, ASHSC Chair and Council Representative
ASAP: When can we use it? When should we not use it?
An ASAP is created specifically to provide a means for employees to report safety-related events or concerns. All individual ASAP reports are clearly labeled as such. Each ASAP report must contain sufficiently detailed information about a safety event so that it can be evaluated by the ASAP ERC (Event Review Committee).
Two types of reports are that are to be submitted under the ASAP:
- Safety-related reports that appear to involve one or more violations of the regulations (e.g., deviating from routine flight duties (Policy and Procedure)-skipped part of the regulatory demo in announcement).
- Reports that identify a general safety concern, but do not appear to involve a violation of the regulations (e.g., flight attendant concerns that the design of a galley cart configuration could lead to an on the job injury).
Flight Attendant reports that would be excluded for ASAP that involve:
- Possible criminal activity
- Substance abuse
- Controlled substances
- Intentional falsification or disregard for safety
Accidental ingestion of a possible controlled substance is not eligible for ASAP. If you find yourself accidentally ingesting something that could result in a positive drug test, please notify your Council 35 officers or EAP for guidance.
September Leaves
Crew planning recently offered Staffing Adjustment Leaves (SAL) of both 30 and 60 day durations. The MEC heard from many FAs disappointed with the offer and the inability to secure a leave for September if already on a SAL. Although the leaves offered were contractually compliant, the company recognized the challenge with how this would affect FAs already on a leave. As a result, an updated bulletin was posted indicating that SALs have been converted to 30-day only for August and bidding for September will be open in a few weeks to provide the fairest option to all FAs interested in remaining on a continuous leave.
Recurrent Checklists
A recent audit of recurrent training (RT) completion packets revealed that many didn’t have the appropriate check marks to indicate a completed drill. This caused many FAs to be recalled to attend RT a second time to prevent dequal status. As a result of the audit, the instructors have been extra fastidious with paperwork review, however it is recommended that FAs monitor their own completion packets to ensure the proper checks have been made after completing a drill.
Council 35 Committee Update: Welcome New Members!
Human Rights: Sejal Patel
In 2016, Sejal fulfilled a childhood dream when she earned her wings with Virgin America. Fueled by her love of travel and desire to switch industries and careers, she fell in love with flying and more importantly, the people she has worked with and met. She quickly learned that a good crew can turn even the most hideous pairing into one of your favorite trips and believes in that to this day. Sejal sought out to join the Human Rights Committee because she wanted to make a change at our airline and do the hard work to make Alaska Airlines a better, more inclusive, place for our flight attendants. This is not going to be an easy task and will require heavy lifting, difficult conversations and uncomfortable situations, but it’s the only way to create meaningful, lasting change and she is committed to the goal.
Interested in joining a committee? Please review the committee page and send your expression of interest to sfo@afaalaska.org.
Membership Dues
by James Ikehara
As a reminder, Article II.C.1.b of the AFA Constitution & Bylaws require that AFA dues continue to be paid during any leave of absence less than 90 days. If you currently pay your dues through payroll deduction, dues payments will continue to be deducted as long as you continue to receive a paycheck with sufficient funds for all other payroll deductions plus your AFA dues. If you are no longer receiving a paycheck or your paycheck does not cover all of your payroll deductions, AFA dues will not be deducted and you will instead receive an invoice from AFA International Membership Services. If you receive an invoice or statement indicating that you owe AFA dues, payment can be made in one of two ways:
- By credit card-Online
- By mailing a check directly to AFA International Membership Services
How do I contact Council 35 Officers?
Using a personal email address, the preferred methods of contact are:
- Open an Online Support Request ticket
- Officer group email sfo@afaalaska.org (if one officer is flying /unavailable other officers can respond)
- Individual officer emails (if information is for a specific officer)
- Calls/text (if situation requires more urgent attention)
When contacting Council 35 officers please avoid the following methods:
- Sending to/from alaskaair email (subject to company audits and therefore not private)
- Officer personal Facebook/social media accounts (not actively monitored for AFA concerns)
- Excessively lengthy texts (please use email for important information as it’s easier to respond and forward to appropriate resource-texts should be reserved for alerts to an issue that requires a timely response)
Please allow at least one business day for a response to any method of contact (email, phone, text).
In solidarity,
Melissa, Aladrian, James and Brad
Melissa Osborne, LEC President • Melissa.osborne@afaalaska.org • 415-275-1322
Aladrian Hillmon, LEC Vice President • Aladrian.hillmon@afaalaska.org • 415-991-3791
James Ikehara, LEC Secretary • James.ikehara@afaalaska.org • 415-289-9011
Bradley Young, Council Representative • Bradley.young@afaalaska.org • 916-508-3503
