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Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Alaska Airlines Master Executive Council

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2016 Performance Based Pay

Performance Based Pay is 8.73% of 2016 eligible earnings

Pursuant to CBA §29.A [Profit Sharing and Retirement: Performance Based Pay], all Flight Attendants will receive a Performance Based Pay (PBP) payout today on all eligible earnings described in the Alaska Airlines, Inc. Profit Sharing Plan. This year, line employees are receiving about a month’s pay or 8.73% of their 2016 eligible earnings. This is the eighth consecutive year Alaska has exceeded the 5% payout target, and PBP has averaged 9.14% over 5 years. Prior to 2009 Flight attendants participated in the Variable Pay Plan (VPP), which had a maximum payout of 7.0% of eligible earnings.

PBP eligible earnings

What are PBP eligible earnings? In general, it should be everything except for the prior year’s PBP payout, the Quarterly Productivity Premium (QPP), Operational Performance Rewards (OPR), per diem, expense reimbursements and imputed income.

Some of you have been doing your own calculations and questioning why your PBP payout is not consistent with eligible earnings. Well, the most probable reason is that the Company has likely been calculating PBP incorrectly for Flight Attendants since at least date of signing for this contract in December 2014. At a minimum, we believe that Sit Pay and Longevity Premium have not been included in the calculation for PBP 2014-2016.

PBP grievance

Consequently, AFA has filed Grievance 36-99-2-8-17 Violation §29.A Failure of Company to Include All Eligible Earnings in Calculation of Performance Based Pay (PBP). AFA believes the remedy would be a “make whole” recalculation and payout for the excluded eligible earnings. Management is currently in the early stages of research, which may take awhile due to the complexities of the issue. In the meantime, enjoy your 2016 PBP payout, and congratulations to all!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

2017.02.10 Grievance 36-99-2-8-17 Violation §29.A Failure of Company to Include All Eligible Earnings in Calculation of Performance Based Pay (PBP)

Benefits Committee News

In This Edition

  • Leave of Absence Insurance Changes
  • Understanding your Health Savings Account (HSA) and your Limited Use Healthcare (FSAEE) account.
  • How to Get Benefits Help

Leave of Absence Insurance Changes

If you are planning to take a health-related leave of absence, please be advised that management is changing the way health care premiums will be handled.  The process for paying for continuing health care coverage while on such a paid leave of absence will be changing.  We have been advised that leaves will be coded differently in PeopleSoft in the future.  This change in coding will mean that health benefit premiums will no longer automatically be deducted from your paycheck EVEN IF you are coordinating.

If you are coordinating sick leave, vacation or PTO with Short Term Disability or California State Disability, management considers these to be a paid leave.   Under this new policy, you will receive a letter from Cobra Management Services (CMS) with instructions for paying the employee portion of your health benefits premium each month.  Once you have been on a Worker’s Compensation leave of absence for twelve weeks, and begin coordinating sick leave, vacation or PTO with Worker’s Compensation time loss payments, the process will be the same.

This does NOT mean that you are being required to pay for COBRA coverage under this coding change, but you will have to self-pay the employee premium directly to CMS.  It is very important that the premiums be paid on time, or health benefits will end.

If you are already on a leave of absence and are coordinating to keep health benefits in place, we suggest that you double-check your paychecks each month to be sure that premiums have been deducted.  If not, contact your leave coordinator immediately.

Understanding your Health Savings Account (HSA) and Your Limited Use Healthcare (FSAEE) Account

The high deductible PPO comes with a prefunded health savings account (HSA) that was funded on January 1, 2017 with $1000 from Alaska Airlines (and a portion of your designated contributions). Your FSAEE should be completely funded at this time.

Both of these accounts are managed with your Premera Healthcare Payment card.  When you use this card, vision and dental will withdraw from the FSAEE contributions and medical expenses will withdraw from the HSA.  Under our plan, you can roll over $500 each year to the FSAEE while roll over to the HSA is currently unlimited.  This means that your HSA dollars can be used to pay for medical cost after you separate from the company.

This healthcare payment card is used like a credit card and should be treated as such.

You can learn more about these two accounts, your balances, payments and what both accounts can be used for at: www.premera.com.  After logging in, proceed to Member > Member Services > My Account > Personal Funding Account > Manage Your Account (shows balances, how much you can contribute each year, payments, etc.) You will also find a Help and Tools tab here for qualified medical expenses and FAQs.

How to Get Benefits Help

Your Local Benefits Committee is available to assist you.  You can find contact information at http://afaalaska.org/benefits.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC Benefits Committee Chairperson Terry Taylor

End of Year Reminders 2016

As we approach the end of 2016, the Master Executive Council (MEC) wants to remind you of a few important items.

AFA EAP

Alaska Flight Attendants are the best in the industry and this is due, in part, to our amazing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Committee! EAP is always available to assist and support you. As we approach the holiday season our jobs become much more difficult and we are away from our families. EAP peers help FAs assess their expectations, troubles, health issues and commitments. Re-evaluating commitments and expectations will help to make the holiday season more manageable and enjoyable. AFA EAP’s greatest tool is the ability to listen, calming the presenting issue. Referring to professional resources appropriate when the FA is unable to find resolution.

You can find EAP contact information here: http://afaalaska.org/eap.

Review Your Personnel File

This is a great time of year to review your personnel file (“p-file”). According to our collective bargaining agreement, you’re entitled to a complete copy of your personnel file with at least seven (7) calendar days’ notice (§24.G).  We recommend that every Flight Attendant take advantage of this contractual right and review your personnel file on a regular basis. To make a request for your copy of your personnel file, contact your performance supervisor.  We recommend doing so in writing via Outlook email.

Employee Choice Travel Credits

Any remaining Employee Choice Travel Credits must be converted by December 31, 2016. Once you convert the credits you have three months to travel or make changes to those credits. These credits do not roll over! You will find your Employee Choice Travel Credits in your Paperless Employee Travel (PET) account.

Uniform Allotments

The current uniform allotment will expire December 31, 2016. You will receive a new $700 allotment on January 1, 2017. Taxes and shipping will be covered through the Land’s End portal. You can find the link to Land’s End on your World of Inflight FA homepage –> Catering & Brand –> Uniforms –> Lands’ End. Make sure you copy your People Soft (PS) number from your homepage, as you will need this number to access the allotment link on the Land’s End homepage and to place uniform orders. If you have questions you can contact your Local Executive Council (LEC) Uniform Committee.

December 2016 “No Junior Assignment” Pledge

AFA and Alaska Airlines management agreed to a “No Junior Assignment” Pledge. Flight Attendants who are working trips that originate between December 15, 2016, and December 25, 2016, will not be Junior Assigned (JA’d) off of those trips.

Year End Record Improvement

Any Flight Attendant who has 4.0 or fewer attendance points will have her/his record reduced to 0 points after the end of the year, provided s/he did not accumulate any attendance points since November 1st. In order to qualify for this provision, a Flight Attendant must achieve a minimum of 480 TFP in the calendar year (inclusive of vacation/Longevity PTO but excluding sick leave) in addition to all other requirements outlined in §32.G.4. It usually takes a few weeks into January for the year-end record improvement adjustment to occur.

“DOS +2” Step Rates of Pay

Effective December 17, 2016, all Flight Attendants received a contractual pay raise. “DOS +2” in the step rates of pay chart in §21.A now applies. You can find your individual step rate of pay at the intersection of your step (the steps are listed in the rows on the left) and the “DOS+2” column (the contractual increases are listed in the columns at the top).

Employee Records supposedly sent an email to all Flight Attendants on December 17th via Outlook advising of the contractual increase. However, AFA has received multiple reports from our members that the notification was never received—even after checking “Junk Email” and “Clutter” folders. If you did not receive the email, Inflight management has advised to contact Employee Records (employee.records@alaskaair.com) in order to verify your contractual increase. AFA requested that Inflight management also send out a bulletin regarding this issue.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC S/T-Elect Linda Christou

Trades Gone Wrong

Over the past few months AFA has noticed an increase in complaints and concerns in relation to FA-to-FA trading.

As a result of this increase and one recent issue that resulted in a Written Warning, the Master Executive Council (MEC) would like to remind Flight Attendants of the importance of evaluating trades before they are processed.

Remember, all trades are final. Even when an unintentional trade mistake occurs that trade is final and cannot be changed without first notifying the affected Flight Attendant.

The posting of trips for trade with specific expectations is self-policing. There is no contractual language that requires AFA or management to intervene with problems associated with FA-to-FA trade issues when they arise.

In some trading issues, Flight Attendants have elevated into steps of progressive discipline due to attendance points accrued as a result of No Shows from unknown trade actions on their lines. AFA has had very little success with convincing management to adjust points as a result of this type of trade issue.

Before you process a trade:

  • Carefully review the trade and verify if you are trading with Open Time or if you are trading with a Flight Attendant.
  • Have you reviewed the comments box to ensure you are trading trips that meets the desire of your fellow coworker?
  • Did you call or communicate with the posting Flight Attendant prior to the trade?

Again, if the posting Flight Attendant has comments associated with the trade please respect and adhere to those stipulations. Remember, this is a self-policing system, and issues that arise as the result of “trades gone wrong” do not fall under the scope of your AFA reps or management to resolve.

If a mistake is made as a result of a trip trade or trip pick up, contact the affected Flight Attendant immediately. Discuss options to resolve the issue. The affected Flight Attendant is under no obligation to take a trip back as a result of a “trade gone wrong.”

As a reminder, per the Company security policy, you are not allowed to share your login information with anyone.

It is important that we work together and respect one another when we process trades.  Discipline that results from “trades gone wrong” is a serious issue and could result in Flight Attendants suffering discipline, or even termination, as the result of point accumulation.

If you have questions contact your Local Executive Council (LEC) president.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Open Time Negotiations Session 2 Update – December 7-8, 2016

The AFA Negotiating Committee and Alaska Airlines management met for the second time to negotiate a new Open Time system, with the session taking place in Seattle this past Wednesday and Thursday.

Background

As you may recall, our current Open Time system was implemented on a trial basis. AFA chose to end the trial, which put us into negotiations for a new system. Our contract states that our old system (the one in effect under the previous contract) will be reinstated while we negotiate a new system; however, this cannot be accomplished until some computer programming is done, which will take several months. Until then, the current system remains in effect.

Overview

Negotiating an open time system is always challenging. AFA wants to maximize Flight Attendants’ scheduling flexibility—the ability to trade trips, to get certain days off or even to straight drop trips. Management believes that every flexibility gain for us increases “liability” for the Company by negatively impacting the staffing and therefore the overall operation, which ultimately leads to higher costs. AFA recognizes that the entire workgroup cannot work only when we choose. In turn management understands, at least to some extent, that Flight Attendant morale is important and ultimately benefits the Company.

Details

With those competing interests in mind, the parties engaged in very spirited discussions. Both sides are supportive of the ability to do multiple trades (e.g., trade a 4-day for two 2-days), which we know is very important to Flight Attendants. The parties did not reach actual agreement on any specific provisions, but we did emerge with what we hope will be a framework for a new system. AFA’s last proposal of the session will require management to do some data crunching. If management believes our proposal will create too much liability in the form of uncovered trips, then AFA will need to know how management reached that conclusion. We want facts and numbers.

Next session

Based on the parties’ limited availability, our next session is scheduled for late February. Our plan is to see management’s data in advance of the session so that we can ask any questions and get clarifying information in the interim. The Negotiating Committee expects the session to start off with management passing its next proposal.

“Back to book”

AFA has asked for updates from management with respect to programming the old (“back to book” Open Time system). Although we recognize it may take some time, the process needs to begin. We will pass along management’s response when we receive it.

Thanks as always for your support. If you have comments or other feedback, you may email the Negotiating Committee at negotiations@afaalaska.org or else contact your Local Executive Council (LEC) president.

In Solidarity,

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput

Joint Contract Negotiations Session 2 – April 2025

Our AFA Alaska + Hawaiian Joint Negotiating Committee recently held three days of collective bargaining in Seattle, reaching a tentative agreement on Section 20 – Board of Adjustment. Current discussions focus on Uniforms, Reduction in Force, General-Association, and Training sections. Flight Attendants will receive a Commuter Survey via email starting April 21, and we’re counting on everyone’s feedback. Additionally, Hawaiian Flight Attendants have ratified a Contract Extension through February 2028, which includes pay increases and enhanced retirement benefits.

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – April 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Monday, April 14, our AFA Local Hotel Committee Chairpersons met for to receive an update about current layover hotels and transportation providers and discuss concerns with management. Representing you at the meeting were Dori Marron (ANC), Jarod McNeill (SEA), Kelly Hepworth (PDX), Hilary Streem (SFO), Chris […]

Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee Meeting Recap – 2nd Quarter 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Thursday, April 3, our AFA Local Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Deb Wallstrom (ANC), David Lake (SEA), Kalin Lackey […]

Introducing Our Negotiations Support Representative

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants Last week, our Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews for the Negotiations Support Representative position, a key role supporting our Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC). We’d like to sincerely thank all candidates for their participation and willingness to serve our Flight Attendants. After careful consideration, […]

Merged MEC Committee Chairperson Interviews

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants As we move forward with the integration of our Master Executive Councils (MECs), our MEC has had important discussions regarding the timing and process for merging our various MEC committees. During this week’s MEC meeting, we developed a plan that outlines how and when […]

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