The Master Executive Council (MEC) has recently filed numerous grievances on your behalf.

Grievances Settlements

First and foremost, we filed and settled two very important grievances:

Grievance No. 36-99-2-17-15: Assigning a Failure to Report after Successful Check In.

This grievance was filed due to the Company’s violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Section 32 [Attendance Policy], when it assigned failure to report occurrences after a Flight Attendant’s successful check in.

In certain circumstances management had been assigning a “Late Report” when a Flight Attendant arrived late to the gate or arrived late to the gate at RON, this was after a successful scan in at the beginning of her/his sequence. AFA’s long-standing position has been that “Late Report” occurrences only applied when a Flight Attendant failed to scan in at domicile. All other situations, which might result in a Flight Attendant arriving late to the aircraft, were handled as general performance issues; these will now be referred to as “Late Arrival to Aircraft”. Please note this does not change a Flight Attendant’s requirement to be at the aircraft 45 minutes prior to departure.

Management agreed and a settlement was reached with the following clarifications:

1) A Flight Attendant may only be assessed a Late Report (formerly Failure to Report) when s/he checks in after the scheduled check in time and has not been assessed a No-Show for the same event;

2) When a Flight Attendant is late to the aircraft at any time during a scheduled sequence, s/he will not be assessed any attendance points, these occurrences will be considered a performance issue and will be handled under the Company’s progressive discipline policy; and

3) The Company agrees to remove attendance points from any Flight Attendant who received them for being late to the aircraft during a scheduled sequence, provided the points were assigned in the 18 months preceding May 19, 2015.

If you believe that you may have been assessed a Failure to Report incorrectly and it occurred after November 19, 2013, please reach out to a local grievance representative for assistance.

A copy of the settlement language can be found by clicking here.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-26-15: Quarterly Productivity Premium.

The second grievance settlement involved Section 21.R [QPP]. It was filed due to Management’s position that Flight Attendants who had not received a PBS bid award for one or more months of the quarter were excluded from the Quarterly Productivity Premium. A copy of the settlement language can be found in its entirety here.

Grievances Upheld

Management granted the following two grievances:

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-11-15: Violation of Section 27.N [New Hire Initial Training Presentation].

The Company’s violation of Section 27.N, when it failed to provide the Association one hour for the purpose of new hire orientation during a regularly scheduled training day.

Resolution: Management has agreed to ensure that a full hour is provided.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-13-15-Failing to Provide Automated Trading of 4K Pairings.

The Company’s violation of Section 10.DD.6 [Long Stage Length (“4K”) Duty Period] and 12.C.1 [Trading Procedures], when it failed to automate trading of Long Stage Length Duty Period (“4K”) Pairings. In addition when it violated the Contract Implementation Schedule Letter of Agreement paragraph numbers six* (“One-hundred and twenty days after DOS-but no later than May 1, 2015,…”) and nine* (“The Company agrees to make a good faith effort to meet the above implementation time frames…”), when it failed to notify the Association of the delay and discuss the circumstances and necessary adjustments to the implementation schedule.

Resolution: Manual trading is in effect until the next emaestro release scheduled for September 15, 2015. Bulletin 2015-0182 issued on July 16, 2015, addresses how to manually trade “4K” pairings.

Grievances Pending

The following grievances have been filed and are still pending:

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-15-15-Limiting Access to the SAN Domicile.

The Company’s violation of Section 28.I [Company Provided Computers and Printers at Domiciles], when it limited access to the SAN Domicile including contractually required resources to only those Flight Attendants based in SAN.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-19-15-Failing to Pay Flight Attendants for Reasonable Suspicion Drug/Alcohol Testing.

The Company’s violation of Addendum to Section 21 [Compensation], when it failed to pay Flight Attendants for reasonable suspicion drug & alcohol testing.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-20-15-Converting a Line Holding Flight Attendant to ER Reserve Outside of her/his Contactable Period.

The Company’s violation of Section 11.C.3.b.6 [Conversion of Reserves to ER] and 11.C.3.c [ER Contactibility], when it converted a line holding Flight Attendant to ER Reserve outside of her/his contactable period.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-21-15-Section 21.M Compensation.

The Company’s violation of Section 21.M [Pay Protection Due to Weather, Mechanical or to Suit Company Convenience], when it removed a Flight Attendant from a trip and failed to pay protect her.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-22-15-Violation of Past Practice Regarding Manual Revision/Emergency Interim Bulletin (EIB) Insertion Timelines.

The Company’s violation of past practice regarding manual revision/emergency interim bulletin (EIB) insertion timelines, which fails to provide Flight Attendants sufficient time to thoroughly read and insert their revisions and/or EIB’s. Long standing past practice is articulated in the Flight Attendant Manual 6.500 page 1, dated July 6, 2012, which states: “Insert, post and record manual revisions within 14 days of receipt, no later than 30 days after distribution.” A new EIB 14-40 effective November 25, 2014, now states: “The holder of the FAM shall insert revisions/EIBs on or before the effective date or prior to the first assignment following the effective date, whichever comes first.”

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-23-15-Beyond Service Training Exceeding Contractual Training Hours.

The Company’s violation of Section 30.A.2 [Recurrent Training and Other Company-Required (Non-Computer-Based) Training; Hours], by conducting Beyond Service Training after 5:00PM local time, failing to provide a clear break between required training and the optional “Happy Hour” and failing to provide transportation information to Flight Attendants who choose to depart promptly at 5:00PM.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-24-15-Ground Floor Lodging While on Company Business.

The Company’s violation of Section 34 [Hotels], when it failed to avoid ground floor lodging for Flight Attendants attending company required Beyond Service training.

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-29-15-Section 28.G.6 Commuter Boarding Priority. The Company’s violation of Section 28.G.6 [Commuter Policy], when it allowed Company employees (and their dependents) on pleasure travel to be given higher boarding priority than commuting Flight Attendants.

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The next step is to move forward to arbitration on any grievances that cannot be resolved appropriately. In addition, we continue to file disciplinary grievances, which occur on a near daily basis.   Many of these will move forward to arbitration as well.   All Flight Attendants system wide are impacted when AFA cannot resolve issues with management prior to arbitration.   AFA is committed to resolving these issues and will soon be scheduling new arbitration dates for the year 2016. Periodic grievance updates will follow; however should you have questions on specific grievances, please reach out to your local grievance representative.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt; MEC Grievance Committee chairperson Jennifer Wise MacColl, MEC Grievance Committee member Stephanie Adams and AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput

AFA Grievance No. 36-99-2-17-15 Failure to Report or Late Report Settlement