Service Survey:  Participation Needed!

AFA recently published a survey for Flight Attendants to give feedback on the current service.  Many members have expressed their concern with the safety of the increased service levels amidst the COVID19 outbreak.  Please take a moment to complete the survey!  Additionally your Council 35 officers strongly recommend FAs file a report (FAIR) regarding passenger mask removal onboard.

OAL Travel on Leave

Council 35 officers have received many messages from concerned members about the loss of other airline (OAL) ZED travel while on leave coming up in October.  Policy surrounding OAL travel is determined by the participating airline.  ZED agreements require that to be eligible for travel, employees must be active.  For an employee to be active, they need to be on payroll, or have a pay event in order to remain active for a given month.  The leaves offered as furlough mitigation leaves are unpaid and FAs that are on these leaves are not considered active employees.  AFA has discussed this concern with management, and have requested that options be considered to allow employees to remain eligible for OAL.  Please stay tuned for progress on this request.

Rumor Control:  Avoiding IV

There is a rumor that suggests that applying for a leave will alleviate any risk of involuntary furlough (IVF).  Unfortunately this is not true.  If an FA’s seniority number is in the furlough “zone” there is no action an FA can take that would prevent furlough from happening.  The MEC has published multiple communications on what FAs can do to avoid furloughs at Alaska, which encourages FAs to reach out to Congress to vote in favor of additional support for airline employees.

Staffing Leaves and Coordination

Another misconception about leaves is that cashing out vacation or sick bank hours will allow an FA to “coordinate” to keep the FA on payroll and active while on a staffing leave.  The furlough mitigation leaves are unpaid, and FAs will not be able to cash out any days when on one of the upcoming staffing leaves.

Stay Informed

Although Flight Attendants are not required to read company emails and bulletins while on leave, it is recommended that FAs keep current with all the latest information while on leave during this time of constant change.  Additionally it’s important to ensure the personal email address on file with AFA is up-to-date.  To change your contact information, please visit the AFA website to update email and/or mailing address.

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.  Members can pay dues online or submit invoice payment via mail.  Please contact membership services for specific account information.

Membership Dues While on Leave

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.  Members can pay dues online or submit invoice payment via mail.  Please contact membership services for specific account information.

EAP is Here to Help

With Warn Notices and leave bid awards coming soon, these are extremely difficult and stressful times. Please remember that the SFO Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Committee is always available as a support resource.  For help, please contact sfo.eap@afaalaska.org.  

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).  

Stay healthy and safe!

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