AFA Alaska

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Alaska Airlines Master Executive Council

Click here to report an issue to AFA
You are here: Home / Archives for Grievance Committee

Council 35 News August 2021

Important Dates

  • September 7:  Vacation Bidding Opens
  • September 13:  Supplemental Insurance Open Enrollment Begins
  • September 21:  Vacation Bidding Closes 
  • September 24:  Supplemental Insurance Open Enrollment Ends 
  • September 28:  Vacation 2022 Awards Posted

Never Forget

It’s hard to believe the tragedy of 9/11/01 occurred 20 years ago…an event that changed our lives and industry forever.  To commemorate the milestone, AFA and APFA (representing American Flight Attendants) collaborated to create a new 9/11 pin.  Council 35 has enough pins for everyone, so please stop by the SFO Village supervisor’s office and pick one up.  

Alone in Mexico

Did you know our JCBA provides protection to Flight Attendants flying outside the US?  The JCBA§34.A.5.a states that no F/A will travel to a hotel outside the US by themselves.  There was a recent incident involving a Flight Attendant who was left behind in SJD after a scheduling change occurred.   This F/A was aware of the contract and reached out to AFA for assistance during the event.  This is a great example of why it’s important to know your contract, and when something goes wrong, AFA is here to help!

Trending Discipline

from the Grievance Committee

Reserve Not at Base

Reviewing the JCBA§11 which defines the AS reserve rules, the company expects that a reserve Flight Attendant will be within 2 hours of base at the beginning of the assigned reserve availability period (RAP). Commuting into base or being more than 2 hours aways from base at the start of RAP would be considered time card fraud and normally results in termination with the first offense.  Lineholders picking up reserve days should be aware of the reserve rules found in JCBA§11 in order to be familiar with the expectations.  Any reserve F/A or lienholder picking up reserve days who are interested in extra support or guidance, please reach out to the SFO Reserve Committee for assistance.

Delays

When a delay is caused by a Flight Attendant, either due to tardiness or forgotten required item, management typically initiates an investigation.  If it is confirmed that the delay was caused by the FA, discipline will most likely be issued. A first offense can expect a Confirmation of an Oral Warning (COW), unless other discipline is on file, which would increase to the appropriate step based on previous occurrences.

Supplemental Insurance Open Enrollment

from the Benefits Committee
National Group Protection (NGP) announces the open enrollment period for supplemental benefit plans for AFA members.  

NGP offers services to include:

  • Accident Insurance
  • Hospital Indemnity
  • Critical Illness Coverage
  • Whole Life Insurance

NGP offers the following options:

  • Supplemental – these plans supplement any existing coverage
  • Voluntary – members choose to participate
  • Limited Underwriting – no medical or physical exams required
  • Family Coverage – available with all of the plans
  • Portable – members can continue coverage if they leave the company
  • Payroll Deduction – premiums are paid through payroll deduction

The Virtual Enrollment for Alaska AFA members is open from September 13-24, 2021.  

Reminder:  COVID-19 MOU, Section 32 and CA Law

COVID absences are still a regular event for members.  Your Council 35 officers encourage F/As to submit for points forgiveness and follow up with CA state claims to seek additional benefits.  For more information, please revisit July’s Newsletter.

Celebration of Life for Tim Krailo

A message from SFO Chief Pilot Kat Pullis

I wanted to pass along the invitation for the Celebration of Life planned for our dear Tim Krailo and his wife Karen.  Please RSVP as the family is planning on serving dinner around 6:30pm.  If you’d like to attend in uniform to show support from our Alaska family, please feel free to do so.  His family sends a huge thank you to our team for the successful Go Fund Me that we did for their children.  It has been such a challenging year for their family as Tim’s only sister also passed away last month.  Sending all our thoughts and support their way.  

Thank you Majo!

Council 35 extends a warm thank you to Majo Tanco, LAX Benefits Committee, for all the help she provided since COVID-19 emerged on the scene.  Majo was kind enough to fill in and help Council 35 members while we looked for an SFO-based committee member.  We are happy to announce that our new Benefits Chair, Julie Pearson, is now ready to take over where Majo left off.  For inquiries regarding anything benefits related, such as FMLA, medical LOAs and Worker’s Compensation, SFO-based FAs should now reach out to Julie at sfo.benefits@afaalaska.org.  And thank you Majo for letting SFO “borrow” you while we searched to fill the vacancy!

In solidarity,

Melissa, James and Brad

Melissa Osborne, LEC President •  Melissa.osborne@afaalaska.org • 415-275-1322
James Ikehara, LEC Secretary •  James.ikehara@afaalaska.org  • 415-289-9011
Bradley Young, Council Representative • Bradley.young@afaalaska.org • 916-508-3503

AFA Alaska Update – May 28, 2021

In This Edition

  • Grievance Committee Update
  • Join the Delta AFA Campaign
  • UNCF Commitment Aircraft
  • Mental Health Awareness Month

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee

Our Grievance Committee has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf.  The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues.  AFA typically prioritizes termination cases to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases.  AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors. 

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination.  COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in the Flight Attendant’s file for 18 months, and then are removed.  If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation.  Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline.  There is no middle ground or progressive discipline for certain violations.  If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD).  A ROD is not considered discipline.  

For Your Information – Block2Block Team Messaging

Everything that Flight Attendants and other employees type in the team messaging feature of Block2Block is recorded, saved, and regularly reviewed by management.  Anyone in the company who has access to the system can log on to a flight and use the system to communicate or just see what is being said. Also, if they choose, they can go back and review conversations from past flights.  

Subjects of Most Recent Discipline

  • Sick leave and FMLA abuse—terminations on the rise due to travel audits among other things.  Anything written in the advertising comments on trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if later deleted.  Also, recorded telephone conversations with Crew Scheduling can be referenced for use by management in discipline.  If management determines abuse it results in termination.  The Company will be looking at sick leave patterns around holidays as well.  This means, for example, if a Flight Attendant has called in sick for 3 of the last 3 Mother’s Days, s/he may be called in for a sick leave abuse meeting.  
  • Timecard fraud—for example: delaying boarding door closure to obtain sit pay.  Management has terminated for this violation.
  • Drug/alcohol violations
  • Theft.  Anything other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed from the aircraft will result in termination.  
  • Harassment and discrimination
  • Reserve Flight Attendants commuting during the reserve availability period (RAP) even if self-assigned a trip and/or not being in base for the entirety of the RAP (except as provided for in §11.C.5 on the last day of the block).  Management has terminated for commuting during the RAP several times.
  • Commuter Violations
    • Flight Attendant released from DHD and used D8Y home
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel.  Commuter audits are being used for researching whether commuting reserve Flight Attendants are in base for their full RAP, and if not, it typically results in termination.
  • Social media violations including sending friend or follow requests to passengers on social media based on information gained from Block2Block.  Also, postings which can be deemed harassing or discriminatory typically result in discipline ranging from written warning to termination.
  • Lost IMD or other required items
  • Failing to complete CBT—even if Flight Attendant just forgets to hit the close out x at the top to switch it from in process to complete.
  • Uniform Issues—Flight Attendants can and have been pulled from working their flights without pay for uniform non-compliance and/or issued discipline.

Recent Arbitration/Mediation

ArbitrationOctoberContractual Grievance
ArbitrationNovemberContractual Grievance
ArbitrationDecemberContractual Grievance
ArbitrationJanuaryDisciplinary Grievance

Recent Arbitration Awards

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-29-20-Violation of §30.C.4 Computer Based Training (CBT).  The Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement [Training], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about January 21, 2020, it significantly increased the number of evaluated drills conducted during recurrent training (RT) and considerably changed the requirements to demonstrate proficiency and pass said drills. To pass all 36 drills with the required perfect score, the Company published 39 videos for Flight Attendant viewing with total watch time of 39 minutes and 40 seconds, none of which Flight Attendants were compensated for watching.

Details:  Unfortunately, the arbitrator found in favor of the Company.  The arbitrator did recognize the merits of the Union’s case; however, the CBA did not provide for the decision for which we hoped.  

Recent Grievance Settlements

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-45-17-Violation of §10.S Pre-Cancellation and Schedule Changes.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.S [Scheduling:  Pre-Cancellation], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it altered Flight Attendant schedules due to a schedule change/flight retiming using inapplicable Pre-Cancellation language without prior notice to or approval from AFA.  

Details:  All pre-cancellations, retimes, flight routing changes and aircraft downgrades that occur in advance of the day of departure of a sequence will be handled under §10.S [Pre-Cancellations] beginning Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at 12:01 AM Pacific Time. Click here to read the settlement agreement. 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-144-19-Violation §13.D.1 Uniform Allotment and Optional Pieces.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §13.D.1 [Uniforms:  Uniform Allotment/Credits], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it refused to give Flight Attendants the ability to purchase Luly Yang inspired by Alaska Airlines optional uniform pieces (which are or will be available for purchase at the Alaska Airlines Company store) with their contractual uniform allotted funds.  

Details:  The Company is not obligated to sell Luly Yang items at the Company Store; however, if it does, all Luly Yang items will be sold at cost to all Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants. Click here to read the settlement agreement.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-165-19- Violation of Vacation Trading Past Practice.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement § 14 [Vacation], an established past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it violated an established past practice for a real-time, electronic vacation trading system and the subsequent failure of that system to allow SEA-based Flight Attendants to access and trade vacation at the established start time.  

Details:  On or about October 28, 2019, the Company’s Flight Attendant vacation trading system went down for 20 minutes affecting many Flight Attendants’ ability to trade their vacation. Approximately 57 Flight Attendants contacted AFA due to the outage.  The Company agreed to pay each of those 57 Flight Attendants 1.0 TFP no later than their March 19, 2021, paycheck.  Click here to read the settlement agreement. 

Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-384-20-Violation of §10.S Scheduling Notifications.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.S [Scheduling:  Pre-Cancellations], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it used non-contractual scheduling notifications sent to Flight Attendants via the Crew Scheduling system in order to communicate and assign alternate flying or an obligation to call Crew Scheduling within a specific window of time.  If a Flight Attendant accepts such non-contractual scheduling notification(s), which is neither contact by Crew Scheduling via Company email nor via primary phone contact as defined in §10.S.1.a, the scheduling notification(s) violates the contract by abrogating the Flight Attendant’s ability to: (1) decline the alternate assignment and waive pay protection (§10.S.2.b), (2) decline the “out of original footprint by more than two hours” alternate assignment and call Crew Scheduling between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM (local domicile time) the night prior to the start of the original sequence (§10.S.2.c), or (3) waive pay protection and be relieved of any further scheduling obligation (§10.S.3). 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-386-20-Violation of §8.Q & §8.R Contactability and Notification of Delay or Cancellation. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §8.Q [Hours of Service:  Contactability] and §8.R [Hours of Service: Notification of Delay or Cancellation], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it used non-contractual scheduling notifications sent via the Crew Scheduling system in order to communicate and assign revised flying to Flight Attendants who were off-duty on a remain overnight (RON). Such scheduling notifications are in violation of the contractually defined means of contact and/or the Flight Attendant’s obligation to respond pursuant to these provisions.

More Information

For more information, including the status of previously filed grievances, please visit the Grievance Committee Activity Page.

Questions?

Please contact your Local Grievance Committee if you have any questions about the Grievance Committee update.

Join the Delta AFA Campaign

AFA International

Volunteer Delta Air Lines Flight Attendants have been actively working to organize and build their Union and AFA continues to support them in their efforts.  Activities are continuing to ramp up and the AFA organizing team is seeking Flight Attendants from Alaska and other AFA airlines who would like to get involved.  If you have personal connections with Delta Flight Attendants, commute or travel regularly on Delta, or are interested in supporting the organizing effort, please take a moment to complete the online contact form or scan the QR code to the right.

Want to Know More?

You can read more about the Delta AFA organizing campaign at https://www.deltaafa.org.

UNCF Commitment Aircraft

Human Rights Committee

On April 26, 2021, Alaska Airlines proudly received its newest livery, an aircraft that symbolizes the Company’s support for education and equity – called “Our Commitment.”  This aircraft was inspired and designed in partnership with the Air Group Black Employees (ABEA) business resource group and others. The profiles on the side of the aircraft are 14 children and grandchildren of Alaska’s employees. Located at the L/R1 doors are two inspirational quotes: “The time is always right to do what is right,” (Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” (Nelson Mandela).

Photo: Alaska Airlines

Alaska’s partnership with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) began in 1991. Over the years, Alaska has supported UNCF’s fundraising efforts through donating tickets and event sponsorship. In 2017, UNCF became a LIFT Miles partner enabling students to attend college tours and travel back and forth during school semesters at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).  This is like other partnerships and sponsorships the Company presently has with many colleges and universities throughout the route network.

As this aircraft travels around our system, it represents Alaska’s commitment to promote equality and education. It encourages us as an airline to do the right thing by amplifying the conversation around education and equity.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please reach out to your Local Human Rights Committee.

Mental Health Awareness Month

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)/Professional Standards Committee

If you have a mental health condition, you’re not alone. One in 5 American adults experiences some form of mental illness in any given year. And across the population, 1 in every 20 adults is living with a serious mental health condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or long-term recurring major depression. Unfortunately, many people don’t seek treatment or remain unaware that their symptoms could be connected to a mental health condition. Trying to tell the difference between what expected behaviors are and what might be signs of a mental illness isn’t always easy. Each illness has its own symptoms, but common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:

  • Excessive worrying or fear
  • Feeling excessively sad or low
  • Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
  • Extreme mood changes, including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
  • Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
  • Avoiding friends and social activities
  • Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
  • Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy
  • Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
  • Changes in sex drive
  • Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don’t exist in objective reality)
  • Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior, or personality (“lack of insight” or anosognosia)
  • Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
  • Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
  • Thinking about suicide
  • Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
  • An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance

If you’re concerned about any of these signs either in yourself, a love one or a flying partner, please reach out to your AFA EAP Committee for confidential support and assistance.  Call (949) 470-0493 or locate your local AFA EAP Committee Members at https://afaalaska.org/eap.  

AFA Update – November 20, 2020

In This Edition

  • Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf.  The contract requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues.  Termination cases are typically prioritized in order to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases.  AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors. 

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination.  COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in the FA’s file for 18 months, and then are removed.  If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation.  Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline.  If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD). A ROD is not considered discipline.  There is no middle ground for certain violations.  

Subject of Most Recent Discipline

  • Theft.  Anything other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed from the aircraft will result in termination.  (Temporarily there are COVID-19 exceptions).  
  • Sick leave and FMLA abuse—Terminations on the rise due to travel audits among other things.  Anything written in the comments posting of trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted.  If management determines abuse it results in termination.  
  • Timecard fraud—For example: Holding the door open to obtain sit pay or picking up additional trips to inflate pay protection after notification of a COVID-19 exposure.  Management has terminated for these violations.
  • Drug/Alcohol violations
  • Harassment
  • Reserves commuting during reserve availability period even if self-assigned a trip. Management has terminated for this reason several times.
  • Social media violations, including “friending” or “following” passengers on social media from information gained from the IMD
  • Commuter Violations
    • Flight Attendant was released from deadhead and used D8Y (commuter boarding priority) to travel home from an outstation
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel
  • Lost IMD or other required items
  • Failing to complete CBT—even if FA just forgets to hit the close out x at the top to switch it from in process to complete.

Recent Arbitration/Mediation

ArbitrationJulyContractual Grievance
ArbitrationAugustContractual Grievance
ArbitrationSeptemberDisciplinary Grievance

Recent Arbitration Awards

None

Recent Grievance Settlements

None

Grievances Pending Final Settlement

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-144-19-Violation §13.D.1 Uniform Allotment and Optional Pieces.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §13.D.1 [Uniforms:  Uniform Allotment/Credits], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it refused to give Flight Attendants the ability to purchase Luly Yang inspired by Alaska Airlines optional uniform pieces (which are or will be available for purchase at the Alaska Airlines Company store) with their contractual uniform allotted funds.  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-170-19-Violation of §19.A Investigatory Meetings.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement § 19.A [Grievance Procedures], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about October 29, 2019, at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), it conducted an investigatory meeting related to a slide deployment with all Flight Attendants assigned to work flight 623 (IAD-SFO) while they were on duty, without providing adequate opportunity to obtain Union representation in the form of an AFA Grievance Representative, and without providing the option of conducting the meeting on their day off with accompanying pay of four (4.0) TFP.  

Grievances Recently Granted by Management 

Grievance 36-99-2-275-20-Violation of §30.A.2 Training Hours.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.A.2 [Training:  Hours], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about July 23, 2020, Flight Attendants attending Recurrent Training (RT) in Seattle were released at 5:07pm, seven (7) minutes past the contractual release time of 5:00pm.    

Details:  Flight Attendants who attended in this particular class will receive an additional 1.0 TFP.

Grievance 36-99-2-279-20-Violation of §30.A.2 Training Hours.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.A.2 [Training:  Hours], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about August 11, 2020, Flight Attendants attending Recurrent Training (RT) in Long Beach (LGB) were released at 4:03pm, three (3) minutes past the contractual release time of 4:00pm.    

Details:  Flight Attendants who attended in this particular class will receive an additional 1.0 TFP.

Grievances Recently Filed

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-320-20-Violation of §30.C.4 Computer Based Training (CBT).  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.C.4 [Training:  Training Pay/Computer Based Training (CBT)], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about September 28, 2020, it added a 5th Computer Based Training for Flight Attendants to complete for 2020.  Prior to adding the 5thCBT, it issued Quarter 1 CBT, training videos CBT, Quarter 2 CBT and Quarter 3 CBT.  

Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-301-20-Violation of §3.D Scope of Agreement.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §3.D [Scope of Agreement:  Scope], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it announced beginning October 2020 through July 2021, it will operate flights with cargo in cabin seats; although such flying will occur without passengers, the Company intends to staff the flights with non-Flight Attendant employees, who will be trained to perform Flight Attendant duties, specifically including but not limited to:  Firefighting duties, cargo stowage in the passenger cabin and aircraft door operation in normal and emergency mode.    

More Information

For more information, including the status of previously filed grievances, please visit the Grievance Committee Activity Page.

Questions?

Please contact your Local Grievance Committee if you have any questions about the Grievance Committee update.

AFA Update – July 24, 2020

In This Edition

  • REMINDER: Call Congress to Extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program
  • Onboard Service Expansion
  • Free Online Learning Course—African American History: From Emancipation to the Present
  • REMINDER: Flight Attendant COVID-19 Survey
  • Grievance Committee Update

REMINDER: Call Congress to Extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program

Government Affairs Committee

Keep up the pressure on our lawmakers to do the right thing and extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program.  The House of Representatives is scheduled to break for recess on July 31st and the Senate on August 7th. Make your calls today and every day!

House – (888) 907-9365
Senate – (888) 848-4824

Sample Script:

Hello, I am a constituent calling to ask [Representative]/[Senator] to help save my job as an essential worker. Take legislative action in July to extend the CARES Act Payroll Support Program for aviation workers in order to avoid massive job loss in October. Keep us connected to our jobs, our paychecks, and our healthcare. Thank you for your urgent attention to this.

Onboard Service Expansion 

Master Executive Council (MEC)

Last week, management implemented an expansion of onboard service by increasing beverage choices for passengers and re-introducing hot beverages as an available menu option.  This expansion of onboard service took place despite vocal objections by our Master Executive Council (MEC), Inflight Service Committee, and Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC).  Among these objections are management’s failure to adequately address the increased risk of exposure that our Flight Attendants are facing due to the additional time being spent interacting with passengers to offer the prescribed service.  In light of the recent nationwide increase in COVID-19 cases and many jurisdictions postponing or rolling back plans to reopen businesses, the expansion of onboard service seems counterintuitive and does not indicate that management is serious about “owning safety”.

The MEC is currently developing a survey to gather more information about the specifics of how the expanded onboard service has impacted our Flight Attendants.  More information will be available in soon in another AFA update.

Free Online Learning Course—African American History: From Emancipation to the Present

Human Rights Committee

Yale University is currently offering a free course on African American history taught by Jonathan Holloway.  Professor Holloway was Professor of History, African American Studies, and American Studies at Yale University and Dean of Yale College. 

This course represents a unique opportunity to assist in fulfilling our union’s promise to redouble our efforts to seek out, listen to, and amplify the voices of black and brown Flight Attendants within our Union and to address the systemic racism in our Union, our industry and our nation.

Additional information about the course can be found in the excerpt below from the Yale University website.  You can access the course directly by clicking here.

About the Course

The purpose of this course is to examine the African American experience in the United States from 1863 to the present. Prominent themes include the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction; African Americans’ urbanization experiences; the development of the modern civil rights movement and its aftermath; and the thought and leadership of Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

Warning: Some of the lectures in this course contain graphic content and/or adult language that some users may find disturbing.

Course Structure

This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Spring 2010.

REMINDER: Flight Attendant COVID-19 Survey

AFA International

As a reminder, AFA International is currently running a Flight Attendant COVID-19 Survey to collect Flight Attendants’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to our work with our airlines, the federal government, and Congress to get your feedback.

Is there available PPE at work? Have you tested positive for COVID-19? How many trips have you worked since March? What’s your experience with aircraft cleaning? Are you on leave?

Click here to take the survey

All individual responses will be de-identified, kept confidential and only utilized publicly in the aggregate.

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf.  The contract requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues.  AFA typically prioritizes termination cases in order to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases.  AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors. 

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination.  COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in a Flight Attendant’s file for 18 months, and then are removed.  If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation.  Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline.  If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD). A ROD is not considered discipline.  There is no middle ground for certain violations.  

Subject of Most Recent Discipline

  • Theft.  Anything other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed from the aircraft will result in termination.  (Temporarily there are Covid-19 exceptions).  
  • Sick leave and FMLA abuse—Terminations on the rise due to travel audits among other things.  Anything written in the comments posting of trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted.  If management determines abuse it results in termination.  
  • Timecard fraud—For example: Holding the door open to obtain sit pay.  Management has terminated for this violation.
  • Drug/Alcohol violations
  • Harassment
  • Reserves commuting during reserve availability period even if self-assigned a trip. Management has terminated for this reason several times.
  • Social media violations Including “friending” passengers on FB from information gained from the IMD
  • Commuter Violations
    • Flight Attendant released from DHD and used D8Y home
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities
    • Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel
  • Lost IMD or other required items
  • Failing to complete CBT—even if FA just forgets to hit the close button within Cornerstone to switch the CBT from in process to complete.

Recent and Upcoming Arbitration/Mediation

ArbitrationApril 21Disciplinary Grievance
ArbitrationMay 27Contractual Grievance
ArbitrationJune 15Contractual Grievance
ArbitrationJune 25Disciplinary Grievance

Recent Arbitration Awards

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-52-17-Violation of §§11.H.3.b & 11.H.4 JCTE Denying Unlimited Trading of Reserve Days Due to Classification as a Reserve Block Split.  This grievance alleged the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §§11.H.3.b & 11.H.4 [Reserve:  Reserve Exchange of Days, Pick-Ups and Trades/Reserve Day/Blocks], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) trading system denied unlimited trading of reserve days pursuant to §11.H.4 due to JCA incorrectly classifying such trade as a reserve block split pursuant to §11.H.3.b. 

Arbitrator’s Decision:  The grievance is denied.  Alaska Airlines did not violate Sections 11.H.3.b & 11.H.4 and/or any and all related sections of the collective-bargaining agreement or past practice when its Jeppesen Crew Access trading system denied transactions where Reserve Flight Attendants sought to give away less than an entire block more than once per month.  Alaska Airlines properly classified these transactions as a reserve block split pursuant to Section 11.H.3.b.

Recent Grievance Settlements

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-30-19-Violation of §28.G.2 Ground Commuting Policy.  This alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §28.G.2 [Domiciles:  Commuter Policy/Ground Commuting Policy], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when during the February 2019 Pacific Northwest snowstorms, it did not allow Flight Attendants to use the ground commuter policy because the Company did not consider a snowstorm-related ground commuting failure to be unanticipated.  

Details:  See the July 13, 2020 AFA Update for more information.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-159-19-Violation of §11.F, §11.F.13 and §11.D.2.c Airport Standby Reserve and On Duty at 4:29 am.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §11.F [Reserve:  Airport Standby], §11.F.13 [Reserve:  APSB on Duty at 4:29 am] and §11.D.2.c [Reserve:  Notice of Time to Report], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when it failed to or inconsistently compensated Flight Attendants when they were:  1)  Sitting airport standby (APSB) prior to 4:29 am; 2) Sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am and while on said APSB was given a flight assignment prior to 4:29 am; and 3)  Sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am and while on said APSB was given a flight assignment after 4:29 am. 

Details:  

  1. Reserve Flight Attendants sitting airport standby (APSB) prior to 4:29 am local domicile time who do not receive a flight assignment during APSB:
    1. Will be compensated pursuant to §11.D.2.c at one and one-half times (1.5x) the trip rate in that duty period of which one-half times (0.5x) the trip rate will be paid above guarantee for the APSB assignment if the Flight Attendant receives less than nine (9) hours’ notice of the APSB assignment; or 
    1. Will be compensated straight time (1.0x) towards the reserve guarantee for the APSB assignment if the Flight Attendant receives at least nine (9) hours’ notice of the APSB assignment.  
  2. Reserve Flight Attendants sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am local domicile time and while on said APSB are given a flight assignment prior to 4:29 am will be compensated one and one-half times (1.5x) the trip rate for all TFP flown or credited or APSB in that duty period of which one-half times (0.5x) the trip rate will be paid above guarantee.   
  3. Reserve Flight Attendants sitting APSB prior to 4:29 am local domicile time and while on said APSB are given a flight assignment after 4:29 am will be compensated one and one-half times (1.5x) the trip rate for all TFP flown or credited or APSB in that duty period of which one-half times (0.5x) the trip rate will be paid above guarantee.

Click here to view the complete settlement agreement.  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-116-18-Violation of §10.J.4 Bidding Timelines.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Section 10.J.4 [Scheduling:  Bid Packets and Bidding Timelines], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about March 13, 2018, management re-opened its Preferential Bidding System (PBS), NAVBLUE, for a full bid re-award for April 2018 because it was not programmed to match the bid “duty on” preference on the new web application user interface.  However, due to system limitations the re-award required the PBS to reopen which allowed access for Flight Attendants to submit new bids after the contractual bid submission deadline.   

Details:  The Company and AFA will The parties will actively work on installing an administrative lock-out function (or other mutually agreed upon solution) in the NAVBLUE bidding system (or any successor system).  The lock-out function will allow the ‘back end’ of the bidding system to be opened for bid protests, technical issues, or other adjustments while locking out Flight Attendants from altering their bids on the ‘front end’. It is unknown whether NAVBLUE can accommodate a lock-out function exactly as described in this paragraph. If it is not possible, the parties will work together and mutually agree on the alternate solution and how it would work.  If an alternate solution is not mutually agreed upon, AFA reserves the right to refile this grievance.  

Compensatory Settlement:  The Company will pay compensation to all Flight Attendants whose adjusted April 2018 bid resulted in a loss of four (4) or more TFP and at least one day of flying from their original April 2018 bid.  Approximately 150 Flight Attendants are in this pool, plus two additional Flight Attendants who do not meet the requirements but whose situations present unique circumstances that warrant settlement.  The total TFP amount to be paid out is 1130.6 TFP. A list of said Flight Attendants will be provided to the Company by the Association pursuant to this Settlement Agreement.  The Company will pay the TFP to all the above-named Flight Attendants no later than on their June 20, 2021, paycheck.  For any affected Flight Attendant who is inactive  (due to separation or furlough) as of June 20, 2021, the Company will mail a check (less applicable withholdings) to the Flight Attendant’s last known address.  The pay will be at the respective rates in effect on the day the Flight Attendant is paid.  Payment will be paid above the reserve guarantee if applicable.  

Click here to view the complete settlement agreement.

Grievances Recently Granted by Management

None

Grievances Recently Filed and Denied

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-200-20-Violation of §25.C.1 Failure to Include ASHSC in Safety Meeting.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.C.1 [Air Safety Health and Security: Safety Meetings], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about April 3, 2020, it failed to include the Air Safety, Health and Security Committee (ASHSC) in a meeting to discuss passengers who were scheduled to travel on Alaska flights after disembarking from a cruise ship which had suffered an outbreak of COVID-19. The company instead opted to brief AFA about the issue after the meeting and decision was made about how to proceed. 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-201-20-Violation of §10.Q & §11.E.4.d Violation of Reserve Assignment List Order.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10.Q [Scheduling:  Low-Bid Option] and §11.E.4.d [Reserve:  Order of Assignment, Assignment of Open Sequences/Assignments], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) scheduling system places low-bid option and no-bid lineholder Flight Attendants who pick up reserve days and opt out of the Reserve Assignment List (LTFA) at the top of the list rather than listing them in inverse seniority order following all other Reserves within the same classification (AM/PM/ER) and with the same number of days of availability.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-207-20-Violation of §10, §11.D & §24.L Bundled Scheduling Notifications.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §10 [Scheduling], §11.D [Reserve: Scheduling/Notice of Time to Report] and §24.L [General and Miscellaneous: Company-Provided Inflight Mobile Device (IMD)], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) scheduling system sent bundled scheduling notifications to Flight Attendants on their Inflight Mobile Devices (IMDs) or directly in Crew Access, requiring Flight Attendants to batch acknowledge or ignore such notifications and thereby resulting in Flight Attendants potentially waiving multiple contractual protections via an extra-contractual point of contact (i.e. Crew Access scheduling notifications).  

More Information

For more information, including the status of previously filed grievances, please visit the Grievance Committee Activity Page.

Questions?

Please contact your Local Grievance Committee if you have any questions about the Grievance Committee update.

AFA Update – March 25, 2020

In This Edition

  • Contacting AFA Representatives for Support
  • Pre-Cancellations (JCBA Section 10.S)
  • REMINDER: Negotiating Committee Interviews – Additional Opportunity
  • Grievance Committee Report

Contacting AFA Representatives For Support

As always, AFA representatives remain available to provide assistance during the current situation.  In order to provide you with the best possible support, we ask that you continue to reach out using the following methods of contact:

AFA Online Support Center.  Contractual concerns, scheduling or reserve problems, and payroll issues can all be reported using the AFA Online Support Center.  Once you open a ticket, your concern will be assigned to a specific AFA representative who will assist you in resolving the issue.  Click here for more information about the AFA Online Support Center.

E-Mail.  Your Local Committee Members, Chairpersons, and LEC Officers can all be contacted by email.  Please refer to your Local Council’s committee roster for contact information for each of your committees.  Your LEC Officers can also be easily be contacted as a group using by email addresses below.  Using the group email address ensures that your question or concern can be addressed as soon as possible by the first available officer.

ANCanc@afaalaska.org
SEAsea@afaalaska.org
PDXpdx@afaalaska.org
SFOsfo@afaalaska.org
LAXlax@afaalaska.org
SANsan@afaalaska.org

When making contact by email, please use your personal email address and not your company-provided Outlook email account.  Company-provided email accounts are subject to monitoring by management and there is no expectation or guarantee of privacy.

Telephone Call.  Telephone numbers for most Local Committee Members, Chairpersons, and LEC Officers can also be found on your Local Council’s committee roster.  If you receive a voicemail prompt, please leave a message that includes your full name, PeopleSoft number, and contact telephone number.  Voicemail messages will be returned as soon as possible and within 24 hours.

In order to ensure that your request, question, or concern is properly documented and receives the appropriate follow-up, please limit contact to one of the methods outlined above when reaching out to AFA representatives.  Text messages, messages sent to personal social media accounts, and other methods of contact may not necessarily be regularly monitored for AFA-related communications and could cause a significant delay in response.

Pre-Cancellations (JCBA Section 10.S)

Scheduling Committee

Pre-cancellations occur prior to your trip, while reassignments occur same day.  Currently, trips are being pre-cancelled, and you may have more than one trip that is affected.  Crew Scheduling may offer more than one alternate trip if multiple awarded trips are cancelled when you call.

If you have a pre-cancellation, a CR code will be placed on your roster. You may acknowledge your cancellation on your roster, however the JCBA requires you to call Crew Scheduling.  If you fail to contact Crew Scheduling prior to your trip, you must report to work as scheduled.  If you are flying during your pre-cancellation, then you are required to call Crew Scheduling no later than release at domicile if the trip reports the next day.

If you do not report at the original show time and you have not contacted Crew Scheduling, you will be subject to the attendance policy and will receive a no-show under Section 32 of the JCBA. Crew Scheduling will send you an email via Outlook and leave a message for you to call them back using your PeopleSoft phone number on file, so ensure your numbers are up to date. You may be offered an alternate assignment (the footprint of which can begin or end 2 hours beyond original footprint of the trip) or you may decline the alternate assignment and waive pay protection. If the flight you are offered has a check in and/or release time outside of the footprint described above, you will have a third option to contact Crew Scheduling the night prior to that assignment. Pay protection may apply depending on the options available at the time you contact Crew Scheduling.  Please refer to sections 10.S.2 and 10.S.3 for your contractual options prior to calling Crew Scheduling.  Please always remember you are able to decline the alternate assignments and waive pay protection. 

The Scheduling Committee has compiled a “cheat sheet” on the pre-cancellation process and section 10.S language that you can access by clicking here.

Questions?

If you have any questions about pre-cancellations or reassignments, please contact your Local Scheduling Committee.

REMINDER: Negotiating Committee Interviews – Additional Opportunity

Master Executive Council (MEC)

The Master Executive Council (MEC) conducted interviews with several Negotiating Committee candidates during the March Regular MEC Meeting.   The candidates interviewed in March ranged from less than one year to eight years of Flight Attendant seniority.  All candidates who met the original deadline of March 3 to express interest will be given the opportunity to interview and will be included in the candidate pool that the MEC will elect the Negotiating Committee from.

It is important to the MEC that the candidate pool is representative of the entire Flight Attendant group.  As such, the MEC has re-opened the expression of interest process for Negotiating Committee Members.  Additional interviews will be conducted at the April Regular MEC Meeting.  The MEC is specifically seeking additional candidates with 25 years or more of Flight Attendant seniority and/or those with previous negotiating experience.  Other candidates will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Our current Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) becomes amendable on December 17, 2021 but also contains an early opener clause for the negotiating process to begin as early as December 2020.  In anticipation of early openers, the Master Executive Council (MEC) will be conducting interviews for the Negotiating Committee during the April Regular MEC Meeting, to be held April 7 and 8, 2020.  All three Negotiating Committee positions are up for interview and consideration.  Per the AFA Constitution & Bylaws, the MEC President is the chairperson of the Negotiating Committee and rounds out the Committee as the fourth member.

The Negotiating Committee is charged to negotiate and institute the needs and desires of the Flight Attendants into an effective collective bargaining agreement (CBA).  The Committee should have a good working knowledge of the current CBA and be willing to devote their full time to the Committee during negotiations.  The members of this Committee shall serve as the CBA Interpretation Committee until a new agreement is completed.

Selection of Committee Members

  • Any person seeking a position on the Negotiating Committee must submit a resume to the MEC
  • Committee Members will function until a new Committee is selected
  • The Chairperson of the Negotiating Committee will be the MEC President or her/his designee
  • Committee Members are selected by majority vote of the voting members of the MEC (LEC Presidents)

Committee Member Duties & Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the Negotiating Committee shall include the following:

  • The Committee, with the advice of the Staff Negotiator shall have the authority to conclude an agreement, subject to the provisions of Article XII of the Constitution and Bylaws.
  • All members of the Committee, including alternates whenever possible, shall complete a negotiations training seminar prior to writing an “opener.”
  • Be familiar with Union policy and keep abreast of new developments in the industry.
  • Utilize the facilities and resources of the Union and the experience and knowledge of Union Officers, International Office staff and study committees of the Union. (eg., Legal, Retirement and Insurance, Wage and Working Conditions, etc.).
  • Maintain a current record of the:
    • Financial condition of the company.
    • Management lines of authority and methods of communication.
    • Operations statistics and experiences of the airline which may be used in bargaining, grievances, litigation, etc.
  • Be familiar with the wishes of the Flight Attendant group with respect to wages, working conditions, and work rules, through, for example, system-wide distribution of contract surveys, periodic road shows, etc.
  • Prepare the contract opener with the advice of the Staff Negotiator
  • Provide regular updates to the membership on the status of negotiations
  • Proof CBA language and agree with the Company on implementation and effective dates
  • Review tentative agreement with the MEC
  • Prepare membership summary package and Roadshow schedule
  • Present the tentative agreement to the members
  • Proof printed agreement and prepare CBA index
  • Prepare CBA interpretations for new concepts
  • Remain available as a resource for interpretations
  • Maintain a complete record of the negotiations, including proposals, notes and communications, and such record is the property of AFA-CWA.  A copy of this record will be forwarded to the International Office by the Negotiating Committee.
  • Maintain contact, through the MEC President, with IAM, ALPA, TWU, AMFA, and other applicable labor unions on property

Flight Pay Loss Reimbursement

Flight pay loss (FPL) reimbursement will be provided to Negotiating Committee Members at the rate of 6 TFP at “A” pay for 8 hours of work.  FPL is not reimbursed for days that solely contain travel to/from an activity.

Expressing Interest and Interview Scheduling

The MEC will hold interviews during the April Regular MEC meeting from April 7-8, 2020.  Please plan to arrange your schedule accordingly to accommodate.

Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest and resume online at https://forms.gle/YGCUtxVETB3z9aZW7.  The deadline for submissions is 5 PM Pacific time on Friday, March 27.  After that time, MEC Secretary-Treasurer Linda Christou will contact qualified candidates to schedule a specific interview time.

Please note that in order to submit an expression of interest, you must have a Google account.  If you do not have a Google account, you can create one for free at https://accounts.google.com/signup.

Questions?

Any questions regarding the Negotiating Committee positions or application process should be directed to MEC President Jeffrey Peterson at jeffrey.peterson@afaalaska.org.

Grievance Committee Update

Grievance Committee

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has been very hard at work ensuring disciplinary due process and contractual compliance on your behalf.  The contract requires a minimum of 13 arbitration dates yearly to dispute discipline/termination cases and contractual issues.  AFA typically prioritizes termination cases in order to return a Flight Attendant back to work as soon as possible; however, we seek a balance between discipline and contractual cases.  AFA and management mutually decide which cases to arbitrate next based on many factors. 

Steps of discipline are confirmation of oral warning (COW), written warning (WW), suspension (varied number of days) to termination.  COWs, WWs, and suspensions remain in the Flight Attendant’s file for 18 months, and then are removed.  If a Flight Attendant is in a step of discipline and gets another violation, the new violation will build on the previous violation.  Management doesn’t always progressively travel up the steps of discipline.  If management investigates a Flight Attendant for theft or abuse of sick leave, for example, management will terminate the Flight Attendant if there is evidence to support its findings; if there is no evidence, then the Flight Attendant will most likely be issued a record of discussion (ROD). A ROD is not considered discipline.  There is no middle ground for certain violations.  

Subject of Most Recent Discipline

In order to keep terminations low, we want to give you an idea of what areas management has recently focused on in regard to disciplining (including terminating) Flight Attendants.  See below: 

  • Theft.  Anything other than an opened/used bottle of water, unused pilot crew meal or purchased food removed from the aircraft will result in termination.  (Temporarily there are Covid-19 exceptions).  
  • Sick leave and FMLA abuse—Terminations on the rise due to travel audits among other things.  Anything written in the comments posting of trip trades and personal drops can be seen, even if eventually deleted.  If management determines abuse it results in termination.  
  • Timecard fraud—For example: Holding the door open to obtain sit pay.  Management has terminated for this violation.
  • Drug/Alcohol violations
  • Harassment
  • Reserves commuting during reserve availability period even if self-assigned a trip. Management has terminated for this reason several times.
  • Social media violations Including “friending” passengers on FB from information gained from the IMD
  • Commuter Violations-1. Flight Attendant released from DHD and used D8Y home; 2. Flight Attendant used D8Y when they picked up out of base; 3. Flight Attendant used D8Y to/from incorrect cities; and 4. Flight Attendant used D8Y for pleasure travel.
  • Lost IMD or other required items
  • Failing to complete CBT—even if Flight Attendant just forgets to hit the close out x at the top to switch it from in process to complete.

Recent and Upcoming Arbitration/Mediation

ArbitrationThursday, January 30Disciplinary Grievance
MediationTuesday, March 3Contractual Grievance
ArbitrationTuesday, March 31 (postponed)Disciplinary Grievance

Recent Settled Grievances

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-5-16- Non-Negotiated Compensation.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement Section 21 [Compensation] and Section 32 [Attendance Policy], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the Railway Labor Act when it awarded, without prior consistent notice, policy and application, $5 gift cards to all Anchorage based Flight Attendants for meeting the daily attendance goal.

Settlement:  The Company will issue one $5.00 (five dollar) Starbucks gift card to Flight Attendants who were employed by Alaska Airlines as Flight Attendants as of 12/31/15, except for those based in ANC as of that date. Management agrees not to issue non-negotiated compensation related to the contractual attendance policy. This is not intended as an agreement that non-negotiated compensation is or is not permissible in other circumstances.  

Note:  The settlement will be distributed when management can obtain the correct information regarding which FAs were based outside of ANC at that point in time.  

Grievances Recently Granted by Management 

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-161-19- Violation of §12.E Withholding Trips from Open Time.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §12.E [Exchange of Sequences:  Open Time], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) failed to immediately place all uncovered sequences or portions of sequences including but not limited to sick calls, Management Drop(s), Personal Drop(s), leaves of absence, jury duty, bereavement leave.

Management’s Response:  On September 24th, during a scheduled JCTE release, a bug was unknowingly, and regrettably, introduced to JCTE that caused long delays (up to 10 minutes at times) in trips showing up in Open Time if a scheduler made a change to the sequence.  Although the company did not intentionally delay these trips from showing up in Open Time immediately, the bug in the system did cause a delay. For this reason, this grievance is sustained. This issue was resolved with the November 8th JCTE release.  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-20-20-Violation of §25.C.1 Failure to Include ASHSC in Safety Meeting.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §25.C.1 [Air Safety Health and Security:  Safety Meetings], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about January 13, 2020, it failed to include the Air Safety, Health and Security Committee (ASHSC) in a reactive safety risk assessment (SRA) meeting regarding unaccompanied minors who are sent to the wrong destinations.  

Management’s response:  After investigation, I agree with you that we did not appropriately include the ASHSC in the SRA meeting regarding unaccompanied minors who are sent to the wrong destinations.  Going forward, the ASHSC will be included in all inflight safety meetings that the Cabin Safety Manager is invited to attend.  As such, this grievance is sustained.  

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-27-20-Violation of §12.F.3 Threshold Sequence Number Determination for Seattle Domicile February 2020.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §12.F.3 [Exchange of Sequences: Threshold Sequence Number Determination], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about January 16, 2020, it was discovered Crew Planning did not review and increase the Threshold Sequence Number (TSN) for the Seattle domicile from 12 to 13 for February 2020.  

Management’s response:  After investigation, I agree with you that we did not appropriately increase the TSN for the Seattle domicile from 12 to 13 for February 2020, prior to Open Time commencing on January 16, 2020.  For this reason, this grievance is sustained and the Director of Crew Planning and the Director of Crew Scheduling commit to working together to develop a documented process to ensure this does not happen again in the future.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-30-20-Violation of §30.C.1 Training Pay.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.C.1 [Training:  Training Pay/Recurrent Training], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when its 2020 Recurrent Training (RT) home study exceeded five (5) hours; per the agreed upon computer based training (CBT) run time test process, the run time was calculated to be six hours and twenty six minutes (6:26).

Management’s response:  After investigation, I have found the above referenced information to be true and therefore the grievance is sustained.  Our agreed remedy is that each Flight Attendant that completes the 2020 Recurrent Training (RT) home study will receive a flat pay out of $125.00 versus the $75.00 flat pay out referenced in Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.C.1.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-37-20-Violation of §30.A.2 Training Hours.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.A.2 [Training:  Hours], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about January 24, 2020, Flight Attendants attending Recurrent Training (RT) in SEA were released at approximately 5:08pm, eight (8) minutes past the contractual release time of 5:00pm.   

Management’s response:  After investigation, I have found that on the date referenced above, that the class did in fact release at 5:08pm.  This class ran late due to the addition of the flashlight exercise at the end of the day.  For this reason, the grievance is sustained.  The agreed upon remedy is 1 TFP for all Flight Attendants who attended this class.

Grievance No.:  36-99-2-125-20-Violation of §30.A.2 Training Hours.  This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement §30.A.2 [Training:  Hours], past practice, and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about February 14, 2020, Flight Attendants attending Recurrent Training (RT) in ANC were released at approximately 5:28pm, twenty-eight (28) minutes past the contractual release time of 5:00pm.    

Management’s response:  After investigation, I have found that on the date referenced above, that the class did in fact release at 5:28pm.  The R2 training door was not airworthy and had to be re-built late the night before, pushing hands-on and drill evaluations to the second day.  For this reason, the grievance is sustained.  The agreed upon remedy is 6 TFP for all Flight Attendants who attended this class.

Grievances Recently Filed and Awaiting Response from Management 

None

More Information

For more information, including the status of previously filed grievances, please visit the Grievance Committee Activity Page.

Questions?

Please contact your Local Grievance Committee if you have any questions about the Grievance Committee update.

Latest News

Management vs. State and Local Laws – Part 3

2 Comments

Management vs. State and Local Laws – Part 3 Master Executive Council (MEC), Grievance Committee, Benefits Committee This is the third in a series reporting on management’s opposition to various state and local laws, the latest developments to complex state law litigations related to these laws that are playing out in Washington and California, and […]

Management vs. State and Local Laws – Part 2

Leave a Comment

Management vs. State and Local Laws – Part 2 Master Executive Council (MEC), Grievance Committee, Benefits Committee This is the second in a series reporting on management’s opposition to various state and local laws, the latest developments to complex state law litigations related to these laws that are playing out in Washington and California, and […]

We Will Never Forget – September 11, 2001

United Flight 175 Robert J. FangmanAmy N. JarretAmy R. KingKathryn LaBorieAlfred G. MarchandMichael C. TarrouAlicia N. TitusCaptain: Victor SaraciniFirst Officer: Michael HorrocksCustomer Service Representatives: Marianne MacFarlane and Jesus Sanchez United Flight 93 Lorraine G. BaySandra BradshawWanda A. GreenCeeCee LylesDeborah WelshCaptain: Jason DahlFirst Officer: Leroy Homer American Flight 11 Barbara AresteguiJeffrey CollmanSara LowKaren MartinKathleen NicosiaBetty OngJean […]

AFA Alaska Update – September 3, 2021

In This Edition September 11th Unity Remembrance Pin Uniform Quality Issues – Your Help Is Needed! Hotel Resources & Safety Reminders Personal Strategies for Approaching the Anniversary of September 11th September 11th Unity Remembrance Pin AFA International Our September 11th Unity Remembrance Pin was designed in solidarity with the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) […]

Recent Changes to COVID-19 Policies

Recent Changes to COVID-19 Policies Master Executive Council (MEC) and Grievance Committee Summary of Recent Changes to COVID-19 Policies The following is a general summary of what Alaska Airlines management announced in the “Our plan for keeping you and our guests safe from COVID” email that was sent earlier yesterday to all employees regarding the […]

Top Posts & Pages

News By Month

News By Category

Air Quality Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) AS/VX Merger Benefits Committee Committees Communications Committee Contract Contract 2014 Negotiations Blog Council 15 SAN Council 18 LAX Council 19 SEA Council 30 ANC Council 35 SFO Council 39 PDX EAP/Professional Standards Committee Extension 2021 Blog Featured Government Affairs Committee Grievance Committee Hotel Committee Human Rights Committee Industry News Inflight Service Committee Inflight Training Committee JNC Blog Latest News Local Councils Master Executive Council (MEC) Mobilization Committee Negotiations Pairing Construction Preferential Bidding System (PBS) Press Releases Reserve Committee Retirement Committee Scheduling Committee Uniform Committee

Want To Stay In The Loop?

The best way to stay connected with up-to-date AFA Alaska news and information is through a subscription to AFA Alaska emails!  Click the button below to sign up.  Already a subscriber?  You can make changes to your email by clicking below!
Sign Up