Become A Member, Have Your Voice Heard!

If you haven’t already had the chance to complete an AFA membership application, you can download and print one by clicking here.  The AFA membership application is not a form that can be completed online; it must be filled out, signed in ink, and returned to an AFA representative or mailed to AFA.  Signing up to receive AFA email communications is not the same as completing a membership application.  Completing an application ensures that you have the right to vote in officer elections and on tentative agreements.

Equal Rest for Flight Attendants

AFA International has actively been lobbying lawmakers to change FAR rest minimums for Flight Attendants.  In 2014, FAR 117 was enacted to protect pilots from extensive duty days and provided minimum rest requirements. AFA believes Flight Attendants should enjoy the same protections.  For more information on how you can get involved and help make this change for all of us, please visit AFA Interactive.  There you will find instructions on how to petition our political leaders for change.

Village Visits

For several days each week, Local Council President Melissa Osborne, Local Council Secretary James Ikehara, and several other AFA Alaska leaders have visited the Villages in JFK, LAX and SFO to share information about AFA, answer questions, and provide AFA membership applications.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by!  Additional Village Visits will be held over the next few weeks. You can also find the most up-to-date information on Village Visits on the Council 35 Facebook page.

Don’t Forget to Wear Your AFA Pin

The AFA pin is an approved uniform piece and should be worn on the left collar.  If wearing both your AFA pin and anniversary pin, the anniversary pin should be placed closest to the tip of the collar.

Your AFA pin represents our combined strength and unity as we work toward achieving improvements for all of us and should always be worn with your uniform.  If you don’t already have an AFA pin, you can pick one up from an AFA representative during an upcoming Village Visit.  Visit the Council 35 Facebook page for recent “pin pics.”

Have your own pin pics to share?  Send them to us (along with the name of everyone in the picture) at vx@afaalaska.org.

Seniority Integration

Seniority will be integrated based on competitive (bidding) seniority date in accordance with the AFA Constitution & Bylaws. Competitive seniority date is often referred to as “date of hire” although the actual application is more complicated than that. A previous communication on the AFA seniority integration policy can be found here.

Joint Negotiating Committee and Merger Representative Positions

Thanks to everyone who applied for the JNC and Merger Representative positions.  Interviews for both positions were conducted at the MEC Meeting in Seattle earlier this week.  An announcement of the appointees will be sent out within the next several days by AFA email and will also be posted on the Council 35 page of the AFA Alaska website.

FAQs

Are new-hire ITMs able to apply for AFA membership?

Yes!  New hires achieve active member status with AFA after four full calendar months of employment but are considered “apprentice” members from their first day. For example, if you were hired on January 3, you would attain active member status on June 1 (first of the month after completing four full calendar months of employment). “Membership” is a relationship between the F/A and the Union; this is separate from the “probationary period”, which is a relationship between the F/A and the company.  As an apprentice member, you enjoy the benefits of the Union however you will not be able to participate in any voting activities nor hold an officer and/or committee position.

Is it true that that Skywest has the same boarding priority as VX on Alaska metal?

Skywest, though not owned by AAG, operates flights on behalf of Alaska Airlines through a capacity purchase agreement (CPA).  For nonrev purposes on AS metal, Skywest is grouped into the E7 boarding priority code, which is then further subdivided (E7A, E7B, etc.). In addition to Skywest employees, pass riders of several other airlines are also slotted into the E7 boarding priority code. All Virgin America teammates should be boarded after Alaska and Horizon employees and dependents but before other airlines when they use ZED 0 on Alaska flights, including those operated by Horizon or Skywest.  Management is working to integrate the two travel programs and expects this to occur sometime in early 2018.  In the meantime, two different systems prevent them from generating an integrated priority list.

Can we implement a commuter code like AS F/As have in order to get priority boarding status?

Boarding priority for commuters is part of the current AS contract and will not likely become a benefit for VX until we’re on a merged agreement.

Can we adopt the AS summer attendance program?

AS Flight Attendants do not have a perfect summer attendance program per se, but rather a quarterly productivity premium (QPP).  The premium provides an incentive for AS F/As to pick up flying over their awarded schedules. The incentive is $500 per quarter except for the third quarter (July, August, and September) when it is $1000.  This provision is not a company-wide policy, however, it is outlined in section 21.R of the AS contract.  Therefore, VX F/As would not be eligible to participate in the program until we are on a merged agreement.

Will the pay increase be applied to initial training pay?

Training pay is a flat rate for the entire training period and therefore would not be eligible for a rate increase.  Immediately following training, the pay rate is brought up to the pay scale for the 1st year, so on that date the pay increase will be applicable. Anyone who worked at least 1 day after graduation (between Jan 1 and Apr 30, 2017) would be eligible for the retro pay increases.

Alaska’s maternity policy is much more parent friendly.  Can we adopt the same policy at VX?

Some of the maternity leave provisions are contractual, and other parts of it are AS company policy.  As for the contractual side of it, we won’t see any changes for VX until we have a merged agreement.

I commute from SAN, when will I be given the opportunity to change bases?

Base transfers between pre-merger VX and AS bases will not occur until after we are on a merged agreement and have an integrated seniority list.  The earliest this could possibly happen would be approximately Q2 2019, but could take longer.

I would like to leave Virgin America to apply for a position at Alaska.  Can I retain my VX seniority?

Any VX teammate interested in applying to be a Flight Attendant at AS will need to resign from VX and begin as a new-hire employee.  To be eligible for hire at AS, VX teammates would be required to remove their name from the integration list and give up all their seniority rights.  If this is something you have been considering, AFA would like to caution you to consider how this course of action will impact your position and seniority.  If you have any further questions, please reach out to the Council 35 leadership team at vx@afaalaska.org.

I have questions for Melissa and James, how can I reach them?

Please refrain from sending messages to VX email accounts and/or via Facebook messenger.  Your questions will be answered faster if you send them to the Council 35 email vx@afaalaska.org.  Being available to you is important to your AFA leadership team and by following the prescribed methods of communication, your leaders can better assist with your questions, suggestions and concerns.  Thank you for understanding!

I am not getting any emails from AFA Alaska Council 35. What can I do?

Please be sure to subscribe to Council 35 emails using a non-Virgin America email account.  You can subscribe online at http://afanewsletters.org/subscribe/.  If you encounter any problems with the online subscription page, please email us at vx@afaalaska.org.

Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts!  You can reach us at vx@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,

Your Council 35 Officers – Melissa & James