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Council 47 Committee Update – Communication and Safety Vacancies

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants

🗣️🦺Communication and Safety Committee Vacancies

Aloha Council 47 Members,

Council 47 is accepting applications for one Committee Chair position and one Committee Member Position.

🗣️ Communications Chair (LAX/SEA) 🗣️

This position works closely with the Council Officers and Committees to develop communications for the membership, including newsletters, flyers, meeting announcements, social media content, and other informational materials.

We’re looking for someone who is:

  • Comfortable with technology and digital communication tools.
  • Familiar with Canva and Google Workspace
  • Organized, dependable, and able to meet deadlines.
  • Interested in helping improve how we communicate with our members.

Read committee description here.

🦺 Safety Committee Members (SEA) 🦺

We are looking for a Seattle-based Flight Attendant(s) to serve as the Council 47 representative(s) for the Air Safety, Health & Security (ASHS) Committee.

This is a low-commitment role. The primary responsibility is to gather safety, health, and security concerns from Seattle-based Flight Attendants and communicate those issues to our ASHS Chair, Kahea Alvarez, who will coordinate follow-up and work with the appropriate departments.

If safety is something you’re interested in and you’d like to help ensure concerns from the Seattle domicile are heard, we encourage you to apply.

Read committee description here.

How To Apply

If you’re interested in either position, please fill out the Willingness to Serve form.

Applications will be accepted until August 17, 2026.

Benefits Webinar – August 12, 2026

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants

We invite you to join us for our next webinar on August 12 at 11:00 AM HST, hosted by our LEC 43 Benefits Chairs, Rachel Fernandez & Calyn Rosehill alongside our MEC HA Benefits Chair, Chasity Theno. This will be a great opportunity to engage and come with any questions you may have. You may pre-submit any questions during registration.

Benefits Webinar
August 12, 2026
11:00 AM HST

Please be sure to register using your personal email address on file with the union. Company emails will not be accepted. All members in good standing are invited to attend. Registration closes 1 Hour prior to the start of the webinar. Click here to register.

Mahalo for all that you do, and we hope to see you there.

In Solidarity,
LEC 43 Communications Committee

REGISTER HERE >>>

Council 47 Reserve Committee – Meet Your Reserve Chairs

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants

Meet Your Reserve Chairs

Aloha Council 47,

Your SEA/LAX Reserve Committee is excited to introduce themselves and connect with our Reserve Flight Attendants. Whether you’re new to Reserve or have years of experience, your committee is here to answer questions, provide guidance, and help you navigate the contract and day-to-day Reserve issues.

Throughout August 2-5, Zach Rajkovacz and Megan Moore will be visiting the Seattle crew lounge to meet with Flight Attendants, answer questions, and hear your feedback. If you see them, please stop by and say hello. They look forward to meeting you.

LAX lounge visit dates will be announced soon, so stay tuned for more information.

In the meantime, we invite you to get to know your Reserve Committee below. They’re committed to being a resource, advocating for Reserve Flight Attendants, and ensuring our contract is applied fairly and consistently.

We look forward to seeing you in Seattle soon!

Mahalo,

Council 47 Reserve Committee LAX/SEA
Zach Rajkovacz
zach.rajkovacz@afahawaiian.org
Megan Moore
megan.moore@afahawaiian.org

Joint Contract Negotiations Session 17 – July 2026

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants

  • Our JNC met with management this week on July 21 to July 23 in Seattle; our next negotiation session is scheduled for August 24 to August 26
  • Our JNC presented our response to the company’s initial proposal on Section 23 (Insurance Benefits), aiming to secure Flight Attendant specific provisions

Negotiations Update

Our AFA Alaska + Hawaiian Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) met this week for three days of collective bargaining with management. The JNC met with management from July 21 to July 23 in Seattle, WA. At the negotiating table for this session were:

Representing AFA and our Flight Attendants  Representing Management
Tim Green, Joint Negotiating Committee ChairpersonAllen Thieman, Vice President of Inflight, Alaska
Martin Gusman, Joint Negotiating Committee MemberRyan St. John, Vice President, Finance, Planning and Investor Relations, Alaska
Jeffrey Fuke, Joint Negotiating Committee MemberJoe Wonderly, Vice President, Labor Relations, Alaska
Virginia Fritz, Joint Negotiating Committee MemberCarmen Williams, Managing Director, Labor Relations, Alaska
Heather Reier, Joint Negotiating Committee MemberKalani Sloat, Senior Director, Labor Relations, Hawaiian
Paula Mastrangelo, AFA Senior Staff NegotiatorMike Link, Labor Relations Program Manager, Alaska
 Karen Themelis, Senior Labor Relations Business Partner, Alaska

This week the JNC started off by meeting with our pre-merger Alaska MEC Reserve Chairperson, Julie Thornton, to continue to review Alaska Reserve concerns. Julie also weighed in on formulating the Reserve survey to ensure all relevant pre-merger Alaska questions were addressed. The JNC will be meeting with the pre-merger Hawaiian MEC Reserve Chairperson, Kela Chong, prior to the next negotiating session.

The JNC passed our initial proposal on Section 23 (Insurance Benefits) this week, incorporating many of the protections found in the Hawaiian agreement and cementing those already in the Alaska agreement. One of our goals is to secure Flight Attendant specific insurance plan provisions in our JCBA, examples being Flexible Spending Accounts, coverage of dependent children up to age 26 and company provided life insurance.

We continued to discuss the remaining outstanding issues in Section 30 (Training) and have made much progress in this section. We have already secured Buddy Bidding for Recurrent Training and are working to secure other improvements in this section. This proposal is currently in the company’s court and we are hopeful to receive a response from management at the next session.

Section by Section Progress

The Alaska CBA is being used as the basis of the joint contract for language purposes. Each section and provision from both contracts will be reviewed individually to incorporate and amend the strongest elements from each agreement.

Sections discussed in this session:

  • Insurance Benefits (AS CBA Section 23 and HA CBA Section 32)
  • Training (AS CBA Section 30 and HA CBA Section 26)

Sections in ongoing discussion:

  • Vacations (AS CBA Section 14 and HA CBA Section 18)
  • Sick Leave (AS CBA Section 16 and HA CBA Section 19)
  • Leaves of Absence (AS CBA Section 15 and HA CBA Section 17)
  • General and Miscellaneous (AS CBA Section 24 and HA CBA Section 27)
  • Domiciles (AS CBA Section 28 and HA CBA Section 5, 14, and 27)
  • Commuter Policy (AS CBA Section 36 and HA CBA Section 34-28)

Sections listed below are on hold until discussions regarding future sections, which affect specific provisions, take place.

  • Seniority (AS CBA Section 6 and HA CBA Section 9)
  • Grievance Procedures (AS CBA Section 19 and HA CBA Section 23)
  • Charters (AS CBA Section 33 and HA CBA Section 12)

JCBA Negotiations

As a reminder, here’s how JCBA bargaining differs from regular negotiations:

  • Not Section 6 Negotiations: Because our contracts are not amendable, we fall outside the regular Section 6 process.
  • Creating One Contract from Two: Instead of improving a single contract, JCBA talks are about building an entirely new agreement from two existing contracts.
  • Different Survey Process: The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) will send targeted “subject matter” surveys on specific contract sections.

For more information about the process please see Understanding JCBA Negotiations

What’s Upcoming

Our next session with management is scheduled for August 24 to August 26.

Council 43 Update – 737-800 Interisland Operations

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants

A Message from our LEC President: 737-800 Interisland Operations

Aloha nui kākou,

Earlier today, the Company publicly announced that the Boeing 737-800 will replace the 717-200 fleet in our interisland network. The Company’s decision to select the 737-800 is no surprise, as Alaska Airlines has operated this aircraft type for many years. While this announcement may have been anticipated for some time, Alaska Airlines has also decided to begin operating interisland flights under the Alaska brand between Honolulu and Maui beginning this October. This decision by the Company is both disheartening and disappointing to us at Hawaiian AFA.

The unfortunate reality of the situation stems from the reliability issues surrounding our aging 717 fleet which is something that we have all recognized throughout the years. Some of our 717s have been out of service much longer than anticipated due to on-going maintenance issues. This has left the Company with very little options to maintain our robust interisland network. While the decision to utilize the existing Alaska branded 737s and its crews is a near-term solution to maintaining our interisland network, it does come with near-term impacts to us as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants.

Our Interisland flying represents more than just taking care of our local people. It represents the very core of our brand and who we are as Hawaiian Airlines. No matter how long each of us has been representing Pualani, or whether you still fly interisland flights or not, we all started out flying between the islands. The infancy of our careers as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants is where we all began flying and so too did the brand itself. The legacy of Hawaiian Airlines from where we came from, to where we’ve gone and how we have grown, stems from our roots here in Hawai‘i. Bringing the Alaska branded 737s to do part of our interisland flying shakes us to our core, especially since it will not be our crews interacting and maintaining our long-standing relationships we have with our local communities throughout Hawai‘i. While there is no denying the factors of this situation, as President of our Honolulu base, I cannot support or stand behind this decision by the Company to bring in the Alaska branded 737s and its crews to do flying that ultimately belongs to us at Hawaiian.

I will be working closely with our HA MEC Grievance Committee as well as the Joint Alaska-Hawaiian MEC to consider all options available to us in our Contract. While I cannot make any promises that we will be able to ultimately prevent this from happening, it is important to know that we as the Hawaiian AFA Leadership will not be sitting idly by and will use the full force of our contract and everything that is available to us to push back. There will be on-going discussions both internally with AFA as well as the Company to ensure that we are protecting our bid lines, but most importantly our jobs as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants in Hawai‘i.

I want to acknowledge that this news hits us hard, and in many ways is demoralizing because of the constant changes that we have been going through along with the reduction of our international flying. The constant taking away and giving to Alaska has pushed each of us to a place where it is starting to affect who we are as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants. Everyone is fatigued from change with no end or relief in sight. The promise of a better future seems to get pushed back further and further as more of these changes continue to disconnect us from who we are as Hawaiian Airlines. The emotional toll that it is taking on each of us is sometimes unbearable and overwhelming. I ask that everyone take a moment to process this information as it will impact and affect everyone differently. Our EAP Committee is available should anyone need to reach out to them for assistance or resources. Remember that while this announcement will affect each of us differently, and at times we may feel alone, know that we are all in this together. The greatest strength that we have as a Hawaiian Airlines ‘ohana is our ability to persevere and to holomua (move forward) in the face of uncertainty and difficulties.

We will continue to keep everyone updated on this developing situation and know that our top priority is to maintain our jobs and our bid lines as Hawaiian Airlines Flight Attendants in Hawai‘i.

E kūpa‘a kākou!
Let us stand firm together!

Me ka ha‘aha‘a,

Kela Chong
President
Hawaiian Airlines Local Executive Council 43 – HNL
Association of Flight Attendants – CWA, AFL-CIO

Why Vote?

As we continue our Government Affairs Focus Month, our attention turns to civic engagement and the critical role voting plays in shaping our day-to-day work environment. While many of us associate workplace protections primarily with contract negotiations, the laws and regulations that govern our aviation career extend far beyond the bargaining table. Watch: Why Vote? […]

Reminder: Don’t Miss Next Week’s MEC Town Hall!

Mark your calendar: Wednesday, September 23, is almost here! There’s still time to register for our Alaska + Hawaiian Town Hall and hear directly from your MEC Officers: MEC President Tim Green, MEC Vice President Brice McGee, and MEC Secretary-Treasurer Paul Ikioka. Join us for the latest updates and get answers to your questions. The […]

Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2026

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Thursday, September 3, representatives from our pre-merger Alaska AFA Reserve Committee met to discuss ongoing work advocating for Reserve Flight Attendants. Attending on your behalf were Ella Embree (ANC), Conner Gallager (SEA), Anthony Eskander (PDX), Meghan Casey (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Rebecca Garcia (SAN). MEC […]

MEC Statement Regarding Management’s New California Timekeeping Policy

Management announced a major policy shift last night that, starting October 1, 2026, California-based pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants in SFO, LAX, and SAN will be required to take an additional and redundant step to record their time worked by punching in and out using a timekeeping system. According to management, this new procedure applies to […]

Celebrating Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month

Each year, from September 15 to October 15, the United States observes Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month, a vibrant and meaningful tribute to the remarkable contributions, history, and cultures of Hispanic-Latinx Americans. This celebration began as Hispanic Heritage Week, established in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson to recognize the impact and influence of Hispanic-Latinx communities across the […]

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