staffing adjustment

Council 35 News – July 2020

July 30, 2020 14:13

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

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

AFA Update – May 29, 2020

May 29, 2020 18:00

In This Edition

AFA President Sara Nelson Statement on Justice for George Floyd, Attacks on Protesters and Press
AFA Board of Directors Special Meeting – May 20, 2020
COVID-19 Agreements Extension – June 2020
Life Insurance Coverage While on a Staffing Adjustment Leave

AFA President Sara Nelson Statement on Justice for George Floyd, Attacks on Protesters and Press

AFA International

Washington, DC (May 29, 2020) – Responding to violent clashes between police and protestors demanding accountability for police violence, especially for the killing by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis, AFA International President Sara Nelson released the following statement…

Click here to read President Nelson’s statement >

AFA Board of Directors Special Meeting – May 20, 2020

AFA Board of Directors

A Special Meeting of the AFA Board of Directors (BOD) took place on May 20, 2020, at which an interim budget was approved for fiscal year 2020-2021 (July through June). This was AFA’s first ever virtual BOD Meeting. The AFA International Office is currently updating documentation and writing a Compilation of Actions that will be posted online for review by the Board and Members in the near future. We will send notice when this information is available.

COVID-19 Agreements Extension – June 2020

Master Executive Council

The Master Executive Council (MEC) and Alaska Airlines management have previously executed several agreements that temporarily modify the administration of specific contractual provisions in order to mitigate the burden to Flight Attendants and the Company during the COVID-19 pandemic. The parties agreed to extend the duration of some of those agreements that were scheduled to expire on May 31; the agreements are now extended through June 30.

Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs)

Temporary Waiver of Discipline Delivery Confirmation (04/14/2020) – Notifications of confirmation of oral warnings and written warnings will continue to be sent via Company email rather than by US Mail with delivery confirmation.

Letters of Agreement (LOAs)

Commuter Policy and Utilizing Other Airline (OAL) Carriers During COVID-19 Schedule Disruptions (04/07/2020) – Registered air commuters may continue to utilize other airline (OAL) carriers to satisfy the “two consecutive scheduled flights from the registered air commuter’s designated registered commuter city to the domicile/co-terminal” requirement in the Commuter Policy.
JCBA §10.Z Personal Drops During COVID-19 Schedule Disruptions (04/14/2020) – Personal Drop(s) will continue to be administered two days prior to the day requested to be dropped rather than one day prior.
COVID-19 Schedule Changes (04/17/2020) – Re-times, flight routing changes and other schedule changes that occur in advance of the day of departure of a sequence will continue to be treated just like pre-cancellations with the exception of §10.S.1.c. Continue to email Crew Scheduling up until the day prior if you wish to drop a pre-cancellation without pay protection, and wait to call Crew Scheduling regarding pre-cancellations until the day prior.

Reference: COVID-19 Agreements Extension June 2020 Letter of Agreement (05/29/2020 – 06/30/2020)

Life Insurance Coverage While on a Staffing Adjustment Leave

Master Executive Council

Some of you who took a COVID-19 Staffing Adjustment Leave (SAL) were extremely surprised and angered to learn that your life insurance coverage may have terminated while on leave. Apparently, your Company-sponsored life insurance is cancelled after the first partial or full bid month on a COVID-19 SAL.

This MEC was also surprised to learn that cancellation of coverage has evidently always occurred while on SALs. We confirmed that a reference to this has been in the Alaska Airlines Employee Benefits Handbook for Flight Attendants (AAG SSO required) for many years. Regardless, Inflight management agrees that the disclosure was not included in the original leave materials and related Q&A. Consequently, management is offering a one-time opportunity for Flight Attendants to change their minds and cancel their SAL for July and beyond.

Flight Attendants must email Inflight Crew Planning no later than 11:59 PM PT on Tuesday, June 2 in order to cancel their SAL for July and beyond and bid for the month of July.
Flight Attendants who decide to stay out on a SAL may find useful information regarding life insurance portability and conversion options by clicking here (AAG SSO required).

As your direct representative on the MEC, your LEC president is available to answer questions or concerns that you may have about the information above. Contact information for your respective LEC president can be found by clicking here.

Council 35 News – April 2020

April 30, 2020 19:32

Pick up Your Fabric Masks in SFO

Flight Attendants interested in wearing the Alaska issued fabric mask may now pick them up in the SFO Village. Distribution of masks occur in the SFO Village by supervisors from 0500-1500 daily and after hours by CSA supervisors. Flight Attendants will receive two (2) masks each and must sign for them; you may also email the SFO supervisors to coordinate pick-up through V-file. You may also wear their own fabric masks provided they are neutral in color and without any pattern. AFA continues to advocate that passengers be required to wear masks, so stay tuned for more updates on the progress of this requirement.

Reserve Buddy

New to reserve? Not sure how it works? The SFO Reserve Committee has opened up the Reserve Buddy system to provide support to Flight Attendants finding themselves on reserve again, or on reserve for the first time under the current JCBA. If you would like to request a Reserve Buddy, who can help you navigate reserve life, please complete the form below.

Reserve Resources:

Leave Updates

Over 3,000 Flight Attendants are on some version of leave as of today’s publication. Management has indicated that this will continue for the next several months, so it is recommended that FAs continue to monitor company emails and bulletins for more information regarding future leaves. For June, leaves will be offered in 30, 60 and 90 day increments. For more information about the leaves being offered, please visit the Alaska AFA Leaves page on Alaskasworld.

New June Bidding Timeline

Similar to the May bid timeline shift, June’s bid will be delayed by one week. The new June bidding timeline, including the SAL/LBO bidding, is shown below. As a reminder, the SAL/LBO bidding is completed through Alaskasworld:

Staffing Adjustment Leave/LBO Bidding Timeline (Inflight Page):

4/30/20: June SAL/LBO bidding begins 0900
5/07/20: June SAL/LBO bidding ends 1500

June 2020 Schedule Bidding Timeline SFO (NavBlue):

5/12/20: June bid opens 0900
5/17/20: June bid closes 0900
5/20/20: June bid awards published 0900
5/20/20: June bid protest opens 0900
5/21/20: June bid protest closes 0900
5/21/20: June final award
5/21/20: 5-day trading unlocked 1700
5/22/20: SFO FA to FA trading 0900
5/23/20: SFO open time 0900

EAP and Other Resources

Flight Attendants in need of support during these unpredictable times are encouraged to reach out to the SFO EAP Committee and available resources for support. AFA has a coordinated many resources and groups to provide assistance and guidance to members in need. Additionally, Alaska Airlines provides employees with Active Support, which offers free confidential counseling to employees facing a variety of personal challenges.

California Resources

For Flight Attendants on leave that plan on applying for California Unemployment Insurance, please reference the April 25 communication regarding California state resources

How do I contact Council 35 Officers?

The best way to contact Council 35 officers is via email using a personal email account. The preferred methods of contact are:

sfo@afaalaska.org (this is the group contact for all officers-if one officer is flying /unavailable the 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).

Fly safe and stay healthy!

In solidarity,

Melissa, Aladrian, James, and Brad

AFA Update – April 20, 2020

April 20, 2020 12:00

In This Edition

Flight Attendant Addiction Support (FAAS) Program
Cornerstone App Replacement
Vacation While on a Staffing Adjustment Leave of Absence
AFA EAP Support Services – Week of April 20
Union Plus – Bachelor’s Degree Completion Program

Flight Attendant Addiction Support (FAAS) Program

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)/Professional Standards Committee

The Flight Attendant Addiction Support Program (FAAS) is a program that allows Flight Attendants who deal with substance use problems and dependency the ability to obtain appropriate treatment without the threat of automatic termination. The program is several years in the making and has been a joint effort between AFA Alaska EAP, AFA International EAP, and Alaska Airlines management. The FAAS Program became available for use as of March 1, 2020 and is available to all non-probationary Flight Attendants.

Under the FAAS Program, there are three pathways for seeking support and treatment:

Proactive Self-Referral
Proactive Self-Disclosure/Reactive Self-Referral
Violation of DOT regulations or Company Drug and Alcohol policy

More information about these pathways, conditions for participation, effect on employment status, options for payment of treatment, and recovery support can be found in the FAAS Program Manual. You can access the manual on the Inflight website under Administration > FA Addiction Support Program > FAAS Program Manual or on the IMD in GoodReader > ASFASupplemental > FAAS Program.

Note: The MEC would like to thank MEC EAP Committee Chairperson Elizabeth Dillon, Vice Chairperson Jeanne McCleave, and SAN LEC Vice President/EAP Committee Chairperson Melanie Buker for their enduring efforts in seeing this program through to realization.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the FAAS Program, please contact your Local EAP Committee.

Cornerstone App Replacement

Inflight Training Committee

On March 30, management announced that the Cornerstone app would be replaced with the new Cornerstone Learn app. The replacement of the Cornerstone app is a welcome announcement given the ongoing technical issues and challenges that the app has presented to our Flight Attendants. Management has indicated that the new Cornerstone Learn app has greater reliability than the legacy Cornerstone app and should be easier for Flight Attendants to use. Though AFA representatives have had the opportunity to briefly test the new app, there were several technical issues identified and we are skeptical that the new platform will resolve all of the outstanding issues that Flight Attendants experienced with the old app.

Sync Your Training Before April 30

In bulletin #2020-0024 (AAG sign-on required), published on March 30, management provided notification that the legacy Cornerstone app will no longer be supported after April 30. If you have started or completed any training using the download feature in the legacy Cornerstone app, you must ensure that you sync the Cornerstone app on your IMD so that your progress is transferred to the new Cornerstone Learn platform. You can find more information about how to sync in the bulletin under the “New Mobile Learning App” heading.

Questions?

If you have questions about the new Cornerstone Learn app or how to ensure that your training is synced in preparation for the transition, please contact Inflight Training management directly at inflight.training@alaskaair.com.

Vacation While on a Staffing Adjustment Leave of Absence

Master Executive Council (MEC)

If you’re taking an upcoming staffing leave of absence and have vacation days that are scheduled during your leave, those vacation days will be removed from your roster and replaced with the coding for your leave of absence. The MEC would like to ensure that you are aware of the options that you have to either move or be paid out for your vacation days, which are as follows:

Trade Your Days With Vacation Open Time. Identify available days in vacation open time and email F/A Crew Pay (fa.crewpay@alaskaair.com) to let them know the days that you’d like to trade into. F/A Crew Pay will process the change. Vacation open time can be viewed on the Inflight website under Schedule & Bidding > Vacation Trading > Vacation Open Time. The calendar will display the number of open slots on each day for your base.
Request That Your Vacation Be Paid Out Now. If you would like your vacation to be paid out now, complete and submit a Vacation Payout Form. The form is located on the Inflight website under Administration > Pay & Benefits > Vacation Payout Form. As long as the form is submitted 7 or more days prior to pay day, your vacation will be paid out on your next available check.
Do Nothing and Be Paid Out Later. If you do not trade your vacation days or request that they be paid out now, they will be paid out automatically on February 5, 2021.

Questions?

If you have questions about any of the above options or need assistance, please contact your LEC Officers.

AFA EAP Support Services – Week of April 20

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)/Professional Standards Committee

AFA EAP has put together several resources to help Flight Attendants manage their personal mental health and wellness during the COVID-19 outbreak. All services are available in either a telephone or online format. For a complete list of support services being offered, schedules for the week of April 20, and access information, please click here.

Questions?

If you have any questions about available EAP support services, please contact your Local EAP Committee.

Union Plus – Bachelor’s Degree Completion Program

AFA International

Because of the current economic and health uncertainty facing many union members, students who enroll in the Union Plus Bachelor’s Degree Completion Program, in partnership with Central State University, in the summer 2020 term will complete their entire degree for free.

There will be no out-of-pocket cost for tuition, fees, or e-books until graduation, not just the summer term. Students may enroll part-time, but continuous enrollment is required. Students must complete the FAFSA and the financial aid process.

Summer classes begin May 18, 2020.

Unemployed, furloughed or laid off union members and their extended families are still eligible to enroll in the Bachelor’s Degree Completion Program.

Questions?

You can learn more by calling 888-897-9671 or get started online at https://bachelorsdegree.unionplus.org.

AFA Update – May 29, 2020

In This Edition

AFA President Sara Nelson Statement on Justice for George Floyd, Attacks on Protesters and Press

AFA Board of Directors Special Meeting – May 20, 2020