AFA Horizon

Council Newsletter, Apr 2024

AFA Horizon – Council 16 Newsletter (BOI, PAE, SEA, GEG)

In case you missed it, check out the last newsletter

Trans Day of Visibility
Each year on March 31, we honor International Transgender Day of Visibility! We celebrate the joy and resilience of trans and non-binary people everywhere by elevating voices and experiences from these communities.

While the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has made significant progress in recent years, with more visibility than ever before, they are still fighting for basic human rights for this community. This community is experiencing significant political attacks by extremists legislating hate in the states and in Congress. They also face an ongoing epidemic of fatal violence, especially against Black and Brown trans women.

Today and every day, we must celebrate all trans and non-binary people everywhere and combat disinformation, discrimination and hate impacting our communities.

Vacancy Bid- SEA & GEG
Per the CBA, management is opening a vacancy bid, to allow you to bid to transfer to SEA or GEG before determining new hire base assignments.  There is a need for 11 Flight Attendants in SEA and 12 in GEG.

If you are interested in having SEA or GEG as your new domicile starting in JUN24 bid, fill out the Vacancy Domicile Transfer Request form in Comply365.  

Vacancy bidding opened today, April 1st, and closes on April 4, 2024, at 09:00 (pacific).

New Committee Reps
You’ll notice that our Union’s structure starts with YOU. You elect your local officers (President, Vice President, and Secretary) and these Officers appoint Committee Chairs/Reps. The Officers, Chairs, and Reps are your peers and Horizon Flight Attendants. The Committee Chairs/Reps are the subject matter experts for the committee they serve on and are the people you go to when you have a question, when you need some assistance, or when you want to suggest change. View Council 16 Committee roster.

While there may be issues in your base that are unique to your location, we all work under one contract, and we must work together to protect and improve it. Your Council 16 Committees meet to discuss the committee’s ongoing work representing your interests. The Committees also meet with management to receive updates and discuss issues and problems Flight Attendants face.

Please welcome the following new Committee Reps:

Kim VanWormer (SEA)
EAP

Lane Walthers (SEA)
Hotel

Jeff Kelso (PAE)
Inflight Service

Aaron Lucich (GEG)
ASHS, Scheduling, and
GEG Base Rep

Pam Powell (BOI)
BOI Base Rep

Jared Wright (SEA)
Reserve

If you are interested in joining a committee, contact the committee’s chairperson or Council Officers. Mobilization Committee: The search has now begun for those interested in volunteering on the Mobilization committee. If interested, please review the committee description and contact Council Officers for more information.

Scheduling update, April 2024
Your Council 16 Scheduling Committee meets monthly with the MEC Scheduling Chair & Crew Planning Liaison to discuss the ongoing work representing your interests in line holder schedules and raise your concerns about how the pairings were built that month. The Committee also meets with management quarterly to receive updates and discuss issues and problems Flight Attendants face with scheduling, pairings, and bidding. Representing you at these meetings are Miria Davis (BOI), Heather Coleman (PAE), Vacant (SEA), Aaron Lucich & Shannon Powell (GEG), and Joshua Haimes (Chair).

The committee has long heard from you that pairings are not being built to your satisfaction. In general, you want high credit pairings (5+ credits a day avg.), limited/no sits over 2 hours, overnights of 12 hours or greater, no overnights in another base, and better distribution of pairing lengths (base specific). Continue to let your bases scheduling rep(s) know how satisfied you are with the pairings, and any issues faced with scheduling, pairings, and bidding.

April 2024 pairing build

Pairing stats: Green = Base is satisfied. Red = Base wants fewer pairings matching that filter
Length distribution: Green = Base is satisfied. Red = Base wants more pairings of this length

Council Chat, April 16

Council Officers want to hear from YOU! Join them on April 16 at 16:00. Moving forward this council chat will be held monthly on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, time is subject to change.

Please join us on Google Meet.
Join by phone – 1 (401) 375-9299‬ PIN: ‪380 261 809‬#.


Turbulence and Inflight Service
As we head into the summer months we will begin experiencing increased turbulence especially landing in warm weather destinations. Turbulence can be expected on warm summer days when the sun heats the earth’s surface unevenly. Certain surfaces, such as barren ground, and rocky & sandy areas, are heated more rapidly than grass-covered fields and much more rapidly than water.

Please continue to report all concerns regarding turbulence and inflight service levels.  Interrupted service reports can be submitted in B2B via ‘Catering and Service Feedback’, or in Report It! via ‘Service Interruption’.  Turbulence reports can be submitted in B2B via ‘Other’ or ‘Safety Hazard Report’.  

Negotiations Session 4
Your AFA Negotiations Committee met with management for Negotiation Session 4 on Feb. 5-7. Representing you at the table were Committee Members- Heather Coleman & Lexie Massey, MEC President- Lisa Davis Warren, AFA Staff Attorney & Negotiator- Kimberley Chaput, MEC Scheduling Chair- Claire Michaels, and MEC Reserve Chair- Jamie Moore.

The Committee met with Vice President Station Ops & Inflight- Shelly Parker, Manager Inflight Labor & Performance- William Casalins Altamar, Director Finance- Amber Hopkins, Senior Corporate Counsel, Alaska Legal- Latrice Lee, and Seyfarth Shaw LLP Partner, Labor & Employment- Molly Gabel.

During this session, the parties opened discussions on Articles 5 and 6.  There were no tentative agreements reached during this session.

  • Article 5: Hours of Service – The committee proposed increases to rest periods and decreases in duty periods (scheduled and rescheduled). Management wants to keep these where they are currently. The parties codified the practice of giving new hires eight (8) golden days if they complete new hire training by June 30, and four (4) if they complete training on or after July 1. We are working on ways to regulate the use of golden days when the Flight Attendant will be working only a few days in a month. This mostly happens when a Flight Attendant has an Alaska training date within the first ten days of the month or is going out on a leave of absence. If there are not enough days of work, and too many golden days, PBS is unable to build a legal line. The committee wants to ensure that the remaining Flight Attendants are not, in turn, awarded inferior lines due to the current restrictions in PBS. The parties did agree to move all pre-bidding due dates to the 26th of the previous month (e.g., training bids, golden days, PDOs, etc). This will make it easier for Flight Attendants to remember the due dates while giving management a little more time for processing. The parties are also working on adjusting release time when deplaning takes longer than expected. Finally, management proposed increasing the minimum sick call out time from one hour before departure to two hours, which would match the reserve call-out period. The committee will respond to managements last proposal at our next session.
  • Article 6: Crew Scheduling – Management gave the committee its opening proposal, and the committee responded. Unfortunately, it appears that the parties have some pretty significant differences in proposals, but the committee will not really know the extent of that until management responds.
    – SAP. Management only asked for a few items, but they were pretty significant. They want to retire the SAP settlement, which currently pays 12 credits to each Flight Attendant in some circumstances when SAP does not work properly. They did not propose anything to replace this settlement. Additionally, they want to make Independence Day a SAP blackout day, while removing Veteran’s Day from the list of SAP blackout days. The committee proposed allowing Flight Attendants to drop to minimum guarantee in SAP; increasing the credits that would be in SAP when it opens; eliminating the ban on trading transition trips in SAP; and ending SAP blackout days.
    – Rescheduling. Management also wants the ability to reschedule Flight Attendants any time after 1400 the day before the trip. Currently, Flight Attendants can only be rescheduled after check-in for the first day of the trip, and then after report on subsequent days of the trip. They cannot hold flying until after you check in. This is a significant change that gives them a lot more flexibility while increasing your chances of being rescheduled. The committee proposed that “greater of” pay include any applicable premium or holiday pay attached to the original or new trip. The committee did not propose any other changes.
    – Trading. Management proposed decreasing the maximum duty period for base turns from 14 hours to 12. We understand that a 14-hour duty period does not allow for much flexibility of things don’t go precisely to plan, but we also want to make sure base turns remain a viable option for Flight Attendants. They also want to reduce the current unlimited right to split a trip with Open Time—if you are using day-at-a-time vacation, you would be limited to one split. Finally, management wanted to revert back to considering calendar days rather than duty periods for trades with open time. The committee rejected the first two of management’s proposals. We did not counter on the limitation on splitting trips, but we did propose limiting base turn duty periods to one hour less than maximum duty period (currently 14, though we propose reducing that to 12, so the final outcome remains unsettled).
    – Other. The committee also proposed requiring a minimum percentage of maximum and minimum credit lines; creating a better mix of trip lengths; limiting the number of lines that could contain coverage awards; and increasing trading flexibility. Management will respond at our next meeting.

Next Session
The most recent session was held last week, March 26th-28th. This was another critical session, as the committee was to respond to Articles 5 and 6, and management anticipated making its first proposal on Article 7 (Reserve).

Council status report

If you have an unresolved outstanding balance pay online.  Flight Attendants who have taken any unpaid leaves, including CLOA, union dues must be paid manually. If you happen to find yourself in an arrears situation and do not know the amount owing or have any questions regarding what months you owe, please contact Council leadership.  We are here to help!

Know your Contract

  • “AM and PM Reserves must be available for contact and assignment during their designated reserve period.”
  • “An off-duty Flight Attendant is not required to answer or return the call.”

Until the next check-in, fly safe!

“Stronger Together, Better Together”