Council Newsletter, Aug 2024

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

In case you missed it, check out the last newsletter.

New Council Website
Welcome to the new Local Council 16 web page.  This page was created through 'Union Hall' a web development program underwritten by CWA and provided by AFA International.  We believe you will find this page useful in getting the facts from your committee members and Local Council 16 leadership.  Check back for the latest news that is specific to our four domiciles (BOI, PAE, SEA, GEG), as well as other AFA Horizon news.  You can find great information about Our Union and AFA structure, Council Officers and Committees contact info, the CBA, and can Report issues.

New support site

In order to streamline support requests and better serve you, we have transitioned to a new support ticket system.  Use the support site to report tickets about General issues, Grievances, Reserve, & Scheduling.  Every support request is assigned a unique ticket number which you can use to track the progress and responses online.  For your reference, we provide complete archives and history of all your support requests. A valid email address is required to submit a ticket.  You can access the support site via the council website.

Reduced credit bids & Vacation stand-by
Each time management informs your local leaders that they may need to offer CLOAs in a LEC16 base(s), they raise the same mitigations: (1) Award all vacation stand-by slots, and (2) Award all reduced credit bids.  For the Sept24 bid, LEC16 has approved an increase in reduced credit lines in some Council 16 bases above the contractually allowed maximum of 15% (6.N.1.b).  The decision to allow more than 15% of all scheduled bidlines at a domicile to be reduced-credit lines, is because doing so can reduce, or eliminate, the number of leaves of absence (CLOA) offered by the Company solely for the purpose of reducing excess staffing. 

Council leadership encourages all Flight Attendants who want reduced credit or vacation to bid for it!  They understand that in certain bases, under normal circumstances, it's highly unlikely for most to have these requests honored, however, you never know when you may have your request honored for one reason or another.  Your Local Officers have been hearing your preferences regarding wanting fewer CLOAs and more reduced credit.  Thank you for using your voice!  We hear you and have advocated for you.

Council Chat, Aug 20
Council Officers want to hear from YOU! This month’s chat will be held on August 20th at 16:00. The September 17th council chat will focus on NavBlue and bidding.  

This council chat is held 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#.

Scheduling Report, Sept 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, limited 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.

September 2024 Pairing Build

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!

Negotiations session 9
Your AFA Negotiations Committee met with management for Negotiation Session 9 on July 1-3. Representing you at the table were Committee Members- Heather Coleman & Lexie Massey, MEC President- Lisa Davis-Warren, AFA Staff Attorney & Negotiator- Kimberley Chaput.

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

This was, at best, a frustrating session. The parties passed proposals on Article 11 (Vacation), Article 14 (Leaves of Absence), and Article 25 (General). Movement was minimal, leading to deadlock. 

In the midst of this, the Alaska tentative agreement came out. While Alaska Flight Attendants may not be happy with it—we won’t know until the votes are counted in August—the fact remains that the wages and other gains in that agreement far surpass what we currently have at Horizon. We received their usual spiel when we brought this to management’s attention. Capsule version: We love and appreciate Flight Attendants, but we are a regional airline and need to compete with other regionals. When asked why the system could not be changed, they responded that they didn’t wish to “be the catalyst” for such systemic change.

Management also told us that they had “given” a lot at the table already and expected to do some “taking” as well. This prompted the AFA Committee to compile a list of “improvements” to which we have agreed.  It’s…sad. After nine negotiating sessions, starting in November 2023, here is what they’ve agreed to:

Article 4, including Sideletter 7

• Management will not book Flight Attendants into hotels with striking workers
• Flight Attendant may request to move to a different hotel if a hotel situation will cause inadequate rest
• Minimum hotel standards apply to TDY
• Transportation identified as commercial on the exterior of the car
• $15 for delivery fees for food if one or no restaurant near the crew hotel
• Hotel rates provided to AFA during the RFP process

Article 5

• Golden days for new hires (current practice, but not in contract)
• Proration of golden days during the last (less than full) month of employment
• Release time adjusted if deplaning more than 15 minutes

Article 6

• Drop one trip in 24 hours of Open Time opening, no 7-day limit
• Reduced credit must be at least 5%, no exception

Article 8

• Training hotels will have slightly different minimum standards (currently, the Minimum Hotel Standards do not apply at all)

Article 12

• Lunch bag, upon requesst, available in initial uniform
• $50 per year allowance for bags (other than day bag and suitcase)

Article 13

• Probationary period reduced from 210 to 180 days 

Article 14

• Sick leave/vacation to make up difference STD/LTD

Article 25

• AFA agreement required on substantive changes to FADAP
• Pumping/feeding facilities in all domiciles 

Article 26

• Trip dropped with Premium Pay for active shooter and/or if a Flight Attendant must seek shelter
• Safety training and compensation for AFA reps

These are good things, of course, but there should be a much longer list after nine months! Management has stated that they want to put all the money in our wages, but many, many other important issues remain unresolved—sick and vacation accruals, benefits, retirement, scheduling, reserve, and per diem, to name a few.

We will discuss scheduling and reserve during our next session. After that, it’s time to talk money!  We do the same work (often with more flights and longer days) as our mainline counterparts for way less money. This needs to end.  The next session is scheduled for August 13-15. Until then, remember that we are "Stronger Together, Better Together!".

Until the next check-in, fly safe!

"Stronger Together, Better Together"