Council Newsletter, May 2025

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

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

Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month
AFA is proud to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage month in May, an annual national observance celebrating the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States.

Our union is proud to highlight our diversity on the line with our AFA AAPI pin.

2025 Election Notice

POSITIONS TO BE ELECTED: LEC President, LEC Vice President, LEC Secretary.

ELECTION SCHEDULE: 

• Voting Notice & Instructions will be mailed: May 2, 2025 - This notice provides your personal one-time use activation code which allows a member to access the ballot and cast their vote and a list of nominated candidates running for each LEC Officer position. 
• POLLS OPEN: May 07, 2025, 12 PM ET* - Polls open and voting begins
• POLLS CLOSE: May 21, 2025,  2  PM ET* - The Ballot Certification Committee certifies the results, notifies the successful candidates and posts the results on this page. 

*Please note that all times are Eastern Time

Mobilization training (online)
There will be an online Mobilization training event for all Flight Attendant who were unable to attend the in-person events that were previously held in SEA & PDX. Please  register no later than 48 hours in advance of the training using this link. The agenda is below for your reference.  

Peer Support Group

Meetings with management
AFA has learned that Horizon Air management has been issuing discipline to Flight Attendants without providing the individual Flight Attendant an opportunity to meet and confer and/or secure Union representation prior to issuing discipline.

You have the right to be represented in ANY meeting with management which may lead to discipline, whether or not discipline is issued in that meeting!  Furthermore, you have the right to a reasonable delay of a meeting, including the right to a delay once a meeting has started, so that you may secure Union representation.  

If you get an email or voicemail informing you that there will be a meeting or that you have already been disciplined, let the company know that you want a meeting in which your AFA representative will be present.  The meeting can be live, via a teleconference or via a virtual streaming service such as Teams or Zoom.

Do NOT go unrepresented.  Protect your record and your job! Call a Local Officer or a member of your Local Grievance Committee immediately. Please refer to our contact information on our website.

Scheduling Report, May & June
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. 

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.

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 update, Session 13
Your AFA Negotiations Committee met with management for Negotiation Session 13 on April 16-17. 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, Financial Analyst- Mark Schuck, and Senior Corporate Counsel, Alaska Legal- Latrice Lee.

Although we have applied for mediation, our mediator, Mike Kelliher, cannot meet with us until June. He encouraged the parties to negotiate without him for now. We wanted to save the significant economic issues until he could be present, so we discussed some of the articles with just a few open issues remaining.

The parties reached tentative agreements on three articles. The parties still have a ways to go before we reach a complete contract, but this was a good start at addressing some smaller issues.

Seniority (Article 13) - We reduced the probationary period from 210 days to an industry-standard 180 days. It can still be extended by 35 days if needed. We also maintained our current language on the computation of Company Seniority. The Company has consistently stated that it wants to remove all “me-too” provisions from our contract. We prevailed and kept our language that we cannot have our Company seniority calculated less favorably than any other work group.

Grievance Procedures and System Board of Adjustment (Article 23) - We did not make significant changes other than increasing the time for the Company to respond to grievances by seven days. We went back and forth on several other issues, including setting a finite limit on the length of disciplinary investigations. Management was unwilling to commit to that and began dragging in unrelated items. We knew we were not getting anywhere, so we returned to our current contract language.

Safety, Health and Security (Article 26) - The only remaining open issue involved being removed from a trip after assisting with life-saving medical emergencies. We had a grievance on this issue and wanted to clarify the language further to prevent further misunderstandings. Management wanted to limit the scope of the language by calling out specific actions that would qualify as lifesaving. AFA had concerns about this, and we could not get management to agree to any language. Consequently, we decided to keep our current language, which was better than management’s proposals.

While these issues are relatively small, it was still a productive session. We are clearing the path to the big issues—money, scheduling, and quality of life. We will meet with the mediator from June 23 to 25 at the NMB office in Chicago. We are aware of the challenges ahead of us, but we remain steadfast in our determination to get the contract we deserve. 

As always, there will be an update after our the next session. In the meantime, wear your AFA pins.

Until the next check-in, fly safe!

"Stronger Together, Better Together"