3.08.18 – BOD Convention, Reserve Roundtable, EC Meeting, Reserve Flight Attendants, Mtgs with FSM

 

APFA BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONVENTION

The annual Board of Directors convention was held last week in CLT. It was a very long, yet productive week. I would like to thank all the members that attended to support their Union as well as participate in the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting will be sent out in accordance with the APFA Policy Manual. I would like to touch on one topic that was debated very heavily: the creation of a Reserve Chair/Committee. This has been on the radar for quite some time. This is something the Board does feel very strongly about, however there are many logistics that we have to sit down and discuss.

We need to come to a consensus on how we want this to look. Will this position be a Department Chair at headquarters, with a full time position?  Will this be more like sub-committees at the bases reporting to the Contract/Scheduling Chairs?  Will this be more of a specialist position, like the retirement, EAP, and PBS positions? What type of budget are we going to need? These are just a few of the things that have to be thoroughly vetted before we can actually put this into effect.

I am very much committed to finding a path forward to make this happen, but we also need to do it right the first time. We will be continuing the dialogue to put this in motion. We had very good feedback from the CLT based Reserves in attendance. Please give us the time we need to vet this and figure out how we want it to look and how this position can best serve our membership.

RESERVE ROUNDTABLE

As we have done every year for the last five years, we will be hosting a Reserve roundtable event. We have invited APFA Contract Chair Paul Hartshorn and APFA Scheduling Chair Renee Mayer, and both have accepted the invite. We are waiting to hear back if any members of the Joint Scheduling Implementation Committee (JSIC) can attend and speak to changes to Reserve that will be coming at FOI.

The roundtable event will be held:

Monday April 16^th
11am-2pm
PHL Tour Room
Located between concourses C & D

 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

The 1Q18 EC meeting will be held at APFA Headquarters in Euless, TX on April 5th and 6th beginning at 9am.

 

RESERVE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS

We are starting to see a high number of Flight Attendants being given No Contacts (NCTs) from Crew Scheduling. If you are using a cell phone as your primary contact, make sure you have a good charge on your battery and good cellular service in your home. It is also a good idea to make sure Scheduling has the correct contact info for you in your primary, secondary, and beeper fields in your contact screen. This can only be done via Crew Scheduling or your Flight Service Manager (FSM).

A NCT is a dependability infraction. It will remain on your attendance record for one year. Crew Scheduling has been known to make mistakes, so if you are given a No Contact that you believe is invalid, please call or email us immediately with the date and time so we can have it investigated and removed from your record.

MEETINGS WITH YOUR FLIGHT SERVICE MANAGER

We continue to see a rise in the number of meeting requests for various reasons. If you are contacted by your FSM for any reason, you are entitled to Union representation. Many Flight Attendants are speaking with the Company over the phone and clearly not understanding the conversation. These conversations range from dependability/attendance, passenger concern letters, late to the aircraft, delays charged to the Flight Attendants, and many other issues.

We are getting calls wanting us to “un-ring the bell” after Union representation has been declined, especially if discipline has been issued. We realize our lives are busy, and it is sometimes much easier to have a conversation on the phone than to take the time to set up a meeting; however, this is your work record, and we cannot care about it more than you do.

If you are called or notified by your FSM that they would like to discuss an issue with you, please exercise your right of representation. Please call us to set up a meeting. The Union office is not on the property, so we do need advance notice. Our office number is 215-492-0840.

Kim Kaswinkel
APFA PHL Base President
prphl@apfa.org