Dear AFA Recording: Jan 09, 2015

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  • Known Crewmember (KCM) Policy Enhancements –Effective January 13
  • News Report on HKG Flight Attendants
  • Local Meetings and Winter Regular Scheduled MEC Meeting: January 27-29
  • Semi-Annual System Seniority List Posted
  • Payroll Consolidation Update
  • Reminder: Contact AFA for all Irregular Safety Events
  • Industry Update: Silver Airways Flight Attendants Join AFA
  • Joint Negotiations Continue in Houston Next Week

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to Dear AFA. We are a democratic, Member driven Union of Flight Attendants for Flight Attendants. Today is Friday, January 9, 2015 and this is Washington D.C. Council 21 Volunteer and United Master Executive Council Communication Committee Chairperson Jeffrey Tonjes reporting.

Known Crewmember (KCM) Policy Enhancements –Effective January 13
Beginning on January 13, 2015, Flight Attendants will have the option to transit through the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Known Crew Member (KCM) checkpoint not in uniform.  When entering the KCM checkpoint area all crew members must be active, have a valid airline badge and a government ID.  All parameters of the KCM program still apply with this policy enhancement and can be reviewed on our website.

Please remember ALL crew members transiting through a KCM portal are subject to random screening, either at the KCM or through a passenger screening check point. The following are more specifics regarding the random screenings process and the Liquid, Gel and Aerosol (LGA) requirements for crew members transiting KCM checkpoint in and out of uniform.

Uniformed Crew Members

  • Uniformed crew members will continue to have Liquid, Gel and Aerosol exemption at the passenger screening checkpoint and the KCM access point.

Non-uniformed Crew Members
Non-Uniformed crew members who are selected and receive random screening:

  • at the KCM access point
    • Will continue to have their Liquid, Gel and Aerosol exemption.
  • at a passenger screening checkpoint (standard lane or employee, lane where available)
    • WILL NOT be allowed the Liquid, Gel and Aerosol exemption.  They are not permitted to utilize the TSA Pre Check lanes and do not have front of the line access to the standard passenger screening lane.  (Note: Crew members not in uniform are considered passengers when screened at any passenger screening checkpoints and will be subject to passenger screening standards.)

Please ensure that you understand all KCM regulations, so that you don't inadvertently violate these security restrictions.  We do not want the actions of a few to jeopardize KCM enjoyed by working crew members.

News Report on HKG Flight Attendants
Recently you may have seen media reports of the thirteen HKG Flight Attendants who have been terminated. The Union represents all Members through the provisions of our Collect Bargaining Agreement.  Their cases have been appealed to the System Board of Adjustment. All cases involving individual Flight Attendants are confidential to protect the affected Flight Attendant and their case.

Local Meetings and Winter Regular Scheduled MEC Meeting: January 27-29
The Winter Regular Schedule Meeting of the United Master Executive Council will take place during the week of January 27, 2015 at the Hyatt Rosemont in Chicago. Your Local Council President, joined by the 14 other Local Council Presidents from around our system, will address the business of our Union and the issues that are important to you.

We encourage Members to witness our democratic process by attending their Local Council meetings and the MEC meeting, if you are in the Chicago area.  Scheduled times for your Local Council's meeting and the MEC agenda are posted on our website.

Semi-Annual System Seniority List Posted
This week, United posted our Contractual semi-annual Flight Attendant System Seniority List; consistent with the requirements of Section 17.C. of our Contract.  The list is posted in all domiciles and on the company’s Flying Together website.

Our Contract provides for a review period of a maximum of thirty (30) days from the date of the announcement is made that the list is available for Flight Attendants perusal in which to protest any alleged omission or error affecting your seniority. The review period for Flight Attendants who are on vacation, leave of absence or sick leave must be completed within thirty (30) days of returning to flight duty.

If you have any questions please contact your Local Council.

Payroll Consolidation Update
On December 18, 2014 United provided an update on their payroll consolidation project.  They have announced that there will be some changes to payroll in 2015 for the premerger United Flight Attendants.  One of those changes includes, on February 13th, 2015, United will start issuing a single mid-month paycheck, and will no longer issue separate checks for per diem and duty free payments. (Note:  February 16th is a U.S. banking (Presidents’ Day) holiday.  As a result, our pay will be available to us on the business day immediately preceding the holiday.)

For those of us who have a banking relationship with the Alliant Credit Union, we want to remind you that any ACH transfers you may have set up through Payroll are currently being applied  & deducted from each payroll check that is issued by the company.  If you’ve made adjustments to your ACH transfers to accommodate these multiple deductions, we recommend that you review these instructions to ensure any changes are in place no later than the first week of February.  Contact Alliant at 1 800 328 1935 if you have additional questions.

Other changes to our paychecks include:

  • Charitable Deductions – Beginning in 2015 Truist, the third party that processes our charitable deductions, will be closed to any new enrollments. Any new charitable deduction enrollments will take place through the My Info section of United’s Flying Together.  There will be no disruption or interruption for anyone who already has a current charity managed by Trust.  Starting in 2015 the options to enroll for a charity through payroll deduction will be limited to four (4) United “charities”; United Scholarship Fund, March of Dimes, United We Care, and United Way.
  • Absence Balances – in an effort to ensure Flight Attendants are receiving the correct sick hour and vacation balances, United will remove these balances from the bottom of our pay advice.  Consistent with the language in Section 19.A.6. of our Contract, United will be making the current sick leave and vacation accrual balances available by moving these to Flying Together and making them available in real time.  The balances will be available on Flying Together starting December 22, 2014.   You can view your Absence Balances from the My Info page of the Employee Services section of the company’s website under the topic of “Payroll.” 

If you have any additional questions you can email the company at PayrollConsolidation@united.com or view the support documents on Flying Together > Employee Services > My Info > Payroll > Payroll Consolidation Support Info. 

Reminder: Contact AFA for all Irregular Safety Events
As First Responders and Safety Professionals we are always aware of the events happening around us; however, after performing our safety role we may forget one important step, we still need to let the Union know what is transpiring.  AFA is your advocate during any irregular safety events.  Some of those events may be: 

  • Diversions
  • Unusual aircraft specific events
  • Unusual Country specific events
  • Emergency Landings
  • Inadvertent Slide Deployments (ISD)
  • Missing Crewmembers
  • Inflight Debrief or Debrief with Management

After you are involved in one of these situations or when you become aware of the situation, we remind you to contact your AFA Local Council and leave a message if need be.  If you are unable to reach your Local Council the United MEC Safety Health and Security Committee is available at (847) 292-7170 ext. 521/533 but only after all local avenues have been exhausted. 

We recommend you add your Local Council contact information to your phone or it is available on our AFA Mobile App.

Industry Update: Silver Airways Flight Attendants Join AFA
Yesterday, the Flight Attendants at Silver Airways cast an overwhelming number of votes to join the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) as their Union representation.  They will begin working toward an industry-leading Contract with the help of AFA’s professional negotiators.  “Together, we’ll continue to improve the working environments and safety standards for all aviation’s first responders.” Said AFA International President Sara Nelson.  Please join us in congratulating our newest Members at Silver Airways.

To view AFA’s official press release please visit our website.

Joint Negotiations Continue in Houston Next Week
Joint Negotiations with management and the National Mediation Board (NMB) will continue in Houston next week. The Joint Negotiations Committee (JNC) released an update today on their meeting with the National Mediation Board (NMB) that can be found on the OurUnited website at OurUnited.org.
 

To receive the most up-to-date information regarding Joint Negotiations sign up for the OurUnited Newsletter at OurUnited.org

That’s all for tonight and thank you for calling.

 

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