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Greetings,
MEC Grievance Update November
2008 By: Debora Sutor - MEC Grievance Chair
New MEC Grievances Filed 22-99-2-60-08 Crew Scheduling's Failure to Process Flight
Attendant Initiated Schedule Adjustments in a Timely
Manner: This grievance was filed on October 10, 2008 following
several instances in which the Swaps/Drops Department failed to
even process Flight Attendant requests for drops, OT pick up,
TTOT and Reserve Swaps. In some cases, the requests were put in
at the beginning of the 72-hour window and not processed until
after the 5th day of the following month. This meant
that there were requests on file in which the effective date of
the schedule adjustment began sometime between the
1st and 5th of the new contractual bid
month. These requests were not denied, they were simply not
processed at all. I
held the grievance hearing on October 22, 2008. Vice President
of Flight Service, Linda Kunz, awarded the grievance on October
30, 2008. Additionally, the Swaps/Drops
department has been given additional staffing that should ensure
Flight Attendant requests for schedule adjustments are processed
in a timely manner. In the past the department only had 2 SA
Flight Attendants assisting with processing but now they have
added 3 full time and 2 part time SA FAs to work exclusively on
the Flight Attendant side. 22-99-2-63-08 Failure to Award
Transfers By The 5th of the
Month: This grievance was filed on
October 22, 2008. The issue was brought forward by the Company
for discussion at the October 21, 2008 meeting of the Contract
Interpretation Committee (CIC). Our collective bargaining
agreement, Section 15.A.2.b. requires the Company to award
permanent vacancies in seniority order by the 5th of
the month two (2) months prior to the effective month of the
bid. (e.g., by October 5th if December is the
effective month of the bid). The Company has advised AFA that awards have
always been given on the 10th of the month ( two months prior to
the effective month)because they do not receive advance bid
lines or staffing numbers until the 9th of each
month. The parties reached an impasse on the issue which
prompted the filing of the MEC grievance. A hearing date is
scheduled for November 5, 2008. Hotel
Vouchers Question: How are
hotel vouchers issued? Are they given to the FA, faxed to the
hotel directly, what is the procedure? This seems to be a
particular problem when there is more than one overnighting
hotel location. Answer: Vouchers
can be sent to either the FA or to the hotel. If it is a whole
crew, it is generally sent to the Captain's e-mail for the
entire crew. CS always calls the hotel first to ensure they have
rooms. Then the voucher is sent to the hotel. There is always a
copy sent to the hotel. Reduced Check In Time In
Domicile Section 7.B.1. requires that duty
time begin one hour prior to scheduled block out time in the
Flight Attendant's domicile. Please note that this one hour sign
in time may not be reduced by Crew Scheduling. It has been
reported that the sign in time has been reduced in order to
accommodate legalities such as 10-hours rest in domicile. The
appropriate way to accomplish something like this is to delay
the outbound flight or remove you from that particular flight
and replace you with another legal and available Flight
Attendant or a Reserve. Should Crew Scheduling choose to remove
you from the flight instead of delaying it to accommodate
required legalities, the time removed will be covered under your
96% line guarantee for the month. This is true of any flights
removed after the final bid award due to
legalities. Canadian Immigration
Law By now most of you have seen the
e-mail sent by the Company advising that you may be considered
criminally inadmissible to Canada if you have been convicted in
the United States of DUI (Driving Under the Influence), theft or
assault. While certain instances of these crimes may not be
considered a felony in this country, they are in Canada and as
such, may result in your being considered as criminally
inadmissible to that country. Apparently Canada learns of these
convictions as a result of the Patriot Act. Part of the act was
to establish a joint criminal record data base. This allows
Canada access to a wide swatch of U.S. criminal records.
The Company has assured AFA that if
you find yourself in a position where you have to work a trip
into/out of Canada and have been deemed "criminally
inadmissible" by that country, you may self disclose to your
base manager and be removed from the flying without any
resulting disciplinary action. This however, seems to be only a
temporary solution. To seek a more permanent solution to the
problem please visit the following
website: http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/detroit/right_nav/areyoucriminallyinadmissibletocanada-en.asp I've spoken with the Canadian
Consulate's office and they have suggested use of this site for
information regarding application for either "Rehabilitation
Status" or a "Temporary Resident Permit." If accepted under one of
these types of status?, it is possible to regain admissibility
into Canada. Update On Drug Testing Changes for
Observed Tests The Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced a final decision on observed
drug testing after a postponement period of Aug. 25 - Oct.
31, 2008. After a public comment period and consideration
in which AFA remitted strenuous objections, the DOT
announced it will implement a new requirement for all DOT return
to work and follow up tests to be observed. The new
procedures will be available on the Drug and Alcohol Policy page
from Jetnet Policy and Procedures and will go into effect
Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. Key Points: *
The DOT is introducing more
invasive procedures for observed drug test collections and
expanding applicability of observed testing. All DOT return to
work and follow up tests will now be observed. Observed
testing will still apply under certain rare conditions during
random testing and occasionally as directed by AA's Medical
Review Officers upon receipt of certain drug test
results. *
Observers must be the same
gender as the employee. The observer can be a different person
from the collector and need not be a qualified
collector. *
The observation process will
now include a preliminary visual check for prosthetic devices
and other apparatus or material that may be secreted under
clothing. *
AA
Medical staff will coordinate with an outside collection
company to observe a drug test when
required. Waiving Calendar Day Off In Seven Section 7.C.2.
states: A Flight Attendant will receive one
(1) calendar day free from duty in her/his domicile in any seven
day period. However, a Flight Attendant at her/his discretion,
may elect a 24-hour break from duty in any seven day period to
accommodate her/his request(s) for trip trades, optional
exchanges and/or pick-ups of open time. After receiving reports from several
Flight Attendants, that they had been given a 24-hour duty free
period off rather than a calendar day off in seven at domicile
over the transition, AFA and the Company discussed this issue
during a CIC meeting. We found that this type of thing
generally occurs because a Flight Attendant has either trip
traded or picked up OT. Most of these transactions have already
been processed before the bid awards for the following month are
final. First, there is nothing special that
needs to be done in order for a Flight Attendant to indicate
that he/she is waving their right to a calendar day off in seven
and opting instead, to receive a 24-hour duty free period when
engaging in transactions like trip trades, optional exchanges
and/or OT pick-ups. The act of submitting a request for one of
these transactions is how a Flight Attendant indicates his/her
intent to waive the right to a calendar day off. It is assumed
you know your current schedule and how it will be impacted by
the addition of any OT. With regard to transition, the CIC
concluded that transactions like trading or picking up OT cannot
be interpreted as waiving one's right to a calendar day off, if
at the point in time of their processing, the next month's
schedule has not yet been determined. To that end, the CIC
agreed that Swaps/Drops will default to a calendar day off. If
the OT is picked up after the transition team has blended the
two months, then it will be assumed the Flight Attendant is
waiving her/his right to a calendar day off as stated in Section
7.C.2. It should be noted that any request to pick up OT will
not be approved unless there is a 24-hr. duty free period
somewhere within a 7-day period. Reserve Daily Assignments -
First Day Of Bid Month Daily Reserve assignments (given
after next day preferences have been awarded) are generally
given based upon the amount of accrued hours for the month,
provided the Flight Attendant is legal and available to receive
the assignment. However, on the first day of the bid month all
Flight Attendants have the same amount of accrued hours; ZERO.
The contract does not really contain guidance for how daily
Reserve assignments should be given on the first day of the bid
month and time balancing won't come into play given the fact
that everyone has the same amount of hours. The CIC met and
discussed the issue and concluded that assignments will be made
in inverse seniority order. In other words, beginning with the
most junior and working their way up the list to the most have senior. The attached
sideletter was signed to codify the agreement and has been
posted on the AFA web page. Double click on the icon to view.
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