TOO HOT TO
BOARD
Summer officially
started last week, and with it comes an increase of
unaccompanied minors, full aircraft, and potentially
“heated” situations.
LEC94 and your Air Safety,
Health, and Security committee reminds you to report situations
when you are required to board an excessively hot aircraft. Try to coordinate
with the CSA and flight deck to delay boarding until a
reasonable temperature is achieved by either the APU or an air
cart hookup. If all
else fails with these efforts, the situation needs to be
reported to NWA AFA (both Local Safety and MEC ASHS). Find the ASHS contacts
under the committee header at www.afa94.org and
www.nwaafa.org .
UNION PLUS DISCOUNT BENEFITS
Do you take advantage of all of the benefits
available to Union employees? Union Plus programs, using the collective
purchasing power of millions of union members, provide AFA-CWA
members a wide range of valuable consumer benefits. Union
Privilege searches
for benefits that assist working union families in their
everyday lives, including credit counseling, loans, free and
discounted legal assistance, health, auto, and computer
discounts, college preparation and scholarship information, and
many other quality Union-made products and services available at
reduced rates.
There's no
need to join Union Privilege to access your Union Plus
benefits. AFL-CIO
participating Union members are automatically eligible. Visit Member Benefits for more
information on money-saving programs. Go
to http://www.unionplus.org/ and
log in as an AFA-CWA member (no personal information required)
for a customized list of specific benefits and privileges Union
Plus provides to AFA-CWA members, to sign up for e-mail discount
updates or download a more comprehensive
brochure.
PRESCRIPTION DISCOUNTS
In recent months, some local retailers and grocery
stores have begun offering generic prescriptions at very
affordable rates.
For instance, Detroit and other Midwest-area
residents can save hundreds—even thousands—of
dollars on many eligible generic medications at participating
Kroger Pharmacies.
If you currently purchase maintenance medication or other
prescriptions with NWA’s Merck-Medco prescription card
plan (in-store, mail-in or online), you may be able to pay much
less than the Medco standard
co-pays.
Kroger Pharmacies offer $4 generic prescriptions
for a 30-day supply and $10 generic prescriptions for a 90-day
supply. Hundreds of
common medications are now available in generic form. Stores can provide a list
of qualifying medications for you. Ask whether your doctor recommends a generic
alternative to your current medication(s) and check out Kroger
or other retail pharmacies that now provide this discount
service.
If you know of other participating retailers or have
helpful money-saving tips to share with your co-workers, please
contact LEC94@nwaafa.org for publication in a future
hotline.
POLLING PROCEDURES
Long delays on
international flights can quickly become stressful situations,
especially when your legalities enter the mix. The following is a
review of polling procedures as outlined in section 5 of the
Agreement:
When an
international flight is delayed, you shall be polled 2 hours and
15 minutes prior to your walk time. At this point, you have 2 options: 1) be replaced when your
walk time occurs, or 2) waive your contractual legalities for an
additional 2 hours.
Polling will be repeated every two hours until
rescheduling or cancellation occurs. Polling can be accomplished by a flight
attendant manager, or a purser/LFA at the direction of
management or crew scheduling. Complete polling
information is found at 5.B.7. of the
Agreement.
SCHEDULING AND RESERVE TOWN HALL MEETING FOR
JULY
Last month’s AFA-initiated
Scheduling and Reserve Town Hall Meeting was so well received,
we are coordinating another educational forum and
Question/Answer Session with AFA MEC Officers, MEC Scheduling
Chairs along with management on Tuesday, July 22. Council 94 - DTW
has invited Director of Scheduling, Brian Moreau, for a return
visit to share contract implementation changes, PBS updates and
everything you wanted to know about Reserve and/or Scheduling
but were afraid to ask.
If you missed last month’s
meeting or have additional questions, please take advantage of
this special opportunity for indepth explanations of scheduling
and contract issues.
There will be three sessions, each with a slightly
different emphasis: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Open Q and A,
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Open Q and A, and 2:00 p.m. –
4:00 p.m. Reserve issues, including SLIC/PBS questions. More details and
location to follow.
UPDATE YOUR CONTACT
INFORMATION!
If you change your e-mail address, move, and/or
get a new phone number, be sure to update your contact
information with AFA-CWA.
Click http://nwaafa.org/onlineforms/contactinfo/ or go to the MEC website at http://www.nwaafa.org and click the “Update Your Contact
Information” link.
Previously, several different avenues were suggested for
these changes, but none updated all information in every
database necessary.
The Contact Info link on the NWAAFA website will now
ensure you continue to receive the MEC e-mail hotlines as well
as various publications and mailings from AFA-CWA
International.
Remind your
co-workers they can also sign up for multiple e-mail hotlines,
according to base and personal preference. It is recommended
that everyone sign up for both the MEC national hotline, which
generally covers news and information affecting all Flight
Attendants throughout the NWA-AFA system and their base
hotline, such as this Local 94 e-news, for base-specific
issues.
SOME CHEESE WITH YOUR
WHINE?
At long last,
your Informed Member Advocate, Ima, has returned from the Delta
GOTV campaign to catch up her old buddy, DD (Doubting
Donna). You can eavesdrop on a few minutes of their
private whine and cheese party on the NWA-AFA commentary line at
888.3.NWAAFA (888-369-2232) option #2.
