AFA Detroit Local Executive Council 94     |    eNews  06 August 2008

 

NOTE:  PBS BIDDING FOR SEPTEMBER IS NOW OPEN!  THIS BID IS FOR "LIVE" SEPTEMBER FLYING.  DEADLINE FOR BID ENTRY IS 13 AUGUST AT 1000 LOCAL.

 

 

AFA / NWA FLIGHT ATTENDANT AGREEMENT DELIVERED

 

The printed contract has been issued to all DTW flight attendants in base mailboxes.  If you have not received a copy, stop by the AFA Detroit office for your copy.  A soft zipper cover is in production and should arrive at the base within 30 days.   You are encouraged to take the contract with you on all trips, or at least carry scheduling sections 5 & 6, and reserve section 7, if applicable.  Knowledge is power!  Take a minute to find the contractual reference to your issue before calling scheduling.  The new index makes it much easier to find specific subjects in the contract.  Remember, if you question the legality of an assignment or re-scheduling, request a review of crew orders!  (page 6.26 of the Agreement)

 

PBS: Ready, Set, Submit Bid!

 

Don’t forget to sign up for the final class in a series of PBS Training Seminars: “Readiness, Review and Results,” to be held August 7 – August 13 in the CBT room from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.  Your DTW PBS team will present a review of the Basics, Weighting, Reports, LOD Bidding, Purser Bidding and Reserve Bidding, just in time for our first round of PBS live bidding for September, which closes August 13 at 10:00 a.m.  Seminar sign-up sheets are posted at the CRC desk, you can call (734) 247-2529, or drop in as schedules permit. 

 

PBS instructors will be available throughout the month to answer questions about the seminars and offer assistance.  Additional PBS seminars are being provided at other bases, as well.  If you are interested in attending a seminar elsewhere, please call your Local 94 office for the systemwide PBS training schedule and contact information.  Finally, be sure to enter a back-up SLIC bid by August 13 at 10:00 a.m., just in case.

 

 

AMS LAYOVER HOTEL ACTION ALERT

 

The NH Central Station layover hotel in Amsterdam has recently started charging flight attendants for "excessive" damages to guest rooms.  AFA Detroit cautions members to protect themselves from the heavily inflated rate of reparations levied by the NH.  If an accident or spill occurs in your room, do your best to fix the problem, and communicate the issue with housekeeping and reception.  If you are given a room with any rips in the carpet, stains on bedding, carpet or curtains, inform the reception and request another room.  If no rooms are available, document the damage and, if possible, use your digital camera or mobile phone to photograph the damages.  Send pictures to MEC Hotel Chairperson Anne Odenwald at aodenwald@nwaafa.org, and copy us at lec94@nwaafa.org.  

 

Local 94 is working closely with our local and MEC hotel committee to investigate the validity of room repair charges, some of which reach over $1,000.  As with any hotel issue, please report problems using the electronic hotel reporting form found on our website, www.afa94.org/Hotel.html.  

 

TOO HOT TO BOARD?

 

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.    

 

 

SCHEDULING UPDATE

 

The MEC Scheduling and Reserves committees have recently combined their efforts to form the NWA-AFA Central Scheduling Committee.  Central Scheduling will continue the work of its predecessor committees with renewed focus on pattern construction, member feedback, and educating flight attendants in important scheduling and reserve matters. 

 

Central Scheduling met with Northwest Airlines scheduling department on July 24th in Minneapolis.  MEC Vice President Janette Rook attended the meeting along with Central Scheduling chair Greg Frattini (DTW), and co-chairs Karen Jay (DTW) and Rebecca Collier (MSP).  Locals from New York to Honolulu were represented by their base Scheduling chairperson, and several flight attendant managers from around the system were in attendance. 

 

The following are some highlights from the meeting:

 

  • AFA/NWA joint F/A Scheduling Survey -  Central Scheduling approached the company about providing a pattern construction and scheduling survey for the membership.  AFA has worked extensively with the company on survey questions that will help provide positive changes to our flying.  Look for more information in future AFA hotlines.  We anticipate the survey to be posted on Atlas around August 15th.  Once posted, flight attendants will have 30 days to participate. 

 

  • LOD program – Look for LOD patterns in the September analysis.  DTW will see Tagalog, Japanese, German, Mandarin, and French LOD patterns.  To date, French has the highest amount of participation, followed by Tagalog and Mandarin.

 

  • Time Available option for No Show & Unable to Commute – The company has told AFA that programming for this new contractual provision was not working properly when tested.  The company indicated this option would be up and running in the short term, though at the time of writing there is no word on its implementation. 

 

  • SILO, AM/PM Reserve -  SILO will work more efficiently with PBS.  The program is designed to decrease PDO violations for reserves and increase availability for pattern drops, thereby increasing available trips for Reserves.  AM/PM on call option is loaded and working properly, but it does not work well with SLIC.  AM/PM will be fully rolled out with PBS implementation.  RA will be the code for a reserve serving morning duty time from midnight to noon; RB will be the afternoon code for noon to midnight on call status.  Since AM/PM is essentially a pre-release program, you may notice a decrease in reserve releases.  Remember, a preference entered in CENTRY for trip assignment will override AM/PM status!

 

  • EBLA, Etc. – line average will be 83 hours for September, and likely through November.  Reserves are released at the EBLA.   - Detroit international flights are most often affected by a system wide purser shortage.  There are no longer relatively junior or reserve pursers.  (2007 purser training in Detroit went quite senior, i.e. nearly 20 years seniority).  The 2008 purser training is expected to give a small amount of relief to the purser shortage.  The AFA MEC Purser Committee will be meeting with the company to discuss possible solutions for the purser shortage. 

 

SILO, AM/PM, Purser, pattern construction, LOD . . . even for the seasoned bidder, keeping track of all the intricacies of scheduling is a chore.  Please share your scheduling and reserve experience and concerns with the MEC Central Scheduling Committee.  Send us email at mecscheduling@nwaafa.org.  Your concerns and data will be tracked and shared at our meetings with the company.  (Remember to direct all PBS questions to your base PBS instructors, or to pbshelp@nwa.com)  

 

Interested in Scheduling?  Good with the contract?  The Local 94 Scheduling Committee chairperson and vice-chairperson positions are both open.  If you are interested in volunteering for this important committee, please send your letter of interest to lec94@nwaafa.org by 30 August.   

LOCAL 94 TELEPHONE DIRECTORY

 

-----

Wear your Union Pin!  FLY SAFE, AND FLY THE CONTRACT!