In this Issue...
- LOCAL MEETING
- CWA CONVENTION
- NCT for NFL
- AFA Pay
- 25+15, 26+00 and 24+00
- LOCAL COUNCIL
CONTACT NUMBERS
LOCAL MEETING:
We will hold our second LEC meeting this
year on Monday, July 7, 2008, at the Ramada
Airport Hotel in Essington, PA (where we
held our April meeting). The meeting will
start at 11:30a and we'll review the advance
agenda items for the AFA board of directors
meeting; negotiations update and Paul
Frishkorn, AFA Benefits, will go over the
new optional benefits program that the
company is offering. You should have
received an information packet regarding
these benefits from the company this month.
The optional benefits include: pet
insurance, long-term care, catastrophic
illness and accident insurance. The official
meeting notice will be sent out shortly.
CWA CONVENTION:
I attended the 70th CWA Convention in Las
Vegas this week as a delegate for District
13. The AFA Sector meeting was held on
Sunday and AFA continues to make progress
towards correcting the FMLA legislation. For
more information, please visit:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/airline_flight_crew_FMLA_Senate/
This year's theme was 'Building a Political
Movement.' The convention was attended by
over 2,000 delegates and many more guests.
The delegates voted to support Senator
Barack Obama for President, as well as
passing a resolution supporting the Employee
Free Choice Act. On Monday, Senator Obama
spoke to the convention attendees via
satellite from New Mexico. Here's the link
to view the 6-minute video:
http://www.cwavotes.org/cwavotes/content/cwa_pledges_support_for_barack_obama
For more information on the Employee Free
Choice Act, visit:
http://www.freechoiceact.org/cwa/pages/efca_learnmore
Also, for all the news, speeches and
election results, visit:
http://www.cwa-union.org/
Lastly, District 13, which covers
Pennsylvania and Delaware, elected Ed Mooney
as CWA District 13 VP. Ed came to the local
AFA office a few months back and I look
forward to working with him over the next
three years. I'm confident that Ed will take
a greater interest in our concerns as flight
attendants as they relate to our association
with CWA.
NCT for NFL:
We've had a few reports from reserves that
were given a NCT when scheduling attempted
to call and notify them of their NFL day.
All NCTs have been removed from the
schedules of those flight attendants who
notified the local AFA office. If scheduling
attempts to give you a NCT because you
failed to return their call regarding the
NFL day within 15 minutes, please notify the
local office as soon as possible.
Also, for those that have recently returned
to work, please make sure that you have a
copy of your contract, which you can pick up
at either crew room service center.
Additionally, you can read past MEC E-Lines,
LEC E-Lines and RSV Updates on the website:
www.afausairways.org
AFA Pay:
At our April meeting, a motion was made that
it be reported what your local council
officers earn in flight pay hours each
month. Here's the breakdown:
-- John McCorkle, LEC President: April 68
hours; May 104 hours; June 79 hours
-- Grace Jones, LEC VP: April 80 hours; May
80 hours; June 90 hours
-- Dan Sampey, LEC Sec: April 55 hours; May
50 hours; June 75 hours
There are a few things you should know:
first, our hours are reduced during the
months we have vacation. Also, when I attend
a CWA convention or AFA board of directors
meeting, or an MEC meeting, those hours do
not come from the local budget. Also, all
local councils receive company-paid flight
pay loss to offset the local budget. And
most importantly, these hours you see above
represent less than half of the actual time
we all spend conducting AFA business each
day.
25+15, 26+00 and 24+00:
What do these hours have in common?
In a 7-day period, you must have a 25+15
break for domestic flying.
In a 7-day period, you must have a 26+00
break for international flying.
But the most important thing to remember is
that in the 7-day period, the FAA requires
you have a 24 hour period "free of all
duty."
"Free of all duty" means 15 minutes after
you block in for domestic trips (30 minutes
international) and 1+00 prior to check-in
for domestic trips (1+30 international).
Let me give you an example using a domestic
trip:
A flight attendant has worked a 3-day trip
on June 1-3. Meeting all legalities, they
then pick up a 4-day trip for June 4-7 and
on the second day of the 4-day trip, there
is a 25+19 layover (one of the reasons they
were able to pick up the trip). The trip
arrives on day 2 at 1500 and departs on day
3 at 1619 (there's your 25+19 break).
The crew arrive on-time on day 2 at 1500. On
day 3, they push back 7 minutes early at
1612. CATCREW, option 4, will show the
scheduled break time as 25+19 and the
'actual' break time as 25+12.
So, is the flight attendant legal to
continue the pairing? Yes, because they did
receive 24 hours free of duty and here's
why:
Day 2 block in 1500
Add +15 minutes debrief and that gives the
flight attendant an off-duty time of 1515.
Day 3, the f/a goes 'on-duty' 1+00 prior to
departure. Scheduled departure is 1619, so
their 'on-duty' time is 1519. Therefore, the
time between going off-duty at 1515 (+15
minutes after arrival) on day 2 and going
on-duty at 1519 (1+00 prior to departure) on
day 3 is: 24+04 … free of all duty.
Keep in mind that the company could also
delay the departure of the flight in order
to accommodate the 24-hr. free of all duty
to keep the f/a legal. However, they can't
delay the first flight (origination) of the
trip. We actually witnessed a case recently
in which a scheduler told a flight
attendant, who had come in from another trip
the night before, that their origination
departure on their next trip would be
delayed in order to accommodate their
legality. The scheduler was wrong and we had
the f/a removed from the trip and
pay-protected under "illegal through no
fault."
Regards,
John
John McCorkle - President
Association of Flight Attendants
Philadelphia Council #70
US Airways
OFFICE: 215-492-0840
MOBILE: 215-300-4742
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