10.15.15 – New Hire Brief – October 2015

Thursday, October 15, 2015

New Hire Brief – October 2015

Hello New Miami Colleagues! We know many of you aren’t so “new” anymore, but we want to explain, in-depth, various topics that you may see daily to give you a better understanding of how you are paid and how your schedules work. You probably weren’t given much of this information in training and you need it on the line to fully understand your job. New items are being implemented from the new JCBA regularly. Working with new rules and old rules, when you don’t understand them in the first place can be overwhelming. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us. We are more than happy to walk you through anything you want clarified.

INTRODUCTIONS

I am Randy Trautman and I am the base president. Todd McJunkin is the vice president and Melinda Hill is our permanent base representative. We have other reps that assist in various capacities such as Professional Standards and Notices of Dispute. We are available to you 7 days a week. Call us anytime and we will get back to you promptly, if we don’t answer immediately. We have a small room in operations that we use to talk with Flight Attendants before meetings and use a computer, but it is not a base office. If you would like to meet one of us there to discuss an issue or need help with something, let us know and we will be happy to do that. 

UNION REPRESENTATION

The first thing we’d like you to know is that the Union has many functions, not just saving jobs if you are in trouble. We are here to answer questions about the Contract and your work rules, help you if you aren’t paid correctly, go to meetings with your manager, and much more. Calling us to go with you to a meeting or asking us to call your manager doesn’t make he or she think you are guilty of something. It is your right under the Contract and it is routine practice. We work with Flight Service as our business, so do not hesitate to call us for representation. At least call us for advice before you go to a meeting alone with your manager.

35-IN-7 UPDATE – RESERVES

The programming is completed for the 35-in-7 legality during reserve months and was effective October 1st. The computer will count all the time in the previous month, so Crew Schedule will still need to manually review the previous month’s flying during the first six days of the reserve month to exclude OEs. After the 7th day of the month, the programming will capture all applicable flying that counts toward the illegality and no assignments exceeding the 35 hour limit will be made unless the Flight Attendant waives for the month. 
 
Beginning November 1, a reserve looking back into the line month of October will also exclude TTs from the calculation. The JCBA language for 37-in-7 for reserve excludes ETB (HIBOARD) transactions. ETB is the equivalent of our OE and TT transactions. There’s one conflict in the current TT system: a TT could potentially be a Flight Attendant’s original trip that’s been used in a trade. Because it’s an original trip, it will be included in the calculation until ETB is implemented. You will need to alert Crew Schedule at the point of assignment to include the trip in the calculation. The scheduler will confirm by pulling your bid award. If the illegality exists, you will be removed from the trip.

RESERVE ENHANCEMENTS

As of October 1st reserves now have the ability to relinquish up to six (6) Duty Free Periods (DFPs) in order to pick up supplemental flying (OR/L2/CR). This will be an increase of two days over the current four. You will have to contact Crew Schedule for assistance with the transaction when it exceeds the usual four days due to current programming restrictions.

Also beginning October 1st reserves are able to trade Stand-by assignments when all requirements for the stand-by are met, such as similar days available, necessary equipment qualifications for the time slot, etc.  This does include co-terminal trades. Once you have confirmed your assignment and have a Flight Attendant to trade with, call Crew Schedule the day prior to the stand-by shift to accomplish the transaction.

RESERVE – DO I HAVE TO CALL THE TAPE? 

If you arrive from a trip or serve stand-by duty, the day before a reserve day, you should follow these guidelines for your next assignment:

1. If your duty day ends before the call-in window and the designated call-in window is entirely within your legal rest period:

You are not required to call the tape although you may, if you wish. If you are not going to call the tape, then you     need to call Crew Schedule during your debrief and let them know that you will make contact immediately after     your rest period ends. When making this contact, you must be available for assignment one hour later.

2. If your duty ends during the call-in window:

You must call the tape.

3. If your duty ends after the call-in window:

You have no obligation to call the tape or make contact with Crew Schedule. You must be available and answer     your phone after the completion of your legal rest.

Once you have met one of these obligations, you are never required to answer your phone on your legal rest.

RESERVE ASSIGNMENTS – TARS

How are reserves assigned? There are two contractually permissible ways to assign reserves. 

1. Per Article 10.H, assignments during the month should be made in time accrued order. The lowest time reserve receives the highest time trip.

2. Duration is an exception and an override to the system (Article 10.K.6) that should be justified when used. Duration means that instead of assigning lowest time reserve to highest time trip, the assignment program called Time Accrued Reserve System (TARS) also takes into account how many days the reserve is available to fly. It then matches the reserve’s days of availability with sequences of the same length and assigns the lowest time reserve with the highest time matching trip.

The best way to be prepared for possible assignments is to monitor both your relative position in the time accrued system and also in your days available grouping. Remember, the HI25 is a guideline and doesn’t indicate who ahead of may be legal for the same assignments. The number of reserves available on the HI25 also includes those on the sick list since they could clear at any time and be available for assignment, so that skews the number to a degree.

RESERVE ORS AND OES

There are two types of Optional Exchange trips, OE and OR. OEs are trips picked up between line holders on line months. ORs are trips picked up by, and or, from reserves.

If you pick up an OE that carries over from your line month into your reserve month, those hours will not go on top of your guarantee. The hours will be absorbed into the guarantee and you could end up flying the trip for free, unless you are flown 75 reserve hours. ORs, which originate in your reserve month, are the only trips that will be paid on top of your guarantee.

HOW TRIP SEQUENCES ARE PAID

Trip “rigs” are designed to provide a minimum amount of pay and credit each time we report for duty. For instance, they insure that we don’t go to work, do an MCO turn, spend 14 hours on duty with a broken airplane, and only receive the two (2) hours of flying time of that trip. Trips are guaranteed to equal the greater of the actual flying performed or the value of the rigs. We have four rigs that protect our trips; three (3) hour minimum, E-time, F-time, and G-time. We will explain them further. *Note that a duty period is one where you perform work or report for work. It does not mean calendar days or days spent at the hotel.

RESERVE CALL OUT

When serving ready reserve, the contractual requirement to return Crew Schedule’s phone call is 15 minutes.

A reserve is required to report at co-terminal bases within three (3) hours from the time s/he is notified of an assignment from Crew Schedule. This does not refer to sign-in time or departure time. It means the Flight Attendant must be at the airport in 3 hours. The language in the JCBA is as follows, with MIA being a co-terminal base:
    
Section 12.H. MINIMUM RESERVE CALL OUT TIME

1. A Reserve shall be required to report within two (2) hours from the time s/he is notified of a sequence by Crew Schedule. If a Reserve reports to the airport after check-in time for the sequence, s/he shall receive pay and credit for the sequence as if s/he had checked in for the sequence at the same time as the rest of the crew. As an exception, Reserve Flight Attendants at co-terminals shall be provided three (3) hours call out. 

OE SICK
        
Sick pay for OE trips is not automated yet and must be done manually. You will initially see the trip removed with a “15” removal and unpaid. Pay Comp will have to manually put the SK designator and pay in. If you do not see the adjustment within 5 business days, send a HISEND (14).

A timeline chart for processing all pay types is included with the regular Base Brief. You should have received it in your email as well.

REPORT TO THE AIRPORT/CALL OUT PAY

If you report to the airport for a specific flight assignment and you end up not flying, you must make contact with Crew Schedule to receive Call Out pay. If you just leave the airport without speaking to someone, they will deny the pay. If the Purser or #1 speaks to them for the crew, make sure that each crew member is accounted for on the call before you leave.

If you are at the airport for any length of time, you may be entitled to more than 3 hours, so it is important to get a release time from scheduling. Don’t leave any pay behind!

GUARANTEE/ADJUSTED GUARANTEE 

This is how your guarantee appears on your HI-1:    GUAR ORIG  92.25 ADJ  80.15

The ORIG number is your line value (22C/JUN/SEL/MIA), 80 for relief/replacement lines, or 75 for reserve. The ORIG will not change during the month.

The ADJ number is your adjusted, current guarantee at any time during the month. As long as the Restoral column on your HI-1 header is set to “Y,” this number can go up or down with trip trading, unpaid absences, etc. The ADJ number will never exceed the ORIG.

If you have a Misconnect/Illegality/Cancellation during the month, the guarantee you are protecting at that point is the ADJ.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

We have seen an increase in people going into the office over minor disputes with other crewmembers. If you have an issue with a fellow crewmember including a pilot, please take the appropriate steps to resolve the situation outside of AA Management. Contacting management may involve Human Resources and could result in potential discipline up to and including termination, possibly even yours. We have seen many instances in the past where the complainant ends up being the one who gets disciplined.

If you have a conflict with a crewmember that you cannot resolve, please contact Professional Standards. Your call is confidential and will be handled appropriately. We also work closely with the pilot reps and they will be contacted if your issue is with a pilot. The Professional Standards rep is Michelle Bernstein. Her number is 561.350.3245.

ABSENCE OF 7 CONSECUTIVE CALENDAR DAYS OR MORE 

This is an important piece of the attendance policy that you can use to keep yourself from progressing through the steps of the policy. Per the policy, a single sick absence of 7 consecutive days or more (unless you’ve had one year with no chargeable absences) will count as 2 points. You can have the 2 points reduced to 1 point by calling the Absence and Return Center (ARC) at 817-967-6700 and answering a few questions related to your absence. A message will be sent to your manager that the absence is to be reduced but no medical information be shared with her/him. This must be accomplished within 10 business days of clearing the sick list.

ATTENDANCE RECORD, HI10M

Be sure to check your HI10 once a month for discrepancies such as late sign-ins (LR). Remember that a seat swap after sign-in requires a new sign-in. If you receive a short call out for a trip and the scheduler says she/he will waive sign-in, make sure the LR does not show on your HI10M. Sometimes the scheduler forgets to send the message. 

If you get a TM and there are extenuating circumstances such as traffic jams, train delays, etc, speak to your manager right away. She/he can investigate and usually there are several people who also had a problem that day. You may be able to have the TM excused.

If you find any issues with your record, address them with your manager while they are fresh in your mind. Be proactive with your attendance to prevent problems later. Let us know if you need our assistance.  

CONTRACT/SCHEDULING TRAINING

We are going to begin having regular Contract/Scheduling training classes at the base very soon. Be on the lookout for the dates for these classes. This is a very valuable class and all members are invited and encouraged to attend. We believe you will really enjoy the information presented.

As always, please report problems or concerns you are having in the field so we can address them right away with the appropriate people or department.

Until next time, fly safely!