10.09.20 – APFA ORD Base Brief – November Allocations

Friday, October 9, 2020

Hello ORD Flight Attendants,

It is hard to believe we are already in October. Our world is still upside down, and the status of the payroll support extension remains unknown. Thank you to the thousands of members who continued to answer every call to action urging support of the stimulus bill. A big shoutout to the ORD Flight Attendants who joined Chicago Aviation Workers picketing locally on September 9th!

APFA is planning a series of Unemployment Town Halls next week. Details will be provided in the next few days. Please watch for APFA Hotlines with updates.

Conflicts do arise in the workplace. When this happens, the APFA Professional Standards Team is available to help FAs facilitate resolution. As Union members, we want to protect all jobs. Professional Standards should be your first call to address issues between team members. All calls are confidential. No issue is too trivial.

ORD Professional Standards Base Representative
Jillian Bocenda – (847) 828-1431  |  [email protected]

We are fielding many questions regarding Reserve headcount and seniority of Flight Attendants subject to Reserve in the coming months. This is not something we can accurately predict with so many moving pieces.  Active headcount will continue to fluctuate in the coming months as FAs return from leaves of various lengths. Reserve numbers are also tied to total job hours and the PBS line average. The Company controls both those numbers, and both remain volatile, given our current COVID-19 environment. While total Reserve numbers look similar in October and November, we cannot assume those numbers will remain steady or remain low in the future. Remember, choose your Lineholder/Reserve status wisely. Do not get caught off guard by Reserve.

There will be Flight Attendants serving Reserve for the first time under the new Attendance Policy. We know many of you are familiar with policy but there are some nuances to the program that can be problematic for Reserves.

• Sick on Contact (2 points): Whenever a Reserve is notified of an assignment by phone, whether on Airport Standby duty or called from home, and the Reserve says that they are sick.
• Late Notification of Sick (2 points): If an assignment has been given to a Reserve, and a sick call is made with less than 2 hours (3 hours/co-terminals) to departure, the Scheduler will note the late notification. This applies to Lineholders as well.
• Unable to Contact (2 points) coded as TM: Whenever a Reserve does not return a call to Crew Scheduling within 15 minutes or does not return the call at all.
• Late Report (1 point if more than the 1 excused): Any check in past the 5-minute grace period. We also see a lot of Late Reports that are auto generated when a Reserve is called out and reports after the scheduled report time for the sequence. For example: A sequence has a check in time of 1300, and a departure time of 1400. The Reserve is called at 1120 and has 2 hours to get to the airport. They check in at 1320 and notice that they have been given a Late Report. The Scheduler is supposed to send an email regarding the assignment time of the sequence, and to disregard the Late Report. Unfortunately, this is not always happening, and the Flight Attendant may not know that they have the Late Report until they are called in for other attendance issues. By this time, they may not remember the “short call” and it may be too late to research and dismiss it.

 

As always, we believe each situation needs to be evaluated individually. Please contact the APFA Scheduling desk or your local Reps with Reserve issues.

The Base Presidents met with the Company again regarding sequence construction moving forward. Long duty days, sit time, commutability and trip length were among the hot topics discussed. The Company has made some adjustments in November. We will continue to fight for quality of life improvements.

Systemwide job hours have increased slightly month over month. That was good news. ORD November 47,605 versus October 45,721. MSP November 829 versus October 776. Trip length distribution is similar month over month. While we know turns are desired at the base, the November numbers came in a little high and we addressed this on the call. The Company had projected zero VLOAs. We requested up to 20. The plan for 10 VLOA drove a slightly higher line average (79.3 to 80.4). It becomes a balancing act. The desire for leaves versus line average.   We know many like a higher line average, but we do not want to lock the entire base into higher hours than they are comfortable with.

November Bidding Timelines

Thank you for your hard work, patience, and flexibility during this turbulent time. Things are changing daily. Please stay up to date by reading the APFA Hotlines and mobileCCI. We remain available for questions and feedback. Be kind to one another and stay safe.

In Solidarity,

Susan Wroble
APFA ORD Base President
(630) 802-2268
[email protected]

Dray Howard
APFA ORD Base Vice President
(630) 215-8410
[email protected]