Council 21 - Washington DC

We want to congratulate those who were successful in their elections.  Daily summaries are available on Unitedafa.org. 

We still continue to get New Hires into IAD on a weekly basis. each Friday's we welcome New Hires to IAD. Next Friday, we will welcome another eighteen (18) from Class 1910. We will continue to see New Hires in IAD for the forseeable future.

We continue to look for IAD AFA Buddy Volunteers.  Please give some thought as to whether you would like to volunteer to be a New Hire Buddy. You do need to have some knowledge of the JCBA., Keep in mind, that your New Hire Buddy responsibilities could include answering many questions throughout their probationary period. If you feel you have the time and would like the ability to help our new hires transition smoothly into our base, then kindly submit your information by sending an email to c21engagement@unitedafa.org

Council 21 is always looking for more volunteers. Local Council Volunteers are the backbone of our union.  Remember, there are several ways to volunteer and in some cases, you don't even have to commit to an entire day. We're especially looking for those willing to be on the Reserve and Membership Engagement committees, upcoming training is available. Please let us know if you are interested.

We are available to you 24/7 by either stopping in the IAD Office, calling 703 260 0051 during normal business hours or by using the prompts after hours. Here is the prompt order. Call 703 260 0051, then

1 –  Non-immediate issues; calls will be returned next business day.

2 –  Reserve ONLY Issues (Immediate need)

3 – Urgent and Immediate Matters.

Contact your Reserve Committee by Text or Email:

In addition to being on call 24 hours a day for urgent and immediate Reserve issues, the Local Reserve Committee is now available by text message or email for non-urgent matters.  You can text message/email the Reserve Committee with any non-urgent concerns or questions.  The Reserve Committee will make every attempt to respond to your inquiry within 48 hours.

Council 21 Reserve Committee by Text Message - 571.420.1721

Council 21 Reserve Committee by Email - dcareserve@unitedafa.org

To email Council 21, please use afadca@unitedafa.org.

Note! We do not use or respond to united.com emails for union business.

Thank you for being informed and engaged Members. Please remember to fly safe, challenge rumors and to respect each other.

In Solidarity and with Respect,

Todd Failla

Local Executive Council President

AFA-CWA, IAD Council 21

AFL-CIO

COBUS – Flight Attendants Assigned to Company Business Assignments, not Flights.
MEC Communications Committee

Questions and confusion continue regarding management directing COBUS Flight Attendants to perform boarding duties that we believe are the contractual responsibility of working crew members assigned to pairings or on a Standby assignment.

It is important to remember that we negotiated Company business assignments.  That is, to allow Flight Attendants to be assigned by the Inflight Service Division on a voluntary basis to Company Business assignments that are non-managerial in nature and that are related to the Flight Attendant position.  What we must also remember is that our disagreement, codified in the form of an MEC grievance, is not with those who are us nor should we direct our frustrations at the COBUS Flight Attendants.  Management is responsible.

What we can do is talk with those who are part of our workgroup.  Reassure that that we are prepared to fulfill all of our responsibilities.    Politely reassure them that we are not only aware of our responsibilities, we are prepared to fulfill them – all of them.  Our responsibility is to maintain control of the cabin during boarding.  If their presence on board the aircraft is disruptive or prevents you from fulfilling your duties, respectively ask them to leave the aircraft.

Please review this recent article that details further how we can calmly handle these situations and properly report them.

Marginal Service Reporting – Critical to the Effort
MEC Communication Committee

Since United elected to match the reduced staffing levels of our competition at American and Delta, we must all recognize the frustration that exists from not having enough of us to go around.  It is this realization around which we must coalesce. It is here where we share common ground. This is where we must collaborative collect information that will permit the leadership of the Union with information about difficult working conditions and situations where we are unable to successfully complete the scheduled services.

Always remind one another of the importance of proper reporting procedures. Social media venting, while perhaps a release of frustration, does not effective reporting of issues through the appropriate channels that creates real documentation when AFA representatives have discussions with management.

JCBA Section 7.Z.2. provides AFA with the ability to address any staffing issue that creates a marginal service condition. Examples include not being able to complete our standard practice work assignments within the allotted times. As we have previously communicated, there is a Marginal Service Conditions Report form on our website that has been designed to provide you with the opportunity to advise AFA of these conditions.

Deadhead - Reschedule to Work
MEC Communications Committee 

Flight Attendants continue to ask about the circumstances under which management is permitted to re-schedule a deadheading Flight Attendant to working status on the same aircraft.  

On January 1, 2019, AFA published the outcome of an Implementation Mediation.   

United and AFA agreed to clarify the JCBA terms regarding the rescheduling of deadheading Flight Attendants to working status on the flight they were scheduled to deadhead as follows:

1.    United may reschedule deadheading Flight Attendants to work the flight in order to:

a.       Maintain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required number of Inflight Crew,   including any required augmentation, and

b.       Reschedule Flight Attendants up to United’s Established Staffing Guidelines (“ESG”) to prevent understaffing.

2.    Nothing in this settlement limits United’s right to supplement additional staffing above the ESG through the creation of additional open positions.

For additional information, please refer to our January 1, 2019 E-lines for a more in-depth description of the process.

The CAUSE Foundation® “Trip Drop Raffle” Winners
MEC Communications Committee

The CAUSE Foundation® recently held a "paid trip drop" raffle during the months of February and March. To be eligible, Flight Attendants either were already giving to CAUSE® through monthly payroll or monthly website donations or signed up to make monthly recurring donations.

The 8 winners of The CAUSE Foundation® “Trip Drop” Contest are:

Since its inception, The CAUSE Foundation® has helped more than 1,000 United Airlines Flight Attendants.  The grants awarded during that time equal more than $5.2 million dollars, donated by United Flight Attendants all with a clear focus to help other Flight Attendants.

CAUSE is an acronym standing for Concerned Attendants for a United Support Effort.

For more information, visit The CAUSE Foundation® website.

Break (BRK) Days and Resolving 1-in-7 Schedule Conflicts

Sections 6.P.3. & 8.I.2

With the award of May schedules that occurred earlier this week, we are taking this opportunity to review our how Break Days (BRK) are applied to a Flight Attendant’s schedule at the conjunction of the two schedule months and the Flight Attendant’s ability to resolve a 1:7 Contractual legality conflict.

A “BRK” is a tool used by crew scheduling as a placeholder when a Flight Attendant has a potential 1-in-7 legality present in her/his line. It is also used to prevent inadvertent violations of the 24-in-7 Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR 121.467). Based on current automation, no other scheduling actions may be applied to the line in COSMOS when this potential legality exists. As a work around, placement of a BRK day into the line is required in order to make any further assignment(s). 

Whenever a Reserve is not scheduled with at least one (1) calendar day off at her/his home domicile in any consecutive seven (7) day period, crew scheduling is responsible for providing either a day off or a BRK to resolve the schedule legality issue. 

In these cases, when the Flight Attendant’s new-month schedule is loaded, crew scheduling will insert a BRK somewhere in the block of seven (7) or more days “on” in order to temporarily resolve the conflict.

However and in accordance with JCBA Sections 6.P.3. and 8.I.2., if as a result of the Flight Attendant’s schedule selection, she/he has not been provided one calendar day off in seven, one of the other scheduled days off may be used to provide for the required one calendar day off in a seven day period.  In the case of “1:7” problems resulting from schedule selection, the Flight Attendant should contact scheduling prior to the first day of the [new] schedule month for rescheduling.  Failure to do so will result in the Flight Attendant waiving the 1:7 rule for the seven-day period involved.

Flight Attendants have the negotiated ability to decide if and how she/he would like to reconcile her/his schedule at any time prior to the first day of the schedule month in one of the following ways:

1.   Contact crew scheduling prior to the first day of the new bid month to have the 1-in-7 conflict resolved. 

·     If a BRK has initially been inserted by Scheduling, but the Flight Attendant would prefer to move a day off to resolve the 1-in-7 conflict, she/he may contact scheduling prior to the first day of the new bid month in order to do so. The Flight Attendant may indicate her/his preferences as to which day off will be moved, and these preferences will be considered, if possible.

·     If the Flight Attendant will be a Lineholder in the new month, she/he will work with Scheduling to adjust the schedule. If it is necessary to drop a paring to resolve the 1-in-7 conflict, the Flight Attendant’s preference as to which trip to drop will be considered by scheduling, if possible.

2.   Waive the 1-in-7 legality by doing nothing.If the Flight Attendant does not contact crew scheduling before the first day of the new bid month, the 1-in-7 is considered automatically waived. If waived, the 24-in-7 FAR must be satisfied with a 24-hour period free-from-duty in the consecutive seven (7) days. The BRK will remain unless and until this has occurred.

It is important to remember that a BRK day does not become a permanent day off until the Flight Attendant has been specifically released to the BRK day by crew scheduling.Prior to that time, a BRK may be moved within the block of days where the conflict exists based on operational needs, as long as the 24-in-7 FAR is satisfied.

Unless previously released to the BRK by crew scheduling, Reserves are still required to check for their next-day assignment between 1930 and 2400 HDT by using one of the automated means on the day prior to a BRK in order to ascertain whether or not they have, in fact, been released for the day (RLSD).

If you have additional questions, please contact the C21 Office @ 703 260 0051.

Welcome, Class 1910!
MEC Communications Committee

On Friday, April 19, 2019 we welcomed the 66 graduating Members of class 1910 to the line. Our newest flying partners will be reporting to their respective bases at EWR, IAD and SFO on April 26, 2019 for orientation and will be available to fly on April 28, 2019. Please join us in welcoming the newest Members of our Flight Attendant community.