AFA Debrief: December 7, 2023

AFA Debrief December 7, 2023

• Federal Mediation – Filed on December 5, 2023
• Reserve Christmas Wish List
• SCOPE – Protecting our Career and our Contract

Federal Mediation – Filed on December 5, 2023

As mentioned in the MEC President Letter from December 1st, we filed for Federal Mediation on Tuesday, December 5th, 2023.

At this time, we are waiting for a response from the National Mediation Board (NMB).

Reserve Christmas Wish List

MEC Reserve Committee

The Reserve Christmas Wish List (RCWL) portal is now open and accepting layover preferences!

RCWL is a Reserve assignment procedure that is provided for in Section 8.H.8.c. of the Contract. At Christmas, for the three (3) days preceding and two (2) days following the holiday, Reserve Flight Attendants may preference up to four (4) layover stations where they wish to be on and around the holiday. If legal and available, requests will be awarded in Inflight Seniority order.

To accommodate these preferences during the RCWL period, and prior to running the Reserve Preferencing System, under the terms of the Contract, Crew Scheduling employs a manual procedure that differs from that of assigning by day of availability and Time Accrued (TMAC) order (which is described in Section 8.C. of the Contract). The modified process places the Flight Attendant's layover request as the main consideration for pairing assignments in seniority order.

The Reserve Christmas Wish List portal may be accessed in one of three ways:

1. Via www.unitedafa.org/wishlist
2. Via CCS under the Reserve tab
3. Via the Quick Links section of the Inflight Services homepage on Flying Together.

Some important points to remember:

• The RCWL system operates independently of the Reserve Preferencing system. Only the layover preferences entered in the RCWL portal will be considered during the Wish List award process, which will occur prior to running the regular Reserve Preferencing system each day.

• The RCWL system officially opened at 1200 (noon) Central Time on December 1, 2023. Any layover preferences input prior to that date must be re-entered in order to be considered for the 2023 RCWL period.

• RCWL preferences may only be entered via the online portal. Requests will not be accepted over the telephone by contacting scheduling.

• Preferences entered will remain on file for the duration of the RCWL period unless and until you make changes. Preferences may be altered at any time up until the deadline for each day (see below schedule). Only the latest request/update made prior to each deadline will be considered.

For a complete description of the process, please see our detailed guide. If you have additional questions, please see our FAQ page or contact your Local Council Reserve Committee.

SCOPE – Protecting our Career and our Contract

As Flight Attendants, our career is protected by the provisions within our Contract. Flight Attendants who came before us worked to secure this profession for all of us. Over time, they negotiated Contractual improvements that defined the working role of a United Flight Attendant.

While Scope, or the language of our specific Contractual Scope, may not be familiar to some of us, it’s important that we be informed of this cornerstone of our Contract that protects us, and also the Scope of other work groups at our airline.

Our company consists of many different roles that operate under separate job functionalities. For example, Customer Service agents scan boarding passes and assist passengers before getting on the aircraft, Mechanics fix and maintain our aircraft, and as Flight Attendants, we perform safety-related duties, including adhering to Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) such as closing the overhead bins before boarding door closure.

While we can and should appreciate the effort of “working together,” Scope prevents work from being assigned to other employees for a good reason. Being mindful of the Scope of different work groups will ensure the job duties traditionally performed by Flight Attendants continue to be done by Flight Attendants. We must protect our future by respecting not only our scope but also avoiding unintended interfering with others' work-related responsibilities.

To review more information on scope, please visit our website or contact your Local council.

Reminders:

DEC 7- Hanukkah Begins
DEC 14 – System-wide Day of Action
DEC 15 – 2024 Pass Travel Enrollment 11:59 pm CST
DEC 25 – Christmas
DEC 26 – Kwanzaa Begins

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