Union Update July 22, 2022

Dear Norse cabin crew,

This newsletter contains information on the following items:

1.      Roster disparity

2.      Fatigue issues

3.      Other scheduling issues

4.      Onboard Service

5.      Crew Hotels

6.      Staff Travel

7.      Union organizing status

1.      Roster disparity
 

Due to miscalculating the amount of crew needed for the August schedule, some crew have rosters with many trips and some crew have rosters have 0 trips. The AFA raised this issue with the Management and they said this would not be a problem for the September roster where we will be adding many more flights than we have now.

As a temporary solution, Management has agreed to allow crew to swap their entire roster month with another crew member. This will allow a crew member who doesn’t mind flying less/sitting at home to swap their roster full of trips with someone who wants to fly more.

The AFA reiterated to management that until we have a bidding system in place, the crew will continue to be unhappy because some crew prefer more flying than others. Management promised that a bidding system will come sometime in Winter 2022.

2.      Fatigue issues

By now, you should have noticed that Norse builds tight (efficient) pairings. Most pairings only have 1 overnight stay and some crew fly back and forth (between home base and OSL) several days in a row. This type of flying is preferred by crew members who want to work as my hours as possible in a short period of time, but also disliked by other crew members who don’t want to work that much. As mentioned above, this could easily be solved if we had a bidding system in place where crew could bid on the types of trips and patterns they want.

If you experience any fatigue issues and feel unfit to fly, don’t report to duty. The only way things will change is if you report fatigued and write up a Fatigue Safety Report in Centrik.

Some of you have already written Fatigue Safety Reports for several issues. Please keep them coming. One of the biggest issues right now is the FLL-MCO-FLL shuttle for FLL crew working the MCO-OSL-MCO flights. Several of you have submitted reports and this has caused planning to now utilize OSL-based crew for the MCO flights starting in September.

3.      Other Scheduling Issues

  No-shows

Joseph has written emails to everyone a couple of times telling us that crew are getting no-shows. No-shows not only have the potential to cause a flight delay but may cause Management to renege on the 3-hour notification time for standby that we fought very hard for and change it back to 90 minutes. Now that our rosters are all in local time, there should be no excuse for a no-show. As stated previously, if you do not have your crew ID or uniform and you have an upcoming assignment (trip, standby, or reserve), please email: [email protected] and cc [email protected] and [email protected] 24-48 hours before your assignment to let them know that you still do not have these required items.

Moving days off

If you agree to let OCC or planning move your day off, you will not receive any extra compensation. The bought day off payment is applied only when you agree to work on a day off and your day off is not replaced.

4.      Onboard Service

Everyone has been amazing in implementing the service concept and its several revisions over the past few weeks. There is always room for improvement and we need to keep the feedback coming in. Please don’t lose faith or be complacent. Our futures at Norse depend on the company making money and one of the most effective ways is through onboard sales. More work needs to be done to make the service more efficient and appealing to the passengers. Please continue to send emails to [email protected] and Diego at [email protected] with your feedback and suggestions for the onboard service.

5.      Crew Hotels

The LAX and BER hotels still haven’t been decided upon. LAX is especially difficult right now because of the huge rebound in travel in the LA area and many hotels do not want (or need) airline crew business. It is very possible that in LAX, we may need to settle for an airport hotel—at least until Spring of next year.

If you use a roster app like “Roster Buster” please note that the hotel information Roster provides is WRONG. The OSL and JFK hotels are incorrect and hotels in LAX and BER are listed when they haven’t been chosen yet.

Due to numerous complaints about the area surrounding the JFK crew hotel, we will be moving when our contract with the SpringHill in Jamaica is up (end of October). We will be looking for a new hotel further out from the airport.

MCO early check-in—Due to the FLL-MCO shuttle picking up and dropping off everyone in the middle of the night, many of you have arranged your own transport to the MCO hotel and asked to check-in early. We finally received confirmation from the Florida Hotel that they can guarantee an early check-in at 10PM. For those who want to check-in earlier than 10PM, you can still call ahead to see the hotel is full (ask the hotel if they don’t mind you checking in earlier than 10PM). If you show up unannounced asking to check-in early, you (or the company) may be assessed an early-check-in fee.

6.      Staff Travel

On Thursday’s Althing, Management revealed the details of the Staff Travel policy. After 90 days of employment, employees and their eligible travelers will be eligible for FREE unlimited space-available travel on Norse aircraft. We will only be responsible for taxes and fees. Our eligible travelers include children (no matter the age) and three travel companions of our choosing. We can choose to make your parents and spouse your travel companions or we can choose three completely different people. The three travel companions can travel independently and they do not need to travel with the employee. There won’t be buddy passes and we won’t be able to “bring” anyone with us when we are working. After our staff travel is sorted, we will be able to enter into reciprocal jump seat/cabin seat agreements with other airlines.

7.      Union organizing status

Next week, the AFA will file our signed union cards with the National Mediation Board in Washington, DC. This is the first step to establishing our own local AFA union here at Norse. After the cards are verified by the National Mediation Board, they will notify Norse that there is a “showing of interest” and Norse will accept the Union based on cards submitted. There will not be a need for a union election. After the union is certified, voting will commence on our Tentative Agreement that was negotiated between Norse and the AFA last year.

The AFA will put out a press release once we file for Union Representation with the NMB. We will email you again next week with a copy of the press release.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email or call us.

Sincerely,

Valentin

[email protected]

754-216-3406