Purser Committee
MEC Purser Chair Kim Evasic
kevasic@nwaafa.org
MEC Purser Vice Chair Gary Helton
ghelton@nwaafa.org
The Purser Committee will address concerns pertaining to duties and responsibilities of Flight Attendants on Purser status.
The committee will concern itself with Purser-related issues and is committed to ensuring the company's full compliance of Section 9 (Purser) of the collective bargaining agreement.
purser@nwaafa.org
Purser & LOD Update
The committee will concern itself with Purser-related issues and is committed to ensuring the company's full compliance of Section 9 (Purser) of the collective bargaining agreement.
October 2009 - The Purser and LOD Programs were both created to enhance the level of customer service we provide to our passengers on international flights. Last month, as the LOD Program celebrated its first birthday and customer feedback consistently showed positive reaction to this new addition to our service. As Purser and LOD Committee Chairpersons, we would like to emphasize the valuable interaction between Purser and LOD flight attendants necessary to continue this quality of service.
If you are the Purser on your flight, take advantage of and utilize the language skills of your LOD flight attendants as you deem necessary. If you believe in-flight announcements in languages spoken by your LOD flight attendants enhance the service that you provide, you may request that they be made. LOD flight attendants’ linguistic skills are your tools to achieve a better quality of service.
Also, while cabin positions are bid by seniority, make sure that at least 1 main cabin position (i.e. not galley position) is contractually allocated for at least 1 LOD flight attendant regardless of language. This assures that passengers in all classes of service benefit from this new aspect of our service. If you are the LOD flight attendant on your flight, begin by introducing yourself as the LOD flight attendant during crew briefings, and identifying the language(s) you speak. This simple gesture allows all flight attendants, especially the Purser, an opportunity to acquaint themselves with your skills. On trans-Pacific flights, ask the Purser if announcements in your language (if different from the IFSRs) should be made. In addition, remember that while your service position limits the amount of personal attention to the passengers in your service zone, you are the designated LOD flight attendant(s) of the entire flight. Your role as cultural and language service provider encompasses the entire aircraft. - Submitted by Purser Committee Chair Kim Evasic and LOD Chair Jeffrey Ferrer
Posted by jrook on 12/04 at 07:44 PMPurser Conference call With Julie Showers-15th DEC 2008
December 19, 2008
To All Pursers,
As part of the ongoing Purser Leadership Series, Gary Helton and I participated in the monthly Purser conference call with Julie Showers on 15th Dec. A very important statement which has not been mentioned previously was revealed on the call by Julie herself and I would like to share a part of that conversation.
A bit of history first, as you are aware, Joanne Smith (SVP In-Flt) along with DAL In-Flight training department have applauded the Northwest Purser Program. They have been impressed with the Purser Qualification and Initial Training Program for months and have shown interest in adapting our program. At the most recent Initial Purser Training class in October there were 2 DAL employees participating in the training process to get a first-hand experience and to witness the entire week of qualification.
During the conversation with Julie a question was raised........Would NWA Pursers be required to go through a new qualification process to fly as Pursers post merged DAL? Julie’s reply was, “NO. THE CURRENT NWA PURSERS WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TO REQUALIFY AS DAL PURSERS”. This is the best news thus far regarding NWA Pursers. Therefore, I am encouraging all Pursers to maintain their qualification (mandatory CBT) and discourage any of our peers who are contemplating on withdrawing from the Purser Program till further information is available.
I would also like to remind you that none of this will matter if we do not maintain our union representation, as Section 9 (Pursers) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement will be null and void. It is imperative that we maintain the Purser scope language as is. Currently, there is 1 Purser scheduled on ALL NWA international flights including wide body aircraft from HNL to mainland. With DAL’s system, Pursers may only be scheduled on Asia/Europe route not Latin America or HNL...........or Pursers may be scheduled on wide body aircraft only, no Pursers for JFK/AMS on 757’s............or NO Purser for international charter flights. These are some of the important issues negotiated in Section 9 of AFA CBA which may be taken away from us if we lose our union representation. So, how important is your Purser status?
As always, we would love to hear from you at, .
Happy Holiday Season,
Kim Cook
AFA-MEC Purser Committee
Chairperson
Mandatory CBT Course Issues
October 15, 2008
Dear Ms. Showers:
You will recall from your Town hall Conference call to the Purser group on 03Oct08, that several pursers had made comments on one specific aspect to the mandatory CBT course which is required for maintaining Purser qualification. The concern is with regard to a video and supporting course content which gave an example of a Purser addressing a Flight Attendant’s non-compliant hair style.
The NWA AFA MEC Purser Committee contends that, that type of interaction was never the intent nor does it represent the past practice of the Purser Program since its inception in 2001.
You will perhaps recall that on that same conference call, Gary Helton commented that he felt the above mentioned video reference should be removed from the CBT and associated course content be edited. In addition, you agreed with the callers that the NWA FA Managers need to be doing a better job in that regard and we interpreted that to mean that you agreed with our position.
Disappointingly, to date there has been NO change to the course content (to our knowledge). The MEC Purser Committee is formally requesting the removal of the objectionable video from the mandatory CBT course along with the course content leading one to believe it’s expected for a Purser to address non-compliant hair, uniform, and grooming, for example. Furthermore, we request that the In-flight Training Department issue a retraction to address the appropriate expectations of all Pursers.
In closing, in the future, the Purser Committee would greatly appreciate all training materials to be forwarded for review in an appropriate timeframe prior to introducing any Purser-related training as stated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement - Section 9. With regard to this particular CBT course, the Committee was given the information less than 24 hours prior to its online introduction; therefore no review or feedback was exchanged.
Please advise us of your willingness to comply with the above requests at your earliest convenience and no later than 31October.
Sincerely,
Kim Cook, Chair
Gary Helton, Vice Chair
NWA AFA MEC Purser Committee
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
cc: MEC Officers