- AFA is a union organized by Flight Attendants for Flight Attendants. All AFA officers and committee members are Flight Attendants who have experience doing our job and understand the uniqueness of our profession.
- To help complement the representation work done by our officers and committees, AFA also employs experts in a variety of fields to provide professional support and add to our strength.
- Two AFA staff members assigned to AFA Alaska play key roles in the negotiation and administration of our contract: AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo and AFA Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput.
Ever since AFA was first established, our union has been organized by Flight Attendants for Flight Attendants. The structure of AFA, as laid out in our constitution and bylaws, is designed to be democratic and driven by members. The officers and committee members who represent us are fellow coworkers who sit next to us on the jump seat and know the problems and challenges that we face on the job.
AFA also employs experts across a variety of fields to complement and provide support to our officers and committee members. Many of these experts make up the professional staff members at AFA International. Two groups of these staff members that play an integral role in the negotiation and administration of our collective bargaining agreement are the AFA Collective Bargaining Department and AFA Legal Department.
About the AFA Collective Bargaining Department
Professional negotiators in the AFA Collective Bargaining Department are focused on obtaining the best Flight Attendant contracts in the industry. They assist our Negotiating Committee with contract negotiations every step of the way. With more than 100 years of combined negotiating experience, AFA’s professional negotiators are able to leverage that experience in contract negotiations for Flight Attendants. The negotiator assigned to AFA Alaska is AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo.
Paula Mastrangelo, AFA Senior Staff Negotiator
With over 25 years of experience as a Staff Negotiator at AFA, Paula Mastrangelo believes that Flight Attendants drive successful agreements through steady commitment to strong labor activism and engagement. She believes that engagement is inspired by clear, transparent communication with AFA membership throughout the negotiating process.
Paula has worked with Alaska Flight Attendants through several contract campaigns. She was our staff negotiator for the 1994 CHAOS™ strike agreement and the Alaska/Virgin America JCBA and is well acquainted with our Contract and our culture. In addition to her work at Alaska, Paula has concluded contracts at United, AirTran, and Spirit, and many regional carriers. She recently concluded the Hawaiian Airlines contract.
About the AFA Legal Department
The AFA Legal Department works to enforce and protect the rights of Flight Attendants. Our eight highly-experienced in-house attorneys are solely focused on the contractual and legal rights of our Flight Attendant members. AFA attorneys fight to enforce Flight Attendants’ rights in court under federal law, and provide legal, strategic and policy advice at all levels of our union, from industry-wide legal and bargaining strategy to the latest legislative and regulatory policy initiatives, all with the exclusive goal of enhancing the Flight Attendant profession. The attorney assigned to AFA Alaska is AFA Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput.
Kimberley Chaput, AFA Staff Attorney
Kimberley Chaput serves as our Staff Attorney. In that position, she works to enforce our contract–making sure that negotiated provisions are applied correctly. Kimberley has worked with Alaska and Horizon for all of her 20-year career with AFA. Her work has also included arbitrations and contract negotiations at many other AFA-represented carriers.
Kimberley attended law school at the University of Oregon after completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois. She lives in Astoria, Oregon, loves the rain and never wants to leave the Pacific Northwest.
What is our culture at Alaska Airlines? Asking for more clarification as we begin our upcoming negotiations. How is our culture at Alaska Airlines different from other AFA carriers? Thank you.
From my point of view, culture at any airline is based on a culmination of the experiences, challenges, and successes that employees have faced over time. Within our Flight Attendant group, a lot of this is driven by who is in management and how effective (or ineffective) they are at doing their job, the environment we experience at work, and the things that we value as a group. Similarly, Flight Attendants at other AFA carriers have had their own unique experiences that has created their culture over time.