Q: It’s my understanding that the only real reason that management would maybe come back with a “TA2” before Section 6 openers (besides pressure from the Board of Directors) is that AFA has not yet given them our Integrated Seniority List (ISL), and management needs that to operate. Will AFA give management our ISL if this TA gets voted down?
A: Management has unequivocally stated to the JNC that if the TA is voted down, they will wait for Section 6 negotiations to begin in October and not renegotiate the Merger TA.
Under AFA’s Constitution and Bylaws, AFA will not turn over the ISL until there is a ratified JCBA unless the MEC votes to release it. The MEC is 100% opposed to releasing the ISL without a ratified JCBA. The Company has no legal grounds to compel AFA to relinquish the ISL involuntarily. Without the ISL, the Flight Attendant groups cannot be combined.
However, management does not need the ISL to operate or merge the Company; management needs the ISL in order to achieve a unified inflight operation. Management may merge the operation “around” the Flight Attendant group. This has been done in other airline mergers. (See JNC blog post “ISL, JCBA and the Merger” for more info.)
