[See also VX “Red-Circled” Pay Rates: Intra-Company (e.g. GST) Transfers [JCBA]]
Q: I am hoping someone can clarify this for me. If an Alaska employee is a CSA (or any other work group) and they change over to a FA—the only thing that “carries” over is their years of service related to vacation accrual. As far as FA seniority and pay, they start at the bottom. Word on the street is that at Virgin, this is not the case. As an example…let’s say there was a Virgin employee that was a CSA for six years—and at year seven she became a FA. Now it is two years later…so her company seniority is 9 years and her FA seniority is two years. It appears Virgin’s company policy is to have that person grandfathered in at her company seniority on the FA seniority list, i.e., as if she had been a FA for nine years, and year nine on the pay scale as well. Is this true? And if it is not true…can you tell me how it is being handled?
A: A L-VX FA who was a GST (CSA) for six years and who now has been a L-VX FA for two years has eight years of Company Seniority and two years of Occupational Seniority. At L-VX, s/he accrues vacation and is also paid as an eight year Flight Attendant, but s/he bids for vacation days and her/his schedule as a two year Flight Attendant. A L-AS FA who was a CSA for six years and who now has been a L-AS FA for two years also has eight years of Company Seniority and two years of Occupational Seniority. However, at L-AS this FA accrues accrues vacation as an eight year Flight Attendant, but s/he is paid, bids for vacation days and bids for her/his schedule as a two year Flight Attendant. As you can see, there is a difference in how the FAs are paid at L-VX vs at L-AS. Seniority applications are currently and will continue to remain the same for bidding at L-VX and L-AS. There is a provision to retain and “red circle” (i.e. ‘freeze’) the current pay step for L-VX intra-company transfers into L-VX Inflight. This is addressed in the VX Red Circle Pay Rates Letter of Agreement. The L-VX FAs and the L-AS FAs in this example bid as two year Flight Attendants; the L-VX FA would be “red circled” as a eight year FA (until her/his FA classmates catch up to Year 9), and the L-AS FA is paid as a two year FA. All L-VX intra-company transfers are currently and will continue to be treated the exact same as L-AS intra-company transfers for bidding purposes. In other words, all L-VX and L-AS FAs bid using Occupational Seniority no matter where they came from. Again, this is a pay application only.
