Q: Why did the Negotiating Committee start at Step 3 in the TA2 “Progressing Through the Pay Steps” video? It seems like this video is more focused on the junior Flight Attendants and their pay raises.
A: The video is geared towards the lower seniority steps only in the sense that it was specifically designed to explain how to read the chart if one is moving through the pay scale. It is very confusing for some Flight Attendants to understand how their pay increases across the life of the agreement–particularly if they are receiving step increases on their anniversary date as well as the annual downline 1.5% increases to the entire pay scale.
The Negotiating Committee randomly picked a 3-year Flight Attendant for the example. However, we could have easily chosen any other step rate below Step 10 to start the walk through the scale. Why below Step 10? Because Step 10 or above is or would be topped out during the life of the agreement.
Reading the chart is a fairly straight forward task for a Flight Attendant who is already topped out. That is because the chart can be more simply read left to right on the same line all the way across at the top of scale rate. A Flight Attendant currently at Step 17 will receive an 18% increase over the life of the agreement based on increases to the step rates alone.
The intent of the video is not to highlight the specific pay rates at any particular step. The video is intended as a general educational piece on how to read the chart in the context of moving through the step rates and in combination with the downline increases. Hopefully that explains why the NC highlighted Step 3 as a starting point for the example in the video.
