03.14.2018

If the March 2019 date to implement is met when can trading and swapping bases start?

Trading and swapping of all bases between the combined Flight Attendant group will start the month following Full Implementation. So, if Full Implementation happens in March 2019, then awarding and swapping of bases will begin in April. There will be no base re-bid. No one Flight Attendant will be able to “bump” another out of her/his base.

Why aren’t the L-VX Flight Attendants on the Alaska pay scale now?

As soon as AFA won representation rights for the L-VX Flight Attendants in April of 2017, AFA went in immediately and demanded the AS payrates for the L-VX Flight Attendants. Management said no, but AFA was able to negotiate an interim pay increase of about 20%, but not full parity.

This same question was asked of Alaska CEO, Brad Tilden, and his response in an employee meeting was that management made a calculated bargaining decision and decided NOT to allow the L-VX Flight Attendants to have the AS rates in order to put pressure on AFA in merger negotiations. They wanted full pay parity to wait and be part of the merger negotiations.

If the JCBA is ratified, the L-VX Flight Attendants will have the L-AS JCBA rates retroactive to 1.1.18.

If the TA ratifies when will they receive our pay rates?

L-VX Flight Attendants will receive the L-AS JCBA pay rates retroactive to 1.1.18.

What about the work rules such as duty day?

The L-AS work rules will apply to the L-VX Flight Attendants at Full Implementation (target date, March 2019). The current L-VX crew-tracking system (Sabre) cannot be reprogrammed with different work rules – Sabre no longer supports this software program. The L-VX Flight Attendants cannot go onto the L-AS JCTE program because “visops” which tracks the aircraft movement and feeds into JCTE only recognizes one aircraft type. Until Full Implementation, both groups are partitioned into their separate crew tracking systems.

What if it doesn’t ratify?

Upper management is insistent that if the Tentative Agreement is not ratified, they will NOT go back and negotiate TA2. They insist that they will wait for “Section 6” full contract negotiations to start in October.

If that happens, then we will go into full contract negotiations with two Flight Attendant groups that are flying under different contract/work rule provisions and at different rates of pay. The company cannot combine the two groups without a ratified JCBA that stipulates AFA giving the company the Integrated Seniority List.

There is no way to tell with certainty how determined the company is to not go back and agree to a “TA2”. That is the $64,000 question and there is no way to realistically answer that question with any degree of certainty.

Duty days and could L-VX do a SEA-PHL turn on an Airbus?

The Negotiations Protocol Agreement restricts the company from opening a Flight Attendant domicile where there already is a Flight Attendant domicile (e.g. No L-VX FA domicile in SEA). Until Full Implementation, no L-AS Flight Attendant can work on an Airbus. So there could be no SEA-PHL “turn” on an Airbus. However, a SEA-PHL-SEA segment could be part of an Airbus (L-VX) multi-day pairing. In that situation, the L-VX crew would be forced to layover in SEA.

How many will be affected by the Red Circle Letter of Agreement?

Approximately 100 L-VX Flight Attendants would be affected by this.

FA’s that were fired from Alaska that now work for Virgin will they still be on the seniority list?

If a Flight Attendant is on the seniority list at L-VX and in good standing, they will have a place on the Integrated Seniority List.

When you retire and want to bridge insurance?

If a Flight Attendant retires from Alaska Airlines and is at least 62 years of age and not yet 65 years of age, then s/he can opt to continue the Alaska Airlines medical insurance until age 65 using 20 TFP a month of accrued sick leave in her/his bank. The level of coverage (e.g. employee-only, employee-spouse, family, etc.) in place at the time of retirement will continue.

[See “Full Implementation” Guarantees / Penalties [VX], “Full Implementation” Guarantees / Penalties 2 [VX], “Full Implementation” Guarantees / Penalties 3 [VX] and “Full Implementation” Guarantees / Penalties 4 [VX] for more info.]

Q:     I realize now that there are penalties to the Company if the groups are not integrated by March 2, 2019. Do you know if this will be enough of a penalty?  AA/US and CO/UA have also ratified joint contracts and are still flying separately. I was curious if you know the reason why AA/US and UA/CO are still flying separate and if they had any integration penalties in their joint contracts as well?

A:     There are several questions contained in this one post, so we will answer them separately:

1. There is no telling if any penalty is ever enough to prevent something.  However, it is important to remember that management desperately wants to merge all labor groups as soon as possible.  If the March 2, 2019, “target” integration date is not achieved, then the TA provides for all L-VX pairings (trips in the bid packet) to be built using the L-AS CBA rules (i.e. 10.5 hr duty day and layover rest) starting in March.  When you consider that the L-VX FA pairings are currently built using 14 hr scheduled duty day and FAR minimum rest on layovers, using the L-AS provisions would significantly impact how much flying could be accomplished. Management would have to figure out how to cover that additional flying and significant cost would accrue to the Company. Additionally, there is significant pressure on management because they have promised Wall Street, their investors and outside analysts that this merger will happen by mid 2019.  Upper management is under extreme pressure to achieve merger target dates. That pressure is more significant than any penalty we could achieve in negotiations.
2. Flight Attendant groups at United/Continental and American/ US Airways are both slated to be fully integrated in October of this year.  Those merger agreements were negotiated some time ago and yes it has been a long road to achieve that. The situation is further complicated because both carriers being “absorbed” had contracts in place and Flight Attendants are transitioning off of those provisions.
3. There were no penalties in either the AA or UAL merger agreements.
4. Technology has played a significant part in the delay.  However other complications have also contributed. UAL has separate international and domestic bases, and the entire membership had to vote on the system going forward.  Cross training is also a significant hurdle considering the multiple equipment types and the number of Flight Attendants involved. At AA, there was a dispute about when the AA Flight Attendants would be transitioned onto PBS (AOS system), and that resulted in a grievance which is now at the system board level.  The position of APFA (the union representing AA FAs) is that integration cannot go forward absent the dispute being resolved. In an unusual turn of events, management just recently filed its own grievance in protest

[See also Maternity Extension Leave [VX]]

[Note: This post has been revised with updated information. Clarifications or edits are indicated in strikeout font for deleted text and underlined font for added text. – Edited 03.15.2018 jtp]

Q:      I’m wondering what the work requirement would be to ensure time off for L-VX FAs on Maternity Extension Leave. As you know, VX used to require 504 duty hours in order to qualify for the 12 weeks baby bonding. Does AS require the same amount of work in order to take the additional 8 months leave? Or do you just have to have worked for AS for 6 months? Have flown 480 TFP? Or are all expectant moms guaranteed maternity leave regardless of how much and how long they’ve flown for VX/AS?

A:     It’s complicated. Alaska management is requiring any L-VX FA who applies for intermittent baby bonding under the California Family Right Act (CFRA) after 1/1/2018 must have achieved 1250 hours in order to be eligible. This is the Company’s interpretation of its obligation for 12 weeks of intermittent continuous baby bonding under CFRA, which is not contractual. To qualify for the contractual Maternity Leave Extension of eight months, the FA is automatically qualified upon expiration of her Maternity Leave if she applies for the Maternity Leave Extension. In order to remain covered for healthcare insurance at the active employee rates, she must have available sick leave and/or vacation in order to coordinate with the leave pursuant to §15.M; otherwise, the leave is unpaid and she would be responsible for the full cost of healthcare insurance. A L-AS FA has available sick leave after the completion of probation (although a new Washington Paid Sick Leave law allows sick leave access earlier, so that law is currently working its way through the courts) and available vacation after the first year of service as long as she has achieved the appropriate 480 thresholds. L-VX FAs will be able to immediately access Maternity Leave Extension upon ratification of the Merger Agreement, and the FA will be on an unpaid leave but remain covered by healthcare insurance at the active employee rates until Full Integration; at Full Integration, the contractual requirement to draw sick leave and/or vacation will take over in order to maintain healthcare benefits at the active employee rates and to be paid. AFA strongly suggests any L-VX FAs who are currently on or anticipating to be on any type of Maternity Leave to contact your local union leadership (vx@afaalaska.org) to discuss your options.

[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.

03.13.2018

[Note: These notes were recorded at the time of the roadshow and are presented as recorded. Any clarifications or edits that have been applied after the roadshows are indicated in strikeout font for deleted text and underlined font for added text. – Edited 03.14.2018 jtp]

Seniority and Peoplesoft number: How is that figured?

Going forward the seniority number will be done randomly. It will be a combination of part of the Peoplesoft number and part of the SS# number. If the number is the same between two FAs, they will take the fourth digit as the tie-breaker.

What is the difference between voluntary furloughs versus staffing adjustment?

Voluntary furlough is different then a staffing adjustment and there is carved out language specifically for a voluntary furlough. A staffing adjustment leave is to temporarily reduce staffing–usually for 30, 60 or 90 days. It is the equivalent of a SLOA at VX.