Q.  How is it that a JCBA is being put forward for consideration when L-VX was previously represented by TWU and they did not have a contract in place?  Doesn’t this mean that they weren’t a “represented carrier” and Section X of the AFA Constitution & Bylaws wouldn’t apply?

A.  L-VX Flight Attendants are absolutely AFA-CWA members and Virgin America is an AFA represented carrier.  It is correct that L-VX Flight Attendants originally organized under TWU but they became an AFA represented carrier when the National Mediation Board certified AFA as their legal collective bargaining representative in April of 2017 (click here to see the NMB certification determination).

Once the merger was announced, it was obvious that given the disparity in numbers of Flight Attendants, that AFA would be the successor union.  Discussions between AFA and TWU confirmed this and TWU agreed that they would not contest the National Mediation Board’s (NMB) certification of AFA as the successor union.  Thus it was always clear that both carriers would be AFA carriers.

The reason that AFA did not petition the NMB sooner for a decision on representation is because TWU was just finalizing negotiations on a first Tentative Agreement for the L-VX Flight Attendants and AFA did not want to interfere.  After the TA failed, AFA quickly secured representation rights for the L-VX Flight Attendants.

It is important to note that Virgin America became an AFA carrier well before the merger transaction or Single Operating Certificate (SOC) was completed as well as the fact that JCBA negotiations did not commence until both carriers were represented by AFA.  Equally important to note is the fact that AAG’s acquisition of VX is not what constitutes the merger; the merger transaction was the legal combination of AS and VX into one company and occurred after AAG’s acquisition.

Per the AFA Constitution and Bylaws, Section X, Merger Policy and Related Employee Protective Provisions the MEC is required to follow the merger policy which stipulates numerous steps including the negotiation of a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement.

You can view the full Section X, Merger Provisions here -> http://cdn.afacwa.org/docs/afa/afa-cb-2016.pdf
(Section X starts on page 125 of the PDF)

To review the AFA communication on achieving representation of Virgin America see here ->  http://afaalaska.org/latest-%20news/afa-now-represents-virgin-america-flight-attendants

Q.  Thank you for the webinar for those not able to make a roadshow.  Even before the webinar I was wondering something about the pay. As a member of the first class after 9/11 and having been a CSA since 1999, our training for FA began approx. Jan 5th 2002 but we were held from coming online (to wait for the 2nd training class to finish their training) and not getting our base orientation date which has become our pay increase date until 4/29/02.  (Completed already 15 years, we are 1 month away from completing 16 years)

If the JCBA TA passes then with seniority sync-up we will get the 4.5% increase PLUS our longevity premium also backdated?  (Because we would have completed 16 years by our training date back in January 2018) Or are we just that years classes who get lost in the payroll and computer shuffle?

A.  Yes, the Longevity Premium  would be retroactive.  Under the Integrated Seniority List, your occupational seniority date will be adjusted back to include initial training.  Let’s say that it started on Jan 5, 2002. If the JCBA is ratified, then you would have 16 years of service credit as of Jan 5, 2018. That would make you eligible for the Longevity Premium in Section 21.C. of the CBA.  The retroactive provision (to 1.1.18) would capture and pay your the Longevity Premium for which you were not eligible under the current CBA. You would receive the $1 premium retroactively on all Worked TFP from Jan 5, 2018 through the Date of Ratification (DOR) and would continue to receive it from then on.

The L-AS Transition Letter of Agreement [http://afaalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/L-AS-FA-Transition-Agreement-2018-TA-2018.02.16.1300.pdf] provides for the following on the adjusted seniority date:

1.    As soon as practicable following ratification, each pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant’s Occupational Seniority date (see JCBA §5 Definitions) will be synched up with her/his adjusted Competitive Bidding Seniority date, which is the date set forth in the Integrated Seniority List (ISL) certified by the AFA Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC).
2.    Any pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant whose Occupational Seniority date and Company Seniority date is the same date prior to receiving an adjustment to her/his Occupational Seniority date will have her/his Company Seniority date synced up with her/his new Occupational Seniority date. The Company agrees to recognize adjusted Company Seniority for the appropriate Company benefits including but not limited to pass travel and vacation accrual as soon as practicable. The Company also agrees to re-issue Crew ID badges with the adjusted Company Seniority date as soon as practicable at no cost to the Flight Attendant.
3.    Retroactive to January 1, 2018, and on a go-forward basis, each pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant will advance to the next step rate of pay, qualify for the appropriate Longevity Premium and Vacation Paid Time Off entitlement in accordance with her/his adjusted Occupational Seniority date.

Q.    Why are Virgin employees that have worked as a CSA or in another part of their company having that time counted toward their seniority date as a flight attendant when the merger goes through?   This was not ever done for Alaska employees.

A.     L-VX Flight Attendants Occupational Seniority is currently determined by they their first day of Inflight Training.  For more information on how this will be handled in the integration of the seniority lists, see this webinar video: https://youtu.be/ZyF-eYZMQvE

Occupational Seniority is used for bidding (both schedules and vacation).  If a L-VX Flight Attendant had prior service with VX then her/his Company Seniority date would be the original date hired by VX and would apply for pass travel and retirement.  This is consistent with how Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants who transferred from another Alaska Airlines department would be handled.

The difference between the two policies is how L-VX Flight Attendants who have had previous VX service are paid.  At L-VX if a person transferred internally into the Flight Attendant position, s/he was paid based on Company seniority unlike the policy at Alaska.  

In order to address this difference the TA includes the L-VX Red Circle Pay Rates LOA. 

If ratified, the LOA takes those Flight Attendants (who worked previously for VX in another department) and holds them at their current step rate until their occupational seniority (or their inflight class) catches up to them.  Then they begin to progress through the pay scale as any other Flight Attendant would based on their occupational seniority. The language reads as follows:

1.  Effective the last day of the bid month in which ratification of the JCBA occurs, Legacy Virgin America (“Alaska Airbus”) Flight Attendants whose Company Seniority is greater than their VX Occupational Seniority (i.e. date of hire with the Company is prior to their date of hire as a Virgin America Flight Attendant) due to a transfer from another Company job classification will have their pay step “red-circled” at their pay step as determined by their Company Seniority. Such Flight Attendants will remain “red-circled” at that pay step, inclusive of any down-line increases, until their pay step as determined by their Occupational Seniority exceeds their “red-circled” pay step.

2.  Once the Flight Attendant’s pay step, as determined by her/his Occupational Seniority, exceeds her/his “red-circled” pay step, then s/he will advance to the appropriate pay step determined by her/his Occupational Seniority. Every anniversary thereafter, the Flight Attendant will advance to the next pay step as determined by Occupational Seniority and receive the appropriate down-line increase(s).”

The JNC’s first proposal to management to address this problem was to allow all AAG employees who were internal transfers to the Flight Attendant position to receive the same application and receive pay based on the Company Seniority.  Management refused this proposal as being too costly and potentially having a negative impact to other departments. There was concern it would cause a mass exodus from other operational work groups and that in the end they would stop hiring internally for the Flight Attendant position.  

The JNC then had to address the only other alternative which was to bump the current L-VX Flight Attendants who were being paid based on their company seniority several pay steps back to their occupational seniority step.  This would have resulted in a loss of pay or no increase for many. The solution that the JNC felt was the most reasonable was to hold them at their pay step until they became equal to their occupational seniority, attempting to do the least amount of harm while phasing out the policy entirely.

For additional information you can watch the TA webinar video on the “Red Circle” LOA here: https://youtu.be/KK2Z9NaGTlM

And find additional questions answered on the “Red Circle” LOA here:

• VX “Red-Circled” Pay Rates: Intra-Company (e.g. GST) Transfers 2 [JCBA]
• VX “Red Circled” Pay Rates: Pay Rates vs. Competitive Bidding Seniority [JCBA]

Q.     I just found the LOA of Airbus training bidding.  However I did not see where it told us if that two days of training bid so far in advance counts in our monthly TFP for bid award assignment by PBS, or do we have to be awarded the line average award on top of 2 days at training?  Or do we get 12 TFP pre-awarded in our schedule before PBS starts loading us up with trips?

Does this mean that all Airbus trips will be in PBS to bid and us working them in March 2019, and all FAs will have the same duty day of max. 10.5 hours by March 2019?

A.    Airbus Transition Training for L-AS Flight Attendants will be a pre-planned absence for purposes of bidding in NavBlue with a credit value of 12 TFP.  The TFP value of transition training will be credited toward the line values during the line construction process.  This is per section 10.F.2.a of the CBA.

If the TA is ratified, Full Integration is slated for March 2019 which means that all Flight Attendants L-VX and L-AS will be bidding together (in their respective bases for all Airbus and Boeing flying) at the beginning of February.  All March pairings will be built under the JCBA which maintains all current Alaska Flight Attendant CBA provisions with respect to duty and rest provisions including the 10.5 hour duty day.