Q:     I can’t seem to find the part in the TA about getting retro pay for L-AS Flight Attendants back to January 2018. Is that true, and if it is, will L-AS FAs be getting the on the April 20th paycheck if the TA passes?

A:     Retro pay for L-AS FAs to January 1, 2018, is located in the L-AS FA Transition Agreement 2018 (located on the Merger TA & Info page) under “JCBA Implementation Schedule.” If the TA is ratified, L-AS retro pay is anticipated on the May 20th paycheck.

Q:     I was trying to find the VX Playbook 2017 revision that is listed on the “L-VX FA Transition Agreement 2018 TA”. It is not on Alaska’s World, in Goodreader on the IMD, or on VX Connect (the 2014 version is the most recent on VX Connect). I believe it used to be accessible through Alaska’s World for Teammates (the VX employee version). Where can I access it now or has it been replaced by the AS “Our People Policy”?

A:     The VX Interim Playbook 2017 has been pulled down by management in several locations because it was replaced by the AS “Our People Policy.” That version can still (as of 3.12.2018 @ 5pm PT) be found on Alaskasworld “Virgin America teammate playbook gets a new home” (September 27, 2017) or directly accessed here (login required).

The relevant language is as follows:

Personal Days (rev. Mar. 2010)

Personal days or personal time are paid hours off to be used at your discretion, with prior team leader approval per your team’s work rules. Personal days are accrued each pay period starting on your hire date, while you are in active, paid status. All regular full-time, non-crew Teammates accrue two eight-hour personal days each year of employment, or 16 hours of paid personal time. Regular part-time non-crew Teammates who work at least 18.5 hours per week will accrue two four-hour personal days per year of employment, or eight hours of paid personal time. Crewmember personal day entitlements are set forth in the work rules for those departments.

The maximum number of personal days that you are able to accrue is capped at 1.5 times the regular rate of accrual.

Non-exempt, non-crew Teammates may use personal days in one-hour increments. Exempt, non-crew Teammates may use personal days in full or one-half day increments. For example, a HQ exempt Teammate who works a standard workweek may take a one-half day off by utilizing four hours of personal days time.

Some examples of what personal days can be used for are holidays that are not designated company holidays for your department, time out of the office for regular doctor or dentist appointments, to supplement sick or vacation time, or for any personal matter. “

In the event that you leave Virgin America, you will be paid for all accrued and unused personal days through your date of separation.

[See also Productivity Premium Program (PPP) [JCBA]]

Q:     I have a question about the new PPP program set to replace the QPP program under the TA. Specifically, I’m concerned about the ability to pick up extra flying since every FA who wants the productivity bonus will need to pick up 5 TFP per month.  It seems like this will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to find any trips either in open time or FA/FA. This is even more troubling given the fact that our awarded monthly lines of flying are continually being built to lower and lower TFP per month.

A:      Average line awards are low at currently because L-AS is temporarily overstaffed in anticipation of aircraft differences training starting in a few months and the summer staffing needs. That situation will not be a permanent condition. A majority of Flight Attendants will benefit from the PPP because unpaid and paid vacation (including Longevity PTO) will count towards achieving the PPP, whereas vacation does not count towards achieving QPP. However, the requirement to fly 5.0 TFP  over one’s PBS bid award equivalent for the monthly blocks and 40.0 TFP over the 8-month block is a requirement of the provision for your consideration under the TA.

It is important to note that a “transitional only” agreement would have needed to be ratified by a majority of the entire membership (L-VX and L-AS). The JNC and the MEC were concerned that a “transitional only” agreement would have been challenging to ratify because the current 2014-2019 agreement ratified by only a 10% margin (55% to 45%) on the L-AS side. Based on membership feedback from the Merger Negotiations survey, we concluded that it would have been questionable to put out the same agreement for ratification and expect a groundswell of support if that agreement did not contain improvements.

Q:     What would the integration look like if AFA had not sought improvements to the current CBA for L-AS FAs? In other words, where would L-VX stand with pay and work rules, and how long would it have taken to get them under our contract had the JNC negotiated a transitional agreement (that presumably would have taken less time to negotiate)?

A:     It is likely that L-VX would have been brought up to the current Alaska pay rates (that would not include the additional 4.5% increase in the TA), but it is not possible to say with certainty when those pay rates would have been effective. There would have been no impact to L-VX work rules because the March 2019 target date for Full Implementation is based on aircraft differences training (to be completed by year’s end 2018) and Sabre (L-VX) and JCTE (L-AS) programming constraints. In other words, a “transitional only” agreement would still have the same March 2019 target date for Full Implementation (i.e. transition from work rules to the L-AS contractual provisions). However, a “transitional only” agreement would not have included the additional pay increase, 401(k) match, extra holiday, change from QPP to PPP, no 1/12th reduction for vacation accrual, 4 year medical leave duration, etc., that are contained in this TA.

Q:     I see a lot of FAs asking, “Why couldn’t L-VX just be brought up to the L-AS pay scale and work rules immediately without negotiation?” Admittedly I know there is a process, but I am not completely familiar with the why and why nots. Could AFA please address this particular question?

A:     Management could have brought up L-VX to the L-AS pay scale immediately, and AFA would have agreed to that approach. AFA and management agreed to interim pay rate increases in April 2017 shortly after AFA was certified by the National Mediation Board as the representing union for L-VX FAs, but management would not agree to additional increases in order to maintain some bargaining leverage (as was explained in the JNC blog “Representation and Pay Rate Disparity [VX]” post). Realistically, achieving full L-AS contractual work rules would not have happened any earlier than under the Merger TA because of programming constraints in Sabre and JCTE. Even in a “transitional only” contract, there are many provisions that still would have needed to be negotiated in order to bring L-VX on the L-AS contract, such as sick leave, Attendance Policy, uniform allotment, et cetera, and the related implementation timelines for those transitional provisions.

Q:     Page 3 of the Summary of the VX Transition Agreement states “All 480 provisions will NOT affect L-VX FAs until the calendar year 2021. The qualification year will be 2020.”  On page 2 under “Ability to Trade Trips Below 70 hours” it states “at full integration (targeted for March 2019) VX FAs may trade down to -0-.”  So are the L-VX FAs held to the same 480 rules that L-AS FAs are for the year 2019 and 2020?

A:     The 480 provisions will not affect L-VX Flight Attendants until the calendar year 2021 (with flying in 2020 for qualification). L-VX Flight Attendants will not be flying and working under the JCBA until Full Integration (targeted for March 2019), so L-VX FAs will not have a full calendar year under the JCBA provisions until 2020. Keep in mind that until DOR (April 3, 2018), L-VX Flight Attendants are working under current L-VX work rules, which specify that they cannot drop below 70 block hours per month. After DOR and until Full Integration, L-VX FAs can trade down to 50–but only to another Flight Attendant. That means all L-VX FAs are subject a 70 block hour monthly minimum (50 block hour monthly minimum if traded to another FA after DOR), so all L-VX Flight Attendants will fly well over 480 for 2018 and a long ways toward the 480 up to Full Integration in 2019. Once again, L-VX FAs will be subject to the 480 provisions the very first year after they have a full calendar year of activity as an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant (i.e. accruing 480 qualifications in 2020 for application in 2021).