The AFA Alaska-Virgin America Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) wrapped up our ninth merger negotiations session. We met with management on Wednesday, January 17^th in Seattle, WA.

Representing management: Vice President of Labor Relations Greg Mays, Vice President of Alaska Airlines and Virgin America Inflight & Call Center/Guest Services Jeff Butler, Managing Director of Labor Relations Elizabeth Ryan, and Virgin America Manager of Labor Emily Kimmel

AFA Director of Collective Bargaining Joe Burns joined the JNC again this week to support our efforts.

The parties made substantial progress this week building upon the work from last week.  We reached tentative agreement on several important comprehensive proposals.

Although we have reached several important tentative agreements, consistent with AFA’s policy, there is no comprehensive Tentative Agreement (TA) until all provisions have been finalized.  Once all items have been agreed between the union and the company, a full text TA will be presented to the Master Executive Council (MEC) for approval.

The parties will be meeting again next week to continue closing out the remaining open items. More information will be forthcoming after next week’s session concludes.

In Solidarity,

Your JNC – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jennifer Wise MacColl, Jamie Cogen, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

Keep in mind that merger negotiations are a different process than regular negotiations. Discussions are focusing on a limited list of Flight Attendant priorities. All the provisions in the AFA Alaska contract (scheduled pay raises, etc.) will continue in force for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants; all the provisions in the Virgin America work rules will remain in effect for pre-merger Virgin America Flight Attendants unless modified and/or superseded by the AFA Virgin America letters of agreement.

The AFA Alaska-Virgin America Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) just wrapped up this week’s session of merger negotiations, our seventh so far. We met with management from Tuesday, December 12^th through Thursday, December 14^th in Seattle, WA. Representing management: Vice President of Labor Relations Greg Mays, Vice President of Alaska Airlines and Virgin America Inflight & Call Center/Guest Services Jeff Butler, Managing Director of Labor Relations-Air Elizabeth Ryan, Virgin America Manager of Labor Emily Kimmel and Alaska Airlines Financial Planning & Analysis Manager Brittany Schaub. Alaska Airlines Director of Retirement Services Chrystie Dickens and Retirement Benefits Analyst Jaime Smalley also joined to discuss 401(k).

The parties are down to the point in negotiations where we are exchanging comprehensive proposals and discussing primarily economic issues. AFA and management exchanged several proposals this session. However, management’s last pass to the JNC did not go far enough to address important concerns for our members, and it is not a deal that we believe our members would ratify.

The JNC’s message to management is that reaching a ratifiable merger agreement is our chance to unify the Flight Attendant groups and move forward together. We hope management takes our message to heart. Our next merger negotiations session is scheduled for January 9-11, 2018.

In Solidarity,

Your JNC – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jennifer Wise MacColl, Jamie Cogen, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

Keep in mind that merger negotiations are a different process than regular negotiations. Discussions are focusing on a limited list of Flight Attendant priorities. All the provisions in the AFA Alaska contract (scheduled pay raises, etc.) will continue in force for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants; all the provisions in the Virgin America work rules will remain in effect for pre-merger Virgin America Flight Attendants unless modified and/or superseded by the AFA Virgin America letters of agreement.