Click the link below to view the minutes from the June 18th Quarterly Reserve Meeting with Scheduling Management.
401(k) Contribution for the Quarterly Productivity Premium (QPP)
Management and AFA Making Progress on Disputes Related to the Quarterly Productivity Premium (QPP)
Alaska Airlines management and AFA have been in discussions regarding several disputes associated with the Quarterly Productivity Premium (QPP) (see also the June 12th “Where is the Printed Contract?” and/or the “Quarterly Productivity Premium (QPP) Update – April 24, 2015” for more background). After months of back and forth, the parties are now making swift progress towards resolving those disputes.
One aspect of the QPP dispute is in relation to 401(k) contributions
One aspect of the QPP dispute is in relation to 401(k) contributions. At one point management held the position that QPP was not eligible earning for 401(k). We are pleased to report that going forward management has agreed all QPP payouts will be considered eligible earnings for 401(k).
Today’s paycheck contains a make-whole contribution to 401(k) based on Q1 QPP
AFA received “notice” only this morning that the June 19th (today’s) paycheck contains an additional make-whole contribution to 401(k) for those who received the QPP from the first quarter (Q1) (paid on May 5th). That means any Flight Attendant who achieved the Q1 QPP of $500 received an additional pre-tax contribution to 401(k) of $35 on top of your normal 401(k) contribution on today’s paycheck. (This is assuming you are contributing 7% of your earnings to 401(k), which you all should be doing with few exceptions!) You should have also received an additional $35 Company match on top of the normal Company match. In other words, your total 401(k) contribution will be proportionately higher on this check than usual. This is a really good thing—except for the lack of notice!
Roth 401(k) tax implications
For those of you who participate in the Roth 401(k) option, additional funds were withheld for taxes on your portion of the Roth 401(k) contribution at your personal tax rate. On an additional $35 contribution, that would translate to as much as $9 or so more than your usual withholdings based on the higher income tax brackets.
Normal 401(k) contributions on QPP earnings will be paid in Q2 going forward
Beginning with the second quarter QPP payout (Q2 = April, May, June) on August 5th, 401(k) contributions based on QPP earnings will be made normally.
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AFA would have passed this information along to you sooner had we been provided sufficient notice. We will continue to update you on any developments with the QPP disputes as we resolve them.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; and MEC Grievance chairperson Jennifer Wise MacColl
ORD Hotel News
Restaurant Discount
The ORD hotel is no longer offering crews the 50% discount off food. This was a promotion that was being offered by the hotel. The discount will revert to the contractual 20% discount with crew ID.
Airport Construction
Construction will be going on at ORD to the upper ramp. During the construction, all pick-up and drop off will be at the lower ramp, where all of the hotel shuttles pick up.
Questions?
Please contact your Local Hotel Committee
New Open Time Trading System Implementation Delay
Just when you thought implementation of the new contract was going (relatively) smoothly…
According to the Contract Implementation Schedule, Open Time was scheduled for implementation in July for the August bid month. Unfortunately, AFA received notice from management yesterday that implementation of the new Open Time trading system will be delayed at least one month.
You may access an electronic copy of the notice (that lists all the technical reasons for the delay) here.
Reasons why it is taking so long
AFA has participated in almost all of the implementation meetings and updates and we can assure you that management and Jeppesen (the provider of Maestro and eMaestro) have been working on updating the crew tracking and trading system ever since the contract ratified. There are several reasons why it is taking so long to reprogram the system:
- Alaska will begin transitioning to a new crew tracking system later next year but until then we have to manage to get along with our current system.
- Maestro/eMaestro is antiquated and fragile. All parties are being cautious with any changes because there is concern that significant new programming will destabilize the system enough to completely crash it. For those of you who have been around long enough, can you imagine having to go back to email trades? Not good!
- There are very few programmers left at Jeppesen who even work with the underlying framework of Maestro/eMaestro. Only two carriers use this system (one being Alaska). That means there are limited resources that can be allocated to reprogramming.
AFA and management believe it is prudent to wait another month
Alaska Airlines management and AFA do not want to go live with a new Open Time trading system that has the possibility of crashing not only Open Time but also electronic trip trading in general. Although this is a disappointing development, we want the new Open Time system to be a success. Therefore AFA and management believe it is prudent to wait another month in order to provide more time to properly debug the system. As a reminder, the trial period of the new Open Time trading system begins once the system is actually implemented.
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In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt; and MEC Scheduling chairperson Jake Jones
6.12.15 OT Delay letter to AFA
LAX LEC Scheduling Chair Tim Green
Congratulations to Tim Green, our new LOCAL SCHEDULING CHAIR. He will be the person advocating for our LAX flight attendant schedules and overseeing scheduling issues.
With our new contract we formed a new MEC Scheduling Committee. Jake Jones was appointed by the MEC as the new MEC Scheduling Chair. Our LEC Scheduling Chair Tim Green will be working with him and other chairs from all other bases.
We are also excited that LAXFA Sherrijon Gaspard has been selected as AFA’s Pairing Analyst. She took over Jeff Stein’s position earlier this year.
We want to thank Tim, Jake, and Sherrijon in advance for all of their hard work ahead. Please reach out to either of them with any of your suggestions and concerns. They would love to receive your feedback.
Tim Green ScheduleLAX@yahoo.com
Sherrijon Gaspard sggaspard@gmail.com
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