Here is management’s response:
Jeff,
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your question and to clarify the reasons both provisions remain important to us.
It has been our goal throughout these negotiations to improve productivity. Our belief is that we should have rates of pay that rank high within the industry along with the industry’s highest productivity. That is a long-term sustainable formula for AS and has been a principle we’ve advocated for in all recent CBAs we’ve negotiated.
A second part of this philosophy is that any savings achieved through productivity are returned to the contract through our economic proposals and that was certainly the case in TA2. We have always strived to have win-win solutions and understand that personal productivity of your flying needs to be important as well. As much as we want to achieve productivity to position us well over the long-term, we are acutely aware of the need to balance quality of life. We believe these provisions increase average TFP value per duty for FA’s which is consistent with increasing FA personal productivity.
Both provisions provide value independent of the other. The long turn language helps us today and in the future to maintain on a year-round basis markets that alternate between turns and 2-day trips and open up additional possibilities for mid-continent two leg single duty pairings from all bases in the future. This is important as scheduled block times can fluctuate materially due to weather, air traffic control, hub airport congestion and other reasons. The fifteen minute debrief would not resolve all of those issues in these markets. With this provision we can build high-time, efficient turns for both the company and FA and because we understand they will not be for everyone they are optional (a point AFA was emphatic about at the table).
The fifteen minute debrief helps produce more efficient pairings of all types, not just those that are long stage length in nature. This should produce higher average value pairings during line building as well as provide better tools for close-in and day of scheduling issues.
Shane Tackett