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Profitability Bonus (aka “COLA”) to be paid out tomorrow

 The good news and the bad news…

 

The Profitability Bonus (aka Cost of Living Adjustment, or “COLA”) will be paid out to eligible flight attendants tomorrow, Friday, February 13th. The COLA is usually paid on April 20th but at the request of AFA the Company has been kind enough to pay early this year. The good news is that it will be early. The bad news is the COLA is lower than years past despite very high profitability. This is due to an extremely low change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers’ (CPI-U) between December 2013 and December 2014.

COLA formula and contractual language

 

The formula for the COLA is found in 21.P of the former Collective Bargaining Agreement:

 

21.P. Any Flight Attendant who is at the highest step of the pay scale as of January 1 will be eligible for a profitability bonus, based on the profitability of Alaska Airlines during the ensuing calendar year as follows:

 

Operating Profit Margin Bonus Percentage

 

Less than 3%: 0

3.0 – 6.0%: 20% of COLA

6.01 – 8.0%: 30% of COLA

8.01 – 10.0%: 50% of COLA

10.01 – 12.0%: 70% of COLA

Over 12.01%: 100% of COLA

 

As used herein:

 

  1. COLA shall be the percentage change (of not less than zero) in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers’, U.S., published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, comparing statistics for December in the year for which the profitability bonus is earned with statistics for December in the previous year.

 

  1. The Company’s operating Profit Margin shall be defined as Operating Profits divided by Operating Revenues. All figures shall be audited figures of Alaska Airlines, Inc., which are publicly reported pursuant to S.E.C. reporting requirements, for the calendar year for which the profitability bonus is earned. The Association shall have the right to verify such numbers to the extent that any such information would be available to shareholders of the Company. Calculations shall be based on the operating results of Alaska Airlines only, excluding the results from any subsidiary, parent, or affiliated company. The profitability bonus will be based on all TFP flown or credited during the calendar year, multiplied by the step rate in Section 21 A, multiplied by the Bonus Percentage described above.

 

The profitability bonus will be paid in April of the following year.

 

Operating profit margin was high but change in CPI-U was low

 

Operating profit margin was 18.6% but the change in CPI-U December 2013 to December 2014 was only 0.32%. Falling fuel prices largely drove this statistic lower than in past years. Based on the contractual calculation, eligible flight attendants will receive 100% of the COLA: 0.32% of $46.48 (the old top of scale Step rate) or approximately $0.15 (15 cents) per TFP flown or credited in 2014. Only flight attendants who were at the top of scale Step 17 on January 1, 2014, are eligible for the COLA.

 

Longevity Premium replaces COLA in the new Contract

 

Longevity Premium in the new Contract replaces the COLA. Longevity Premium is a minimum of $1 per Worked TFP (exclusive of sick leave and vacation/Longevity PTO) for flight attendants who have completed at least 16 years of occupational service. Because Longevity Premium is not dependent on the Company’s profitability or the federal CPI-U statistics, AFA strongly believes this is a more consistently favorable provision than the COLA.

 

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Travel While on a Medical, Maternity, or Workers’ Compensation Leave of Absence

Our contract provides the ability to use on-line travel benefits while on a medical, maternity, or Workers’ Compensation leave of absence.  In order to use these travel benefits, you’re required to provide a doctor’s release that states that travel will not adversely affect your ability to return to active service.  This requirement is spelled out in section 15.J.1 of the contract:

A Flight Attendant on a leave of absence who wishes to secure on-line travel passes will coordinate such travel through Inflight management. In the case of a medical, maternity or Workers’ Compensation leave s/he must provide a doctors release specifying such travel will not adversely affect the Flight Attendant’s ability to return to active service. 

Due to the contractual requirement that you provide a doctor’s release in these instances, AFA recommends that you obtain a doctor’s release to travel when you go out on any of these types of leave if you intend to use your travel benefits and your doctor is comfortable providing such a release.

For more information about this requirement or travel while on a leave of absence, please contact your Local Benefits Committee or one of your LEC Officers.  You can find contact information at afaalaska.org/benefits.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC—Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow, Stephen Couckuyt and MEC Benefits Committee Chairperson Terry Taylor

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AFA Alaska MEC Pairing Analyst Interviews

After ten years of service in his position, Portland-based flight attendant Jeff Stein is retiring from his position as AFA Pairing Analyst. Consequently the Master Executive Council (MEC) is in search of qualified individuals interested in becoming the new AFA Pairing Analyst. This is in addition to the Scheduling Chairperson position previously announced several weeks ago (that is now closed and interviews scheduled for next week).

Background

  • The official title in the AFA Alaska MEC Policy Manual for the AFA Pairing Analyst is MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction. The Pairing Analyst is chairperson of the Pairing Construction Subcommittee. See below for additional information.
  • The pairings in our bid packets are “optimized” (usually for least cost) and built using a computer program designed by Jeppessen.
  • Currently our pairing building vendor Jeppessen produces pairings remotely in Montreal with input from Alaska Airlines and AFA. Efforts are currently underway to migrate pairing production “in house.”

Additional Background from the AFA Alaska MEC Policy Manual

4. PAIRING CONSTRUCTION SUBCOMMITTEE

a.Scope

(i)        The Pairing Construction Subcommittee will work with the company and the Inflight Crew Planning Department to build Flight Attendant pairings

b. Policy/Responsibilities

(i)        The Pairing Construction Subcommittee shall consist of the MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction.

(ii)       The Subcommittee shall:

(A)       Regularly communicate with and provide updates to the MEC Scheduling Chairperson on the activities of the subcommittee

(B)       Meet on a monthly basis with the Company and the Inflight Crew Planning Department to review problems and suggested resolutions regarding construction of Flight Attendant pairings and monthly lines of flying.

(C)       Maintain a permanent file for all local schedules for the use of the MEC Scheduling Committee.

(D)       Keep the MEC informed on all activities relating to the pairing construction process.  When meetings or communications are due to unusual scheduling activities, a written report will be made.

(E)       Keep the membership informed of the results of the pairing construction process on a monthly basis throught the MEC Communications Committee Chairperson.

(F)       Solicit feedback from the membership regarding desired pairings, trip lengths, and types of flying through Local Scheduling Committees and advocate for such during the pairing construction process.

(G)       Discuss any problems occurring within the pairing construction process with the Local Scheduling Committee Chairpersons on a monthly basis and will provide any suggestions for remedy of problems to the MEC.

Skillset/Requirements

  • Strong computer skills are a must.
  • Ability to independently meet several deadlines throughout the month.
  • Potentially frequent travel to Seattle for training and meetings. However, duties may generally be fulfilled remotely.

Duties

  • Review, validate and comment on the monthly pairing solutions.
  • Write a monthly pairings report.
  • Correspond with flight attendants regarding pairing solutions and related concerns.
  • Advocate for flight attendants in the pairing building process.

Time Commitment

  • Estimated 20-30 hours per month, most of which may be accomplished remotely.
  • The time commitment for the position has varied between 10-21 hours/month in the past 6 months, with an average of approximately 16 hours/month. This is likely to increase for the near future.

Compensation

  • This is a paid position compensated by the Company under 27.P Company Business (CB) Flight Pay Loss with a 5% override and “A” pay. CB is compensated at 0.75 TFP per hour of work.
  • Flight Pay Loss for this position has averaged 12 TFP per bid month over the past six months. However, once pairing building is brought back in house, the process is likely to become more complicated and therefore time consuming for at least a period of time.

Reporting Structure

  • Directly reports to the Scheduling Committee Chairperson, who in turn reports to the MEC.

Interested?

  • The MEC will hold Interviews on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Bid around the interview date or arrange to adjust your schedule accordingly to accommodate.
  • Interviews will be at the AFA Alaska MEC office in Seattle. Our office is located in the Alaska Airlines Flight Operations and Training Center, Suite 280 at 2651 S 192nd St, Seattle, WA 98188.
  • Submit a declaration of interest and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Yvette Gesch at yvette.gesch@afaalaska.org no later than February 20, 2015. Yvette will be able to provide additional information regarding transportation and booking of flights if necessary.

 

* * *

 

In solidarity,

 

Your MEC—Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt

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[ATTENTION] PBS Committee Special Update – PBS bidding is temporarily suspended

Friday, February 6, 2015 @ 1030 PT

Incorrect pairings file requires a completely system shutdown and reload

 

Due to an inadvertent error, the incorrect pairings file was loaded into Navtech’s PBS. A complete system shutdown is required in order to load the correct pairings file. This is anticipated to take approximately two hours.

 

Bidding will not resume until at least noon PT and bids will close 12 noon PT February 11th

 

Bidding will not resume until at least noon Pacific Time, so the close of bids will be extended (from the normal 9am PT on February 10th) to 12 noon PT on February 11th. At this time the Joint PBS Committee is anticipating that bid awards will still be on time despite the 24-hour extension to the closing of bids.

 

Pairing numbers and/or layover cities will change in some cases

 

Because the pairings file will be a different file, some pairing numbers and/or layover cities within the same pairing numbers will change. AFA recommends that you take a very close look at your bid prior to submitting it—particularly if you bid by pairing number.

 

More information forthcoming on Company media outlets

 

Please check the Company media outlets (Navtech’s PBS, Inflight Splash page, bulletins and/or Outlook email) for more information as it becomes available.

Trading of Junior Available Assignments

Unforeseen kink prohibiting automated JA trades…and a solution

 

As of this writing there have been twelve Junior Available (JA) assignments in Seattle for “Big Game” Sunday* under the new JA rules that went into effect yesterday. There has been an unforeseen kink in the ability to automatically post and trade JA assignments. The good news is that AFA and management have already developed a workaround until the issue can be resolved through automation.

 

“P” label prevents automated trades via eMaestro

 

JA’d flight attendants usually have a “P” label added to their position on the sequence, which indicates premium pay—now at 2.5x premium for JA. New labels are being developed for Premium Open Time. Unfortunately the “P” prevents eMaestro from allowing JA trips from being traded automatically, which would require that any FA wishing to trade a JA to call Crew Scheduling (CSKD) for assistance.

 

CSKD will remove the “P” label and F/As will use the “Comments” field until the process is automated

 

Going forward, CSKD will remove the “P” label when a JA is made and CSKD will add the label back in after the trip is flown so that the flight attendant is paid correctly. This will allow flight attendants to trade JAs. However, there will be no visible code to notify other flight attendants that the trip is JA so a flight attendant who posts a JA trip will need to use the free form “Comments” field for now. AFA suggests “JA 2.5x” or something similar.

 

No need to follow up with CSKD to replace “P” label but submit and Activity Claim Form as back up

 

There is no need to follow up with Crew Scheduling even if the trip is traded because CSKD has the ability to track the pairing’s history. AFA recommends flight attendants fill out an Activity Claim Form as a back up in order to ensure proper payment. Currently there is no “2.5x” field on the Activity Claim Form, so flight attendants will use the “Other” field for now. AFA will follow up to ensure the Activity Claim Form is updated. Detailed instructions follow.

Activity Claim Form JA instructions

 

World of Inflight (http://asainflight.alaskaair.com) –> ‘Forms’ –> ‘Pay Forms’ –> ‘Activity Claim Form’. Fill in the “Other: (Trips/Dollars/Explain Below)” field with the appropriate TFP value at straight time and in the ‘Comments:’ field indicate “2.5x JA pay.” You must fill in the other required fields (base / flights / sequence / pay month / activity month / activity day) as appropriate.

 

***

 

In solidarity,

 

Your Contract Committee—MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Jake Jones, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

 

 

*AFA Alaska probably would not be violating any copyright laws by directly referring to today’s “Big Game” event by name (see http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/the-nfl-wants-you-to-think-these-things-are-illegal/ for one explanation). However in order to avoid a hassle, AFA is refraining from doing so because of popular misconception about such copyright restrictions. We also are avoiding a potential “cease and desist” letter from the National Football League. P.s. Go Hawks!

 

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Pre-Merger Alaska MEC Committee Interviews—December 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants In accordance with Article VI.C of the AFA Alaska MEC Policy and Procedure Manual, the terms of office for the MEC Committee Chairpersons and other MEC-level positions align with those of the MEC Officers. Since the current term for the MEC Officers will conclude on December 31, […]

Merged MEC Committee Interviews—December 2025

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants The integration of our Master Executive Councils (MECs) is progressing steadily. Several committees have successfully merged over the past few months, and we are now planning for another committee to merge on January 1. As part of the committee merger process, our MEC will […]

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

November 1 marks the beginning of Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Also known as National Native American Heritage Month, this celebration originated from efforts to recognize an American Indian Day in the early 20th century. In 1916, New York became the first state to officially proclaim American Indian Day following a declaration […]

Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – October 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Tuesday, October 28, our pre-merger Alaska AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons and Representatives met in person at Alaska Airlines Corporate Headquarters to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Heather Reier (ANC), […]

Sick Leave Survey Now Open

Your Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) prioritizes your health and well-being and seeks to understand which aspects of our paid sick leave policy matter most to you. We encourage you to participate in the survey, which is open until Tuesday, November 11 at Noon PT, to ensure your voice is heard in shaping our support for your healthcare needs.

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