Negotiations Update March 18-21, 2013

 Dear Flight Attendants,

 This was a difficult and high-intensity week in negotiations. Right off the bat on Monday we received management’s initial compensation proposal. It was unsatisfying to say the least. Management’s proposal did almost nothing to recognize how low some of our rates are compared to the industry and despite the outstanding performance we deliver year after year.

There is a link below in ‘References’ to the proposed wage scale that shows management’s proposed rates and AFA’s proposed rates (just look at the SWA rates for our proposed rates as they are one and the same). Many if not all of you have already received this information via an email from Vice President of Inflight Andy Schneider sent earlier today, along with two other documents for your consideration. Although all the information in Andy’s email is factually accurate, we trust you will see there is a subtext to the communication. Stay strong and support your Negotiating Committee as we fight on your behalf to be appropriately compensated for our contributions! Just remember the phrase “My Negotiating Committee speaks for me!”

In addition to proposing the Southwest wage rates, AFA’s proposal provides for trip and duty rigs, increases to current premium pays, improved holiday pay and additional holidays, and other upgrades which will increase our take-home pay. Typically in negotiations, each side initially proposes pay positions which are very far apart. Then the parties attempt to get closer together over subsequent passes. We will see what happens in the next session. It is important to remember that rates are not the only components of compensation. Rigs, premium pays, international pay and other forms of compensation all add to our take-home pay.

Section 23: Insurance Benefits and Section 29: Profit Sharing and Retirement. Both of these sections are tied to compensation and we are still significantly apart in these areas.

On a brighter note, we did make significant progress in Sections 32: Attendance Policy, and Section 27: General-Association. We can report that we are a lot closer in those sections.

Section 3: Scope – the very important section which protects our jobs and our work. Management proposed a vastly expanded ability for supervisors and managers to fly our trips, which is clearly a concern for us. Management also rejected our proposed protections from engaging in future onboard product service or sales related to non-consumable items. However, we continue to fight for protections from having to sell duty free and rental cars or vacation packages onboard (just as a few examples) without the ability to negotiate the terms of such work. Discussions are still ongoing in regards to concerns with increased capacity purchase agreement (CPA) flying within Alaska Air Group. While many issues in scope are still hotly contested by us, AFA and management are close to agreeing on some protections for our flying related to who will serve as Flight Attendants on our current and future aircraft.

The bulk of our time was spent in caucus as each side worked separately on individual proposals. We will be back at the table next month on April 15-19^th and April 29^th –May 2^nd.

Now is the time when we all must present a united front to management. As we move forward in this process, wear your AFA pin in solidarity. If you need another one, contact one of your local officers or VOICE committee chair.

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

“Four Bases, One Voice”

www.alaskamec.org

References:

AFA Alaska Negotiations channel on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/user/AFAALANegotiations

Alaska Airlines Negotiations facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/#!/alaskaairlines.negotiations

Flight Attendant Payscale Comparison:

FA Payscale Comps 030713

VOICE Comment Card Report March 2013

VOICE Comment Card Report March 2013_1_

March 19, 2013

Dear Flight Attendants,

We have received management’s comprehensive compensation package. At this time all we have to report is the proposal is extremely disappointing. We will continue to negotiate improvements and hope to have better news by the end of this week.

Remember to wear your AFA pin to show your support for the Negotiating Committee!

In solidarity,

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Paula Mastrangelo

“Four Bases, One Voice”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x-w0e0cUGis

VOICE Comment Card Report March 2013_1_

What is a TRIP RIG? What is a DUTY RIG?

Many airline Flight Attendant contracts have a TRIP RIG and a DUTY RIG. This article will present the basics of what rigs are, and how they can enhance Flight Attendant compensation. Rigs become important when you have lengthy layovers or airport sit time. Compensation for your sequences are paid the GREATER of actual TFP flown, TRIP RIG, DUTY RIG or MINIMUM DUTY PERIOD RIG computations. And a multi-day sequence can be a combination of Actual TFP flown, DUTY RIG, and MINIMUM DUTY PERIOD RIG.

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MINIMUM DUTY PERIOD RIG

You are currently compensated a MINIMUM DUTY PERIOD RIG of 4 TFP for any duty period worked or full calendar day free of duty while on a layover.

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TRIP RIG
A TRIP RIG is pay credit based on time away from base. This means that from the time you report for duty until the time you are released from duty in domicile equals a quantity of time.
Let’s look at a 1:4 TRIP RIG. This means that for every 4 hours that you spend away from domicile beginning at check in until release time at your domicile, you are paid one TFP at your specified rate. Here is an example as to how a TRIP RIG is calculated.

Sarah reports for duty at her LAX domicile at 1225 for a 3-day sequence. She flies LAX-PDX-ANC on Day One, arriving ANC at 2048. On Day Two, Sarah flies ANC-SEA arriving at 0450. On Day Three, she departs PDX at 0700 and arrives back at her LAX home domicile at 0929, and after her 30 minute debrief time is released at 0959. Her total time away from base (TAFB) has been 69 hours 34 minutes. To calculate the TRIP RIG pay and credit you divide the 69 hrs 34 mins divided by 4 = 17.4 TFP (TAFB / 4 = TFP Pay & Credit).
Here is how TFP pay and credit would be calculated for the example TRIP RIG above if we achieve rigs in our contract and how they work to your benefit. Remember you would receive the greater of the actual TFP flown, DUTY RIG, TRIP RIG, or MINIMUM DUTY PERIOD RIG assuming all those rigs were in place.

Day 1 Report 1225            Actual TFP          DUTY RIG           TRIP RIG

LAX-PDX 1325-1550         2.4

PDX-ANC 1755-2048       4.3                         7.1

Day 2 Report 2345

ANC-SEA 0030-0450        4.0                        3.2(4.0 min)

Day 3

SEA-LAX 0700-0929         4.0                         2.8(4.0 min)_________________

TAFB 6934 Release 0959

14.7                       15.1                      17.4

Today you would be paid the actual 14.7 TFP but a TRIP RIG would pay you 17.4 TFP. The TRIP RIG formula equates to an 18% increase in pay and credit value for this 3-day sequence.

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DUTY RIGS

A DUTY RIG is pay credit based on the amount of time that you spend on duty. Let’s look at DUTY RIG example.

Jessica reports for her trip in SEA at 1300, and departs at 1400 for SFO. She arrives at 1619 in SFO and has a 3:01airport sit time. She then departs for SEA at 1920, arriving at 2116, with a release time of 2146. Her total duty period has been 8 hours 46 minutes. If the DUTY RIG that her contract offers is .75 TFP per each duty hour. This would mean that for every one hour that Jessica spends on duty, from the time of check in until release she will be paid .75 TFP of her current TFP rate of compensation. In this case, we would multiply 8.75 hours by .0.75. (Hours on duty x .75 TFP per hour = TFP pay and credit.) Jessica would receive 6.6 TFP credit at her rate of pay for this duty period using a DUTY RIG computation. Today this SFO turn with a three hour airport sit would pay and credit you 4.2 TFP….. with the DUTY RIG formula this equates to a 56% increase to pay and credit for this sequence.
1 day turn Report 1300         Actual TFP          DUTY RIG           TRIP RIG

SEA-SFO 1400-1619             2.1

SFO-SEA 1920-2116             2.1_______________________________

TAFB 846 Release 2146

4.2                         6.6                        2.2
1 day turn Report 0540

ANC-ADQ 0640-0745            1.0

ADQ-ANC 0835-1339            1.0

ANC-BET 1223-1339             1.4

BET-ANC 1432-1539             1.4___________________________________

TAFB 959 Release 1609

4.8                         7.4                        2.5
This example of a DUTY RIG calculation for a one-day turn out of ANC shows a 54% increase in pay and credit above the actual you are paid today

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Rigs will pay you for the unproductive time you spend sitting at airports or on long layovers with little actual flight time, such as 3-day sequences which are only worth 8.0 TFP. Hopefully these explanations of rigs will give you a better understanding how important it is we achieve them in our next contract.

In solidarity,

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

“Four Bases, One Voice”

March 2, 2013

Dear Flight Attendants,

The Master Executive Council (MEC) and the Negotiating Committee continue to hear rumors, confusion and frustration surrounding the provisions in the Section 12 Exchange of Sequences Tentative Agreement specific to Open Time. Many of the concerns focus on the stepped opening of trading by seniority quartiles, or the Quartile System. The intent of the new system is NOT about dividing us along seniority lines. It is about creating a system that is functional for all Flight Attendants. Understandably, upon initial view the Quartile System seems to penalize junior employees. However, the Negotiating Committee believes that is NOT the case when the entire system and all the changes are considered.

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Let’s review the current Open Time system:

• Pre-funded with no less than 25% of FA base population in TFP of unawarded (undesirable) trips
• Opens with 12 days open for 24 hours, almost always “checker-boarded” to prevent repositioning of days
• In order to trade out of any of the days in a sequence, those days must be open in OT
• Management can close any day at their discretion
• If you want to trade a trip for another trip with less legs, there can only be a 3-leg difference
• OT is essentially closed and locked up 24 hours after it opens

The current OT system is broken. We can all agree on that.

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Before we even discuss the Quartile System, lets look at the other improvement in the proposed Open Time system:

• No pre-funding of Open Time, so there will be more Lineholders who will have their lines built with these trips; this will also result in less Reserves. (There has been no contractual increase to the line average so everybody else should not be required to fly more to absorb these trips.)
• OT opens on the 15th (earlier than today) with NO days closed initially.
• FAs can simply DROP a trip into OT if the day of the trip departure is open without having to pick a trip up.
• All days of the trip (say a 4-day) do NOT have to be open, just the first day in order to drop the trip into OT.
• Concrete, contractual thresholds for closing an OT day (not management discretion).
• The only trips considered into the OT closing threshold are FA drops and coupon drops (coded TR and CP in eMaestro)
• If you want to trade a trip on a closed day, there is no 3-leg difference restriction like today
• If a FA picks up a TR or CP trip on a “closed” day, that day will reopen
• Complete transparency so you can see if a day is open or closed and why

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Now let’s tackle the Quartile System…

**Once a quartile opens, it does NOT close**
The current system encourages Flight Attendants to trade their low-quality trips into OT and it quickly becomes clogged up with these trips and closes. By employing a stepped access to OT by seniority, it slows the process down and results in better quality trips being placed in OT first (because those trips are more likely to be awarded to more senior FAs). Then when the next quartile opens, those FAs get a crack at higher quality trips than they would have normally held or have access to in OT today. Finally, when the last quartile opens, the assumption is that even the Flight Attendants that quartile will initially have access to better quality trips in OT than they would have held on their lines or have access to in OT today.

We are not trying to restrict any one seniority range. The Quartile System is in place only for the first 4 days of the opening of OT (15^th – 18^th of the month prior). The new system allows for an orderly and rational opening of OT trading. Not the mad, dysfunctional rush that it is now.

We ask you to consider the changes in their entirety and to make your judgment based on all the elements of the new system and who this fits into the overall tentative agreement.

In solidarity,

Your Negotiating committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

“Four Bases, One Voice”

Open Time Recap

We have negotiated changes to the OT system which we believe will prevent, or greatly reduce, OT becoming bogged down by those unappealing trips (4-day GDLs, 3-day trips worth 8 TFP, etc). The new quartile system is anticipated to return some scheduling flexibility and make OT a more functioning system. Setting strict threshold numbers for the closing of OT days will also preclude management from arbitrarily closing OT days. These important changes to the OT system are explained below.

Quartile System for OT Start

After bid awards, OT will open based on a stepped quartile system. Flight Attendants may trade with or drop to other Flight Attendants in an opened quartile as well as interact with Open Time. On the 18th of the month prior to the bid month, all Flight Attendants have full access to trading/ dropping. Flight Attendants will have access to OT trading and dropping according to the table below:

Day of month Quartile FAs who can trade (seniority)

15th 1st Quartile top 25%

16th 2nd Quartile top 50%

17th 3rd Quartile top 75%

18th 4th Quartile All FAs in domicile

Formula for determining OT Closing Threshold #

• 1 sequence departure per day for every 200 FAs in domicile. If there are at least 50 FAs “left over” after the calculation, then an additional daily sequence departure is added. (Example: 650 FAs in domicile, OT Threshold number would be 4 sequences.)
• Minimum threshold # of 3 sequences at each domicile regardless of FA domicile population.
• Only the day of departure will count toward the threshold number.
• Sick calls do not count. Only FA-dropped trips and coupon drops count (these trips will be coded TR or CP in eMaestro).
• If an Open Time day is closed, it can re-open if a FA picks up a sequence coded TR or CP on that day.
• System adjust for growth.

EXAMPLE: PDX (Threshold # = 3)

June # of Sequences

4th 3 closed

5th 3 closed

6th 2

7th 1

8th 3 closed

9th 2

10th 1

11th 2

12th 3 closed

Using the above snapshot of OT, PDX FAs could drop a total of 2 trips into OT on the 7th and 10th and a total of 1 trip on the 6th, 9th, and 11th. Alternatively, if a FA picked up a TR- or CP-coded trip on the 4th, 5th, 8th or 12th, that day would re-open for give-away. Even if a day is closed, a sequence may be traded for another sequence with the same departure day regardless of trip length provided the FA has not traded more than 40 net TFP into OT.

IMPORTANT: In order to drop a trip into OT, only the departure day of the sequence has to be open. So, in the above example, a FA could drop a 4-day on the 11^th of the month, even though the 12^th was closed. Also, the 3-leg restriction for trades on closed days is eliminated.

Other important provisions:

• OT will open on the 15th with NO closed days
• NO pre-funding of OT

– will create more line holders (because TFP previously used in pre-funding will be built into lines)

– many fewer “low quality” trips will be in OT at the start

• Straight drops into OT will be allowed (is not today) if sequence departure day is open (up to 40 TFP net into OT per FA)
• More “higher quality” trips will be available to more junior FAs

The changes in our Open Time System tentative agreement are comprehensive and sweeping. The stagnation created by the current system was untenable and could not continue. Many carriers in our industry (Hawaiian, USAirways East, American, Piedmont and American Eagle, to name some) incorporate some aspect of seniority-based trading in processing OT transactions.

It is completely understandable that change of this significance would cause concern. However, your Negotiating Committee has not entered into this new system lightly. Countless hours of pouring through data, running through scenarios, and researching what’s out there in our industry has led us to strongly believe that this new system will benefit our Flight Attendant group as a whole.

In solidarity,

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

“Four Bases, One Voice”