Negotiations News Archives

Dear Flight Attendants,

The Tentative Agreement (TA) Summary has been updated with further clarifications and additional information.

AFA ALA TA Summary (v.2014-01-04 FA Roadshows)

It is posted on the Tentative Agreement (TA) Information page (http://alaskamec.org/ta/) and printed copies will be available at the roadshows as well. An agenda for the roadshow sessions will be finalized and posted tomorrow.

In solidarity,

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

Dear Flight Attendants,

The full Tentative Agreement (TA) is now available in electronic format.

Alaska-AFA Tentative Agreement (full text)

You will notice several new sections (Hotels and Charters, just to name a couple). We have made a significant effort to move contractual language out of the addendum wherever possible so that the addendum truly is for clarification and examples only. There are also several draft LOAs in the back of the document that still need to be finalized. Finally, in the “main” sections most important to Flight Attendants (e.g. Sections 8 Hours of Service, 10 Scheduling, 21 Compensation) you will see short descriptive headers before a block of language. This is to improve the “readability” of the Agreement. During final clean-up we intend to expand the use of headers into a few other areas.

There are several contractual citations that need to be cross checked, particularly in the addendum. If you find that a citation referring to another section or provision is incorrect, that will be fixed during final clean-up. There are several areas where language, examples or citations are marked with yellow/gray highlighting or “xxx” (in place of a contractual citation). This will mean one of three things: (1) the basic concept is there but the language needs to be revised to make it more clear, (2) the contractual citation needs cross-checked and/or updated, or (3) the example needs amended because of programming changes or requires correction to match the application of the minimum pay rules.

Why isn’t this done already? When we negotiate at the table, we are not always passing full text proposals back and forth. Particularly at the end, we are passing bullet point concepts rather than re-writing each affected section. This is to keep the pace of negotiations moving. Otherwise it could take hours longer for each pass than necessary.

Not only that, but we specifically did not address the addendum during active negotiations except to pull out the relevant contractual language. Therefore no work had been done on the addendum until initial clean-up and formatting. In order to get the full TA in your hands in a timely manner, the parties agreed to wrap the last few pieces up during clean-up. Again, this almost exclusively affects the addendum.

On another note, paper copies are at the printers and we expect the first batch to be delivered on Monday. A much larger batch will be delivered Tuesday and we will begin distributing them to all bases starting on Tuesday. The paper copies will be available at all Flight Attendant domiciles and we’re currently working on a distribution effort for the co-terminals. We have printed enough TAs for every Flight Attendant but not many extras. Therefore, we’re going to ask that you take only one unless you’re picking up a TA for a colleague that you know for a fact needs one.

See you all at the roadshows beginning Monday! Also, check out the new “Tentative Agreement (TA) Information” page: http://alaskamec.org/ta/ .

In solidarity,

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

negotiations@alaskamec.org

alaskamec.org/ta/

Dear Flight Attendants,

Updated Flight Attendant industry wage rankings are now available. We have included a table with all carriers converted to TFP (all carriers except Alaska and Southwest are paid in dollars per block-hour [$/block-hour] and not dollars per TFP [$/TFP]). There is also a table of with Alaska and Southwest converted to block-hours, which is the industry standard.

The full text Tentative Agreement (TA) will be published electronically no later than tomorrow morning.

ALA_FA Payscale Industry Comps TA 2013-12-12 TFP

ALA_FA Payscale Industry Comps TA 2013-12-12 HR

In solidarity,

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

[Note: The previous update indicated the Jan 16 SNA roadshow is at the Embassy Suites on Main St. It will actually be held at the Embassy Suites Santa Ana (1325 E Dyer Rd, Santa Ana, CA 92705) instead. Our apologies for any confusion!]

Dear Flight Attendants,

Next week your Negotiation Committee and Master Executive Council (MEC) will be traveling to all the bases to meet with you and discuss the Tentative Agreement (TA). These “roadshows” give you the opportunity to have the TA explained, to ask questions and seek clarification on the language.

The full text TA is nearly finished and will be posted electronically very soon. We will have the printed TA Summary available at the roadshows and anticipate having a hardcopy of the full text TA distributed at the roadshows (if not prior to the roadshows for those scheduled later in the week) and in the crew rooms this coming week.

The latest version of the TA Summary is posted electronically on alaskamec.org and we encourage you to review the summary prior to attending any roadshow. Click here for the TA Summary 2013-12-31: http://alaskamec.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Summary-of-ALA-TA-2013-12-31.pdf.

You are welcome to attend any roadshow in any base. There are two sessions offered on each day: generally one morning session from 9am to 12pm and one afternoon session from 1pm to 5pm. We are developing an agenda and will distribute that as soon as possible. Many Flight Attendants have inquired about the possibility of streaming video or something similar for those who cannot attend a roadshow. Although we have decided against streaming video, we are actively exploring other possibilities.

Please review the January roadshow schedule for times and locations. We will update the February roadshow scheduled with exact dates and times once the venues are booked.

January

Week 1
Jan 6 (Mon): SEA I – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ SeaTac Central Auditorium (mezzanine level)
Jan 7 (Tue): SEA II – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ SeaTac Central Auditorium (mezzanine level)
Jan 8 (Wed): PDX I – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ Sheraton PDX airport (8235 NE Airport Way)
Jan 9 (Thu): PDX II – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ Sheraton PDX airport (8235 NE Airport Way)
Jan 10 (Fri): ANC – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ Millennium hotel (4800 Spenard Rd)

Week 2
Jan 14 (Tue): SAN – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ Doubletree hotel Little Italy (1646 Front St)

Jan 15 (Wed): LAX – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5pm @ Westin hotel LAX airport (5400 W Century Blvd)

Jan 16 (Thu): SNA – 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 4pm @ Embassy Suites Santa Ana (1325 E Dyer Rd, Santa Ana, CA 92705)

February

Week 1
Feb 3 (Mon): PDX I – TBD
Feb 4 (Tue): PDX II – TBD
Feb 5 (Wed): ANC – TBD
Feb 6 (Thu): SEA I – TBD
Feb 7 (Fri): SEA II – TBD

Week 2
Feb 11 (Tue): SAN – TBD
Feb 12 (Wed): LAX – TBD

Feb 13 (Thu): SNA – TBD

It is very important to educate yourself about the TA and ask questions if you are unsure. Your Local Executive Council (LEC) officers are available via email and phone to help answer any questions that you may have. You may also send questions directly to the Negotiating Committee at negotiations@alaskamec.org.

IMPORTANT: BALLOTS WILL BE MAILED TO YOUR HOME ( ELECTRONIC VOTING) AND THE POLLS OPEN ON JANUARY 17 AND CLOSE ON FEBRUARY 14.

In solidarity,

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

negotiations@alaskamec.org

Dear Flight Attendants,

Posting the Tentative Agreement (TA) Summary yesterday has already generated a lot of questions, which is to be expected. Many have asked where they can find the TA. As of this writing, the full text TA is not yet ready for distribution but we are working diligently to make it available as soon as possible. Once finalized, the plan is to immediately post it electronically and to distribute hard copies as soon as practicable thereafter (taking into account the logistics of printing, etc.).

The TA Summary has been updated with the latest roadshow schedule, a correction to a minor error involving a ‘Minimum Pay Rules’ pairing example and to clarify a few points. The newest version of the TA Summary is linked here:

Summary of ALA TA 2013-12-31

Please keep in mind this document is a summary only and is not the full language. We’ve already heard from several Flight Attendants who believe we have eliminated language because they did not read about a specific provision or another in the summary. Rest assured this is not the case. In order to break a very large document down to a few pages a lot of content must be dropped. In most cases where there is an existing provision, we did not call it out in the TA Summary unless it was changed.

Just a few clarifications (based on questions and/or concerns from the line—this is by no means an exhaustive list of explanations):

S21 Compensation

• The Profitability Bonus (usually referred to on the line incorrectly as “the COLA”) has been eliminated in favor of a longevity premium of one dollar ($1) for every five (5) years of occupational service (as an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant) starting at 20 years of service.
• The Longevity Premium is paid on all Worked TFP (TFP paid exclusive of sick leave and vacation) and is not subject to the bonus tax rate. It is paid along with one’s regular wages on the 20^th paycheck.
• Flight Attendants eligible for the 2013 Profitability Bonus (aka COLA) will still receive it on April 20, 2014.

S29 Profit Sharing and Retirement

• No change to 401(k) Company match of 7%.
• No change to Performance Based Pay (PBP) or Operational Performance Results (OPR) bonuses. (We’ve been hearing that some Flight Attendants believe this has been eliminated—not true!)

Your Negotiating Committee understands there will be plenty more questions along the way. We will continue to update you with supporting documentation as it is produced. If at all possible, we would love to see you at one of the two rounds of scheduled roadshows in order to have a more in depth conversation about the TA and the negotiations process. We hope to see you soon!

In solidarity,

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

negotiations@alaskamec.org