Negotiations News Archives

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

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 ask questions and seek clarification on the language.

The full text of the TA will be posted electronically as soon as possible and we anticipate having a printed TA Summary and full TA available in the crew rooms the first week of the roadshows. Unfortunately, the holidays have hampered our timeline, as the rest of the world does not operate 24/7 like we do!

An electronic summary of the TA is posted on alaskamec.org and we encourage you to review (AND /OR PRINT OUT) the summary prior to attending any Roadshow.

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.

A full TA will be supplied electronically prior to the Road Shows and will be available in print at the Road Shows.

It is very important to educate yourself 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.

We do apologize for the last minute scheduling of the first round of roadshows. If you cannot attend one of the January roadshows please know that we will be releasing the February dates before February bidding has closed and we’re targeting to get that information out before bidding even opens. The February roadshows will occur in the first two weeks of the month. A link to a calendar of the January roadshows is at the bottom of this communication.

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

ALA TA January Roadshows

Dear Flight Attendants,

The AFA Alaska Master Executive Council (MEC) and your Negotiating Committee have reviewed all documents and provisions associated with the Tentative Agreement (TA) and the MEC has approved the TA to be sent out for a ratification vote. The MEC and the Negotiating Committee recommends that you vote “FOR” this TA.

We know you are all eager to see the entire document and we’re working diligently to finalize the full text language for your review. In the meantime, we’re including a summary of the TA. Most will skip straight to the compensation table and check out their pay rates but remember that a TA is the sum of its parts. As a courtesy to your Negotiating Committee and all the hours they have put into the TA, please consider the TA in its entirety and read the full text language once it is made available. If possible, come see the Negotiating Committee at a Roadshow (schedule included in the back of the attached TA Summary) for further dialogue and explanation.

The Negotiating Committee has secured a 10.9% increase to the top of scale (TOS) rate, with variable increases throughout the scale slightly below and significantly above 10.9%. The number of steps have been lowered from seventeen (17) to sixteen (16). There was a concerted effort to level the progression through the step rates rather than having to wait until Step 11 for the “big jump.” In order to make this happen you will see a proportionately smaller increase for those who just received the “big jump” (at Steps 11 and 12 under the current Agreement) but a proportionately larger increase for the steps leading up to Step 11.

In addition to a very healthy increase at top of scale, we are very proud to have secured an additional one dollar ($1) longevity premium for every additional five (5) years of service as an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant starting at twenty (20) years of service (YOS). Given that we have Flight Attendants on the payroll with over forty five (45) YOS, our effective pay rate can be as high as six dollars ($1) above the TOS rate of $51.50/TFP ($51.50 + $6 = $57.50) on all TFP flown or credited exclusive of vacation or sick leave pay.

We have eliminated the profitability bonus starting in 2014 (but eligible Flight Attendants will still receive the profitability bonus from 2013 paid out on April 20, 2014); but this is in exchange for the more generous longevity premium. Even for those at 20 YOS with “only” one dollar ($1) longevity premium paid on all Worked TFP (all TFP paid exclusive of sick leave or vacation), this is a much more generous application than the profitability bonus has paid even in the best of years. And it only gets better than that for those at 25 YOS and above!

There were smaller increases made to the date of hire (DOH) rate and the six month rate, but we put more money into the one year (Step 1) rate. Because of all the hiring the Company has done in the past couple years, any changes made to the bottom steps of the scale significantly affected the overall costing of the Agreement. The Negotiating Committee made sure that newly-hired Flight Attendants only have to survive for one year before receiving a healthy increase. Check out the percentage increases (including step rates) over the life of the agreement in the following table. Keep in mind the table does not include the longevity premium for eligible Flight Attendants with 20 YOS or above, which would make those increases even larger!

Percentage Increase Over Term of Agreement Chart

There have been significant enhancements to “unproductive” sequences in the way of “minimum pay rules.” We have retained the “four (4) TFP minimum” which is now called the Duty Period Minimum and have improved the “midnight to midnight rule”–now the Extended Overnight Rule (EOR). There are also new minimum pay rules: an Average Duty Period Guarantee (ADPG) of 5 TFP per duty period across the life of the pairing, a Multi-day Sequence Minimum (MSM) of 4 TFP per calendar day and Sit Pay of 1 TFP for any scheduled or unscheduled sit of two (2) hours or more (unless Stranded Pay is more).

Retro pay will be due back to December 1, 2013 (paid on the Step rates only), and payable on the March 20^th paycheck. Down-line increases to the Step rates are one and one-half percent (1.5%) annually. At the final hour, the Negotiating Committee had a decision to make: to achieve a signing bonus or put that money into the rates where it would compound over the years and pay us more money in the long run. The Negotiating Committee chose the latter, although we were able to secure some retro pay back to December.

Although this communication is largely about compensation, as mentioned early there is so much more to a TA than simply pay. However, we hope this quick overview into compensation will whet your appetite. Rest assured more information is forthcoming as soon as possible!

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Terry Taylor, Yvette Gesch, Melanie Buker, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn and Sandra Morrow;

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

Summary of ALA TA 2013-12-31

December 12, 2013

Dear Flight Attendants,

We are very happy to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement (TA) with management. Naturally you all will want to know the details. However, please understand that no details will be released until after the TA has been presented to the Master Executive Council (MEC) for approval. This is AFA’s practice. When you see your Flight Attendant negotiators out on the line over the next several weeks, please be mindful of their obligation to not divulge details before the MEC has approved the TA.

Once the MEC does approve the TA, a full text document will be sent out for membership ratification. Because of the upcoming holiday, the earliest this could happen is by the end of the month. There is cleanup work that must be completed in terms of the language and the formatting that we’ll be working on immediately.

We anticipate roadshows to commence at every base starting in early January. At the roadshows, the Negotiating Committee will explain in person the details of the TA and you will have the opportunity to ask questions. We will be targeting a count date of mid-February. Remember you must be a member in good standing (your dues must be current) in order to be eligible to vote.

The Committee is pleased with the result and looks forward to presenting the details to the membership. Many thanks to AFA subject matter expert and transportation economist Dan Akins for his invaluable help. Also, National Mediation Board (NMB) mediator Victoria Gray was instrumental in assisting the parties in reaching an agreement.

In solidarity,

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

Dear Flight Attendants,

Your Negotiating Committee, along with transportation economist and AFA subject matter expert Dan Akins, will meet in Seattle this coming week (Dec 10^th– 12^th) for the sixth mediation session with Alaska Airlines management. Once again the session will be facilitated by federal mediator Victoria Gray with the National Mediation Board (NMB).

During our last mediation session in San Diego, much discussion (without much progress) was focused on pay guarantees for unproductive pairings (aka “rigs”). For example, the four (4) TFP minimum per duty period is the only rig we currently have in our contract. AFA is determined to improve the pay for unproductive pairings—such as those with long sits, long layovers without appropriate credit or low-time trips which span several calendar days. Unfortunately, management has been adamantly against expanding rigs—even with a longer duty day.

Not only do rigs guarantee a certain amount of pay for time on duty, rigs are also an “incentive” for management to build efficient and productive pairings. Once rigs are programmed into the pairing optimizer program, the system will attempt to improve efficiency by minimizing those unproductive factors in our schedules. No more wasting our time sitting in airports or hotels without pay; or if any of those unproductive factors remain, then we’ll get paid appropriately! There is no question Flight Attendants don’t mind working—but we want to be paid for all the time when we’re on the clock and away from our homes.

Since our last mediation session much research, study, and consideration has been given to rig potential by both management and AFA. Many thanks to mediator Gray for her efforts in making this happen! Consequently, certain parameters and constraints were agreed upon by both parties to create a comprehensive rigs analysis. This rig study entails having the pairing optimizer build sample pairings from several months from this year.

We anticipate much of this session will be focused on evaluating the sample pairings to determine the benefits and possible disadvantages of rigs from both AFA and management’s perspective. Plus, there’s always the issue of cost and how rigs might affect the overall package. (It always comes down to the money at this stage of the game!)

We’re hoping to have a productive week and that management will give their undivided attention to negotiations. Due to last-minute uncertainty with this session as a result of the rigs study, the parties were forced to change meeting plans. We were unable to lock in the downtown Seattle arrangements not knowing if the rigs study would be completed by the scheduled date and now everything is booked. So…we’re meeting at a less desirable location for focused effort—the Labor Rooms in the Alaska Airlines Flight Operations building. Thankfully, management has thrown ample resources at the study and we’re looking on track for Tuesday.

Since we are meeting on Company property, management could easily be distracted with attempts to multi-task at their regular jobs. So we call on their team to resist all distractions! Now that we are well past two years of actual negotiations (and eighteen months past the amendable date), we’re all anxious to put this struggle behind us! We also call on management to reward us with a far past-due contract which recognizes Flight Attendants’ professional contribution to the phenomenal success of Alaska Airlines!

In solidarity,

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