This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants
- Our JNC met with management this week on March 24 to March 26 in Seattle; our next negotiation session is scheduled for April 28 to April 30
- Our JNC continued to focus on improving Sections 15 (Leaves of Absence) and 28 (Domiciles), working to clarify issues and provide better support for Flight Attendants
- A new Section 37 (Temporary Duty Assignments) and the first proposal for Section 16 (Sick Leave) was presented to management, based on member feedback from the sick leave survey
Negotiations Update
Our AFA Alaska + Hawaiian Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) met this week for three days of collective bargaining with management. The JNC met with management on March 24 to March 26 in Seattle, WA. At the negotiating table for this session were:
| Representing AFA and our Flight Attendants | Representing Management |
| Tim Green, Joint Negotiating Committee Chairperson | Allen Thieman, Vice President of Inflight, Alaska |
| Martin Gusman, Joint Negotiating Committee Member | Joe Wonderly, Vice President, Labor Relations, Alaska |
| Jeffrey Fuke, Joint Negotiating Committee Member | Carmen Williams, Managing Director, Labor Relations, Alaska |
| Virginia Fritz, Joint Negotiating Committee Member | Kalani Sloat, Senior Director, Labor Relations, Hawaiian |
| Heather Reier, Joint Negotiating Committee Member | Mike Link, Labor Relations Program Manager, Alaska |
| Paula Mastrangelo, AFA Senior Staff Negotiator | Karen Themelis, Senior Labor Relations Business Partner, Alaska |
| Jake Jones, MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson | Brittany Audette, Managing Director Operations Staffing and Resource Management |
| Rich Hendrickson, Finance Process Manager |
In this session, we continued to focus on the concerns identified in Section 15 (Leaves of Absence) and Section 28 (Domiciles). We also presented our first proposal for Section 16 (Sick Leave) to management that captures important Alaska provisions and brings in the benefits of the Hawaiian sick leave program. Your feedback on the survey helped the Committee understand what matters most to Flight Attendants, and we are pushing for more improvements to address all of our needs going forward.
A new Section was also proposed as Section 37 (Temporary Duty Assignments). We modeled our proposal on the Hawaiian CBA, along with provisions from other global carriers. Jake Jones, AFA’s MEC Scheduling Chairperson, together with Brittany Audette and Rich Hendrickson from management, joined us to talk through creating the framework and process for programming the buddy bidding process for company-required training. We discussed possible scenarios, important questions, and the steps needed to match operational needs with bidding preferences so we can successfully automate buddy bidding into the training process.
Section by Section Progress
The Alaska CBA is being used as the basis of the joint contract for language purposes. Each section and provision from both contracts will be reviewed individually to incorporate and amend the strongest elements from each agreement.
Sections discussed in this session:
- Leaves of Absence (AS CBA Section 15 and HA CBA Section 17)
- Sick Leave (AS CBA Section 16 and HA CBA Section 19)
- Domiciles (AS CBA Section 28 and HA CBA Section 5, 14, and 27)
- 🆕 Temporary Duty Assignments (AS CBA does not address these provisions and HA CBA 15)
Sections in ongoing discussion:
- General and Miscellaneous (AS CBA Section 24 and HA CBA Section 27)
- Commuter Policy (AS CBA Section 26 and HA CBA Section 34-28)
- Training (AS CBA Section 30 and HA CBA Section 26)
Sections listed below are on hold until discussions regarding future sections, which affect specific provisions, take place.
- Seniority (AS CBA Section 6 and HA CBA Section 9)
- Grievance Procedures (AS CBA Section 19 and HA CBA Section 23)
- Charters (AS CBA Section 33 and HA CBA Section 12)
What’s Upcoming
Our next session with management is scheduled for April 28 to April 30.
Shawnna says
Please get a provisiona that allows base transfers from. The transfer list to happen every single month out of the year, not just February, August, and once that initial classes come online. This will help our work, life balance, because life happens every single month out of the year. And the simple allowance of transfers to happen cost the company nothing.
Also, when the company offers staffing, adjustment leaves, and the 1.3 3 TFP credit per day, how is that calculated for the bonuses? For instance, the June July August, December, bonus, SIL is offered in June, What would a flight attendant need to fly in July August and December if they were not awarded a line in June? Or does taking an SAL make a flight attendant unavailable for the bonus?
Brian Palmer (MEC Communications Committee Chairperson) says
I’ve passed along your feedback about standing bid transfers to the Joint Negotiating Committee so they can consider your perspective as they continue negotiations. You can also feel free to reach out to them directly at jnc@afaalaska.org
Regarding how staffing adjustment leaves and the Productivity Premium Program (PPP) interact, here’s a rundown of how it applies in your example:
* For the PPP, Block 2 will contain the months of June, July, August, and December.
* To qualify for the PPP, a Flight Attendant’s Worked TFP, State Sick Leave TFP plus any paid vacation credit and unpaid vacation credit of four (4.0) TFP per day in Block 1 or Block 2 must exceed the TFP equivalent of the Flight Attendant’s combined PBS bid award over the months contained in that block by at least forty (40.0) TFP for Block 2.
* Worked TFP is defined as all paid TFP, excluding vacation and sick leave, and does not include credit for unpaid leaves of absence.
* A Flight Attendant’s PBS bid award during a no-bid month is 75 TFP, excluding any overlap carry-in or pre-planned absences.
* For the purposes of this example, let’s say the Flight Attendant took a staffing adjustment leave in June. Their PBS bid award would be considered 75 TFP in that month. They then returned from leave and had PBS bid awards of 78 TFP in July, 77 TFP in August, and 76 TFP in December. The total PBS bid award for all four months was 306 TFP.
* The Flight Attendant would need to exceed that amount by at least 40 TFP to qualify for the PPP, which means they would need to exceed 346 TFP. Since they were on a staffing adjustment leave for June, the 346 TFP would need to be credited over July, August, and December.