Q.  Thank you for the webinar for those not able to make a roadshow.  Even before the webinar I was wondering something about the pay. As a member of the first class after 9/11 and having been a CSA since 1999, our training for FA began approx. Jan 5th 2002 but we were held from coming online (to wait for the 2nd training class to finish their training) and not getting our base orientation date which has become our pay increase date until 4/29/02.  (Completed already 15 years, we are 1 month away from completing 16 years)

If the JCBA TA passes then with seniority sync-up we will get the 4.5% increase PLUS our longevity premium also backdated?  (Because we would have completed 16 years by our training date back in January 2018) Or are we just that years classes who get lost in the payroll and computer shuffle?

A.  Yes, the Longevity Premium  would be retroactive.  Under the Integrated Seniority List, your occupational seniority date will be adjusted back to include initial training.  Let’s say that it started on Jan 5, 2002. If the JCBA is ratified, then you would have 16 years of service credit as of Jan 5, 2018. That would make you eligible for the Longevity Premium in Section 21.C. of the CBA.  The retroactive provision (to 1.1.18) would capture and pay your the Longevity Premium for which you were not eligible under the current CBA. You would receive the $1 premium retroactively on all Worked TFP from Jan 5, 2018 through the Date of Ratification (DOR) and would continue to receive it from then on.

The L-AS Transition Letter of Agreement [http://afaalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/L-AS-FA-Transition-Agreement-2018-TA-2018.02.16.1300.pdf] provides for the following on the adjusted seniority date:

1.    As soon as practicable following ratification, each pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant’s Occupational Seniority date (see JCBA §5 Definitions) will be synched up with her/his adjusted Competitive Bidding Seniority date, which is the date set forth in the Integrated Seniority List (ISL) certified by the AFA Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC).
2.    Any pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant whose Occupational Seniority date and Company Seniority date is the same date prior to receiving an adjustment to her/his Occupational Seniority date will have her/his Company Seniority date synced up with her/his new Occupational Seniority date. The Company agrees to recognize adjusted Company Seniority for the appropriate Company benefits including but not limited to pass travel and vacation accrual as soon as practicable. The Company also agrees to re-issue Crew ID badges with the adjusted Company Seniority date as soon as practicable at no cost to the Flight Attendant.
3.    Retroactive to January 1, 2018, and on a go-forward basis, each pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant will advance to the next step rate of pay, qualify for the appropriate Longevity Premium and Vacation Paid Time Off entitlement in accordance with her/his adjusted Occupational Seniority date.

Q.    Why are Virgin employees that have worked as a CSA or in another part of their company having that time counted toward their seniority date as a flight attendant when the merger goes through?   This was not ever done for Alaska employees.

A.     L-VX Flight Attendants Occupational Seniority is currently determined by they their first day of Inflight Training.  For more information on how this will be handled in the integration of the seniority lists, see this webinar video: https://youtu.be/ZyF-eYZMQvE

Occupational Seniority is used for bidding (both schedules and vacation).  If a L-VX Flight Attendant had prior service with VX then her/his Company Seniority date would be the original date hired by VX and would apply for pass travel and retirement.  This is consistent with how Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants who transferred from another Alaska Airlines department would be handled.

The difference between the two policies is how L-VX Flight Attendants who have had previous VX service are paid.  At L-VX if a person transferred internally into the Flight Attendant position, s/he was paid based on Company seniority unlike the policy at Alaska.  

In order to address this difference the TA includes the L-VX Red Circle Pay Rates LOA. 

If ratified, the LOA takes those Flight Attendants (who worked previously for VX in another department) and holds them at their current step rate until their occupational seniority (or their inflight class) catches up to them.  Then they begin to progress through the pay scale as any other Flight Attendant would based on their occupational seniority. The language reads as follows:

1.  Effective the last day of the bid month in which ratification of the JCBA occurs, Legacy Virgin America (“Alaska Airbus”) Flight Attendants whose Company Seniority is greater than their VX Occupational Seniority (i.e. date of hire with the Company is prior to their date of hire as a Virgin America Flight Attendant) due to a transfer from another Company job classification will have their pay step “red-circled” at their pay step as determined by their Company Seniority. Such Flight Attendants will remain “red-circled” at that pay step, inclusive of any down-line increases, until their pay step as determined by their Occupational Seniority exceeds their “red-circled” pay step.

2.  Once the Flight Attendant’s pay step, as determined by her/his Occupational Seniority, exceeds her/his “red-circled” pay step, then s/he will advance to the appropriate pay step determined by her/his Occupational Seniority. Every anniversary thereafter, the Flight Attendant will advance to the next pay step as determined by Occupational Seniority and receive the appropriate down-line increase(s).”

The JNC’s first proposal to management to address this problem was to allow all AAG employees who were internal transfers to the Flight Attendant position to receive the same application and receive pay based on the Company Seniority.  Management refused this proposal as being too costly and potentially having a negative impact to other departments. There was concern it would cause a mass exodus from other operational work groups and that in the end they would stop hiring internally for the Flight Attendant position.  

The JNC then had to address the only other alternative which was to bump the current L-VX Flight Attendants who were being paid based on their company seniority several pay steps back to their occupational seniority step.  This would have resulted in a loss of pay or no increase for many. The solution that the JNC felt was the most reasonable was to hold them at their pay step until they became equal to their occupational seniority, attempting to do the least amount of harm while phasing out the policy entirely.

For additional information you can watch the TA webinar video on the “Red Circle” LOA here: https://youtu.be/KK2Z9NaGTlM

And find additional questions answered on the “Red Circle” LOA here:

• VX “Red-Circled” Pay Rates: Intra-Company (e.g. GST) Transfers 2 [JCBA]
• VX “Red Circled” Pay Rates: Pay Rates vs. Competitive Bidding Seniority [JCBA]

Q.     I just found the LOA of Airbus training bidding.  However I did not see where it told us if that two days of training bid so far in advance counts in our monthly TFP for bid award assignment by PBS, or do we have to be awarded the line average award on top of 2 days at training?  Or do we get 12 TFP pre-awarded in our schedule before PBS starts loading us up with trips?

Does this mean that all Airbus trips will be in PBS to bid and us working them in March 2019, and all FAs will have the same duty day of max. 10.5 hours by March 2019?

A.    Airbus Transition Training for L-AS Flight Attendants will be a pre-planned absence for purposes of bidding in NavBlue with a credit value of 12 TFP.  The TFP value of transition training will be credited toward the line values during the line construction process.  This is per section 10.F.2.a of the CBA.

If the TA is ratified, Full Integration is slated for March 2019 which means that all Flight Attendants L-VX and L-AS will be bidding together (in their respective bases for all Airbus and Boeing flying) at the beginning of February.  All March pairings will be built under the JCBA which maintains all current Alaska Flight Attendant CBA provisions with respect to duty and rest provisions including the 10.5 hour duty day.

Q.    Do the votes have to be postmarked by a certain date?

A.    Voting does not occur by mail.  Voting is done electronically by phone or internet.  When you receive your ballot it includes a 16-digit activation code that you need to vote.

If your voting instructions have not arrived, please contact the AFA Ballot Help Line, Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm Eastern Time at 1-800-424-2401, press 1, and extension 706.  For more voting information see the JNC TA Voting Information Page here:

http://afaalaska.org/merger/jnc/ta/voting

Q. Can you please explain accelerated vesting to me under Sec 29 C. #3?  Aren’t you 100% vested after 5 years service as a fa? If so, why is there a need for #3?  Unless correct me if I am wrong an example -an FA is in the job for 2 years but worked for the company in a different position for 10 years and at 61 1/2 they would get full vesting but if less than 60 years, or less than 10 years, would only be vested at 40% for her 2 years as a FA. Am I understanding correctly?

A. Section 29 of the L-AS CBA: Profit Sharing and Retirement specifies in  29.C. what is the vesting schedule for a Flight Attendant’s 401(k) company matching contributions.  This schedule is based on years of service as a Flight Attendant (often referred to as Occupational Seniority). A Flight Attendant is fully vested (100%) at five (5) or more years of service as a Flight Attendant (of Occupational Seniority).

The language in Section 29.D. references when a Flight Attendant may receive accelerated vesting in their 401(k) company matching contributions.  Specifically number three (29.D.3.) states that when a Flight Attendant has prior company service with Alaska Airlines and is either 60 or 611/2 years of age, then s/he would have accelerated vesting and her/his Company Seniority of either (12 or 10 years respectively) would allow her/him to be 100% vested.  

1.  ACCELERATED VESTING

A Member will be fully vested and have a non-forfeitable interest in the balance credited to her/his Matching Contributions Account if:

• The employee becomes medically disabled; or

• The employee retires at or after age sixty-five (65); or

• The employee retires at or after age sixty (60) with a minimum twelve (12) years of service with the Company Seniority, or at or after age sixty-one and one-half (611⁄2) and a minimum of ten (10) years of service with the Company Seniority.”

In your scenario above  if a Flight Attendant had worked for 2 years (2 years of Occupational Seniority) and had prior company service but was either younger than 60/61 or did not have 12/10 years of Company Seniority then s/he  would only be 40% vested in tthe 401k company matching contributions.

Note:  A Flight Attendant is always 100% vested in her/his personal 401(k) contributions.