Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian
Q. When does incentive override phase out and when does AS PPP start for L-VX FAs?
A. The incentive pay will phase out for the L-VX Flight Attendants at Full Integration – when both groups of Flight Attendants fly together after being awarded schedules following a combined PBS bid. The company is targeting the March 2019 bid month for this milestone. At that point, the L-VX Flight Attendants will transition to the AS Productivity Premium Program.
Q. VX retro pay – will this include my ITL override and my incentive pay?
A. Yes. The pay increases retroactive to January 1, 2018, will be applied to all incentive and premium pays.
Q. What does legacy mean?
A. Legacy refers to the “pre-merger” partition of either Virgin America (VX) or Alaska Airlines (AS). The terms we use are Legacy-VX (L-VX) and Legacy-AS (L-AS). This denotes the partition that a Flight Attendant was initially hired into, no matter when.
It is somewhat confusing, because we are all Alaska Airlines Flight attendants now that the FAA has granted the Single Operating Certificate (SOC). However, the Flight Attendant groups are kept separate for pay and work rules and flying. Management continues to hire on “both sides of the partition” and uses the term “Alaska Airbus Flight Attendant” to refer to L-VX Flight Attendants and “Alaska Boeing Flight Attendant” to indicate a L-AS Flight Attendant.
| Terms for pre-merger Alaska Airlines (pmAS) FAs |
Terms for pre-merger Virgin America (pmVX) FAs |
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Note: This JNC blog post was revised and updated. See Commuter Policy: Ground Commuting [JCBA].
Q: Will our hire/step date/rate be revised to this new date in the synch up so in other words, will it be the same date for all things?
A: For pmAS FAs, the new “synch-up date” will be the same date for competitive bidding seniority and Occupational Seniority.
Historically these have always been the same date for pmAS FAs, and we do not want to change that because of the merger. Although this has been long standing practice as required by our contract, it is theoretically possible that your competitive bidding date for bidding purposes could be a different date than your Occupational Seniority date for pay raises and such.
The JNC is anticipating that the Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC) will be giving credit to pmAS FAs’ competitive bidding dates for time spent in Initial Training. The job of the SMIC is to merge the lists and to certify the Integrated Seniority List (ISL) in a fair and equitable manner consistent with the Merger Policy in the AFA Constitution & Bylaws.
The revised Occupational Seniority date will then align with the new competitive bidding date just like it always has for the vast majority of FAs. The new Occupational Seniority date will apply everywhere the current Occupational Seniority date does in the current CBA: for pay rate increases, Longevity PTO qualification, Longevity Premium, etc.
Additional background info: For FAs who were hired directly into Inflight as a Flight Attendant from outside the Company, your Occupational Seniority date (i.e. the date you were hired as a FA) is the same as your Company Seniority date (i.e. the date you were hired as a Company employee). For FAs who transferred into Inflight from within the Company, the two are not the same date.
Q: Is VX voting on their TAs and AS voting on their TAs, or is VX and AS voting together to get the Merger Agreement ratified?
A: All Flight Attendants (VX and AS) must vote collectively on the entire Merger Agreement.
Under AFA’s Constitution and Bylaws, all pre-merger Virgin America and pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants are in one Master Executive Council. The pmVX and pmAS transition agreements are part of the Merger Agreement. The Merger Agreement also combines both groups under one Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA). At Full Integration (currently estimated March 2019), all Flight Attendant will be working under the JCBA.
Q: Can you please explain the Vacation Coordination Bank in greater detail?
A: The Vacation Coordination Bank would allow Flight Attendants the ability to coordinate with unpaid vacation (i.e., even if a Flight Attendant had -0- TFP in a year) in order to maintain health insurance benefits at the active employee rate while on an eligible leave of absence pursuant to §15.M. This is especially important because the JCBA provides for a medical leave of 4 years duration instead of today’s 1 year maximum (unless management approves additional time, which has not been the case recently).
Our current Agreement allows Flight Attendants to use paid vacation to coordinate with an unpaid leave of absence in order to maintain health insurance at the active employee rate.
Section 15.M.2.a. (Leaves of Absence, Minimum Coordination with Vacation):
Minimum Coordination: A Flight Attendant may choose to coordinate the use of vacation/Longevity PTO in conjunction with medical, maternity or parental leave, FMLA, Workers’ Compensation, STD or LTD in order to maintain insurance benefits for her-/himself and her/his eligible dependents, if applicable, at the active employee contribution rate. … If coordinating with vacation/Longevity PTO, s/he must utilize a minimum of two (2) vacation/Longevity PTO days in each partial or full bid month until depleted.
Under the JCBA, instead of the requirement to coordinate with paid vacation, a Flight Attendant who had not earned any paid vacation would be credited with her full possible vacation entitlement (as though s/he had been credited the ‘hard’ 480) for the purposes of minimum coordination. Those “vacation coordination bank” days would be applied at two days/month in order for the Flight Attendant to maintain health insurance at the active rate. In the current CBA, one can only coordinate with paid vacation days.
Example: A 26-year FA was on a medical leave for most of 2017 and was only credited with 190 TFP in 2017. Because of the 190 TFP credit for 2017, the Flight Attendant did not earn any paid/unpaid vacation for 2018. However, her/his possible Vacation/Longevity PTO accrual would be 42 days. Therefore, s/he may use those 42 “vacation coordination bank” days to coordinate 2 days/month in order to maintain health insurance at the active employee rate. In 2019, s/he may do the same thing. Under today’s CBA, s/he would need paid vacation days to coordinate per §15.M.2.a.
The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) has prepared the comprehensive full text tentative agreements (TAs) that make up the overall Merger Agreement.
The Merger Agreement is the global ‘umbrella’ document and incorporates all agreements related to the merger by reference. Keep in mind that in order to transition pre-merger Virgin America (pmVX) Flight Attendants onto the pre-merger Alaska Airlines (pmAS) pay, work rules and other contract provisions, some letters of agreement (LOAs) apply only to the pmVX FAs, some apply to only pmAS FAs, and some apply to both. However, all eligible pmAS and pm VX FAs will be voting on the collection of TAs, so you should familiarize yourself with every LOA.
Now that the comprehensive full text documents have been posted, the JNC blog will go live shortly.
Email us at jnc@afaalaska.org for topic suggestions, questions or general feedback.
In Solidarity,
Your JNC – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jennifer Wise MacColl, Jamie Cogen, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo
The roadshow schedule may be found in the February 3, 2018 ”Save the Date: Tentative Merger Agreement Roadshows” membership release. AFA anticipates voting will open shortly after the completion of roadshows in mid-March and will end in early April. Any pre-merger Alaska Airlines (pmAS) or pre-merger Virgin America (pmVX) FAs are welcome to attend any and all sessions. Please be aware that only AFA members in good standing may vote on the TA, so it is extremely important that pmAS FAs are current on their dues and pmVX FAs have completed an AFA membership application prior to the vote.
AFA has prepared Flight Attendant industry payscale comparisons for the step rates of pay contained in the tentative Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA).
Keep in mind that pre-merger Virgin America (pmVX) Flight Attendants are currently paid in dollars per block-hour ($/block-hour), and pre-merger Alaska Airlines (pmAS) Flight Attendants are paid in dollars per Trips for Pay ($/TFP). Until pmVX FA are completely transitioned to the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) and payroll system (estimated March 2019), pmVX FAs will continue to be paid in block-hours in the existing VX system. In order to match the Alaska pay rates (in TFP) in block-hours, one must convert from $/TFP to $/block-hour.
TFP -> block-hour = 1.13 TFP/block-hour
Questions about individual Merger Agreement provisions will be answered once the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) publishes the full text language of the tentative Merger Agreement on Friday (tomorrow). We thank you in advance for your patience.
In Solidarity,
Your JNC – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jennifer Wise MacColl, Jamie Cogen, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo
The roadshow schedule may be found in the February 3, 2018 ”Save the Date: Tentative Merger Agreement Roadshows” membership release. AFA anticipates voting will open shortly after the completion of roadshows in mid-March and will end in early April. Any pre-merger Alaska Airlines (pmAS) or pre-merger Virgin America (pmVX) FAs are welcome to attend any and all sessions. Please be aware that only AFA members in good standing may vote on the TA, so it is extremely important that pmAS FAs are current on their dues and pmVX FAs have completed an AFA membership application prior to the vote.
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