Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian
Q: Do you have current per diem rates for the other airlines?
A: The following is a list of Industry per diem rates both domestic and international for comparison.
Alaska $2.50 / $2.50 Intl (Same)
Delta $2.40 / $2.90 Transoceanic and HI
Southwest $2.30 / $2.80 Intl
United $2.20 / $2.70 Intl
JetBlue $2.15 / $2.30 Intl
Hawaiian $2.00 / 70% of State Department allowance
Q: If you are out on a medical leave of absence, do you still accrual 1.333 towards vacation and 480?
A: Yes, if you are on an unpaid leave you still accrue 1.333 per day towards all 480 provisions. This is covered under Section 15.N [Unpaid Leaves…] of the JCBA (no change to this provision):
Any bid month a Flight Attendant is on an unpaid personal, military, extended, medical, maternity or parental leave, FMLA, Workers’ Compensation, STD or LTD, or on a furlough (including voluntary furlough) and is not coordinating sick leave (or vacation with STD, LTD or Workers’ Compensation), the Flight Attendant will receive an unpaid credit of one and one-third (1.333) TFP for each day for which s/he is on such leave of absence or furlough for the purposes of applicable provisions in Sections 13 [Uniforms], 14 [Vacations], 23 [Insurance Benefits] and 32 [Attendance Policy].
For Flight Attendants who coordinate sick leave/vacation in order to maintain healthcare insurance at the active employee rates while on their leave, there is a lookback application for determining their 480 threshold. See Section 15.M.4 [Leaves with Coordination…] of the JCBA (no change to this provision).
Q: To my understanding, some Virgin FAs were allowed to keep their Company seniority for pay/vacation/line bidding if they transferred from CSA to FA. Some of those new hire FAs who just came online are currently making more money than me. I’ve been flying for close to 5 years and some are barely going into their 4th month. I’m trying to understand the ‘freezing’ part of the contract. How will they be merged when it comes to bidding? Will they still keep their 8 years even though they came online in November? Or will they merge with current 4-5 month L-AS FAs? Hope this makes sense.
A: See the following.
“I’m trying to understand the ‘freezing’ part of the contract.
Virgin America has had several different Company policies for transfers into InFlight over its history, including differing policies for pay and bidding. Generally speaking, L-VX FAs have their pay rate determined by Company Seniority and their bidding order determined by Occupational (Flight Attendant) Seniority. Consequently, a 4 month L-VX FA who has 8 years of Company Seniority (due to a transfer from GST/CSA to FA) has the Year 8 FA pay rate but bids as a 4 month FA. The VX “Red Circled” Pay Rates LOA allows those FAs to continue receiving Year 8 Alaska FA pay until their Occupational Seniority exceeds their Company Seniority as it was on the date of ratification of the TA.
How will they be merged when it comes to bidding?
Shorter approximately correct answer: They will be merged in with the current 4-5 month L-AS FAs for the purposes of line bidding, vacation bidding, etc.
Longer more technically correct answer: The Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC) will merge the lists together using a fair and equitable application codified in Section X [Merger Policy…] of the AFA Constitution & Bylaws; no adjustment to relative seniority may occur with respect to others on one’s pre-merger carrier seniority list. Eligible L-AS FAs will receive the appropriate credit for time spent in Initial Training prior to merging the lists together. Specific questions about competitive bidding seniority integration should be directed to the SMIC: seniority@afacwa.org.
Q: Will the L-VX FAs pay the same $50 union dues as L-AS FAs if the TA passes without the same work rules essentially causing a discrepancy in pay still?
A: Like in any merger, there will be a period of time in which there is a difference in work rules between the two pre-merger FA groups. However, L-VX FAs will have the Alaska pay rates, per diem, full grievance protections, grievable work rules, access to the full AFA committee structure and support, etc. That being said, AFA understand the desire to achieve the Alaska work, and the Association will do our part to help achieve Full Implementation as soon as possible. Dues will start being collected in July based on an April ratification.
Q: I am a L-VX FA currently on maternity leave until March. I am reading over the TA and was hoping you could offer me some clarification. Would I be eligible for the year of maternity leave if this TA is ratified?
A: Yes. Ratification will not occur until April 3, 2018, but management has agreed to allow Maternity Extension Leave for L-VX FAs in the interim.
Q: Does any US airline have better than our 480?
A: Yes, depending on on how you define the 480 (e.g. healthcare insurance vs. vacation accrual & pay). 480 TFP is equivalent to approximately 425 credit hours. Generally speaking, Southwest (full accrual @ 0 TFP), Envoy (½ accrual @ 350 credit hours) and American (full accrual @ 420 credit hours) have better “480” applications for vacation accrual.
Q: I have to work during the roadshows and was wondering if any of them will be taped for us to watch back later?
A: No, there are no plans to tape any of the live roadshows. However, the JNC will produce supplemental materials that may be accessed remotely. The exact nature of those materials are still in development because we are currently focusing on getting the blog posts caught up to date and finalizing the live roadshow presentation.
[See also Reduction in Force/Furlough Protections [JCBA]]
Q: What protections are there to prevent management from furloughing Flight Attendants once differences training is complete?
A: Differences training is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2018. The JCBA Supplemental Reduction in Force LOA provides reduction in force/furlough protections through December 31, 2019.
[See also Negotiations: General 2 [misc] and Negotiations: General [misc]]
Q: On the blog, a question was asked regarding whether these negotiations meant that the contract had to be opened. The answer provided was, “Management wanted to negotiate only transition items that would bring the L-VX FAs over to the L-AS CBA.” Can you please expand on what exactly were those “transition items,” and why is it that the JNC took the position that improvements for L-AS absolutely had to be included as well instead of just bringing L-VX into our contract as-is? Because by doing so, is that not what opened us up for concessions like the 2-year extension?
A: Transition items would be any provisions necessary to bring L-VX FAs into the current L-AS 2014-2019 contract: creation of a sick leave bank, attendance policy transition, training, benefits and implementation dates for hours of service, scheduling, reserve, compensation, etc. The JNC and the MEC were concerned that a “transition only” TA would not get ratified by the full membership (L-VX and L-AS) if there were not improvements for the L-AS FAs over and above the existing agreement. A mid-term agreement with a duration that extends beyond the existing amendable date is not a concession in and of itself.
Q: Why did the JNC settle for only 4.5% pay increase?
A: It seems there is a lot of confusion regarding the rate increases in the TA. In Section 21.A [Step Rates of Pay] of the current 2014-2019 CBA, L-AS FAs are currently on contract year 3 (DOS +3) pay rates. The most recent pay increase was on 12/17/2017. We are currently scheduled for an additional 1.5% increase on 12/17/2018, which is the last increase in this contract.
The 2014-2019 CBA has:
The 2018-2021 Merger Agreement has:
At top of scale, this is a ~10.4% increase across the life of the agreement, or an additional 8.7% over and above the current agreement. If you are still receiving step rate of pay increases, the rate increases are even higher. See the rate table below (in TFP):
Q: Was there any reasoning why the JNC put out a communication for this TA a piece at a time? The first communication read raises for everyone including a hefty TFP raise for our Union Leaders. Wouldn’t you you agree that these calculations for AS were a bit misleading? They included the 1.5% raise we would receive at DOS+4 in 2018 as well as the 1.5% raise on DOS in 2019. However those two raises were already given to us under our current contract. The facts are that the extension doesn’t really give the L-AS side much of a pay increase. We were told at the Union meetings in the Spring & Fall of 2017 that “the Union had their walking papers” and “pay at the top of the scale was a priority.“ It appears that those of us on the upper end of our pay scale are again not getting a fair value assessment of the hard years we’ve given our Company.
A: See below.
Was there any reasoning why the JNC put out a communication for this TA a piece at a time? The first communication read raises for everyone including a hefty TFP raise for our Union Leaders.
The JNC put out a communication for the TA a piece at a time because we were developing content and reference material as we went. In other words, we didn’t have every document (e.g. TA summaries, TAs, blog posts, etc.) ready for publication when the JNC sent out the first communication on Monday, February 12th “MEC Unanimously Approves Tentative Merger Agreement for Membership Ratification.” See the JNC blog post “Flight Pay Loss (FPL) Increases for AFA Officers & MEC EAP [JCBA]” for more information about the AFA FPL increases.
Wouldn’t you you agree that these calculations for AS were a bit misleading? They included the 1.5% raise we would receive at DOS+4 in 2018 as well as the 1.5% raise on DOS in 2019. However those two raises were already given to us under our current contract.
There was no intent to mislead anyone. It is true that the 1.5% increase scheduled for 12/17/2018 is already ‘on the books’ in the current 2014-2019 CBA, but there is no 1.5% increase in the current CBA in 2019. So it is not true that two of the raises are already given under the current contract. See the Q&A above for more info.
The facts are that the extension doesn’t really give the L-AS side much of a pay increase.
That really depends on one’s definition of what constitutes “much of a pay increase.” Pay increases across the life of the agreement range from ~10.4% to 54.7% when factoring in moving through the step rates of pay. See the chart in the Q&A above for more info. The other factor to consider is that this is a mid-term JCBA. L-AS FAs would not otherwise be due any pay increases other than the 1.5% scheduled for 12/17/2018 (i.e. not the 4.5% now, not the 1.5% in 2019 and not the 2.5% in 2020).
We were told at the Union meetings in the Spring & Fall of 2017 that “the Union had their walking papers” and “pay at the top of the scale was a priority.“ It appears that those of us on the upper end of our pay scale are again not getting a fair value assessment of the hard years we’ve given our Company.
Pay at the top of the scale was and still is a priority. However, there are multiple priorities in this merger, and sometimes even bargaining priorities must also be prioritized. The unfortunate reality is that management was unwilling to agree to targeted increases to the top of the scale. The JNC had to weigh that priority with the fact that a protracted merger negotiations may not be the optimal result for the membership as a whole–particularly because all L-VX FAs are hanging in the balance. See “Merger Negotiations Background” for more info about bargaining rationale.
