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.
AFA AS-VX Merger TAs & Resources >
Now that the comprehensive full text documents have been posted, the JNC blog will go live shortly.
JNC blog >
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
[Note: Industry comparison documents have been updated to reflect the latest JetBlue (B6) pay rates effective January 1, 2018./ jtp 02.16.2018]
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[pmAS] FA Industry Comps in TFP for AS-VX JCBA 2018-2021 >
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[pmVX] FA Industry Comps in BLOCK HOURS for AS-VX JCBA 2018-2021 >
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.
The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) posted the Summary of Merger Agreements yesterday, and we realize there are many questions about the negotiations process. This communication addresses those inquiries. Questions about individual Merger Agreement provisions will be answered once we publish the full text language on Friday. We thank you in advance for your patience.
AS-VX Merger Agreement bargaining background
From the very beginning of the merger, Alaska Airlines (AS) management took the position there would be no improvements for the pre-merger AS (pmAS) Flight Attendants because they already had a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in place. Management claimed they would only negotiate a strictly transitional agreement. Such agreement would simply incorporate the pre-merger Virgin America (pmVX) Flight Attendants into the existing CBA, and therefore would contain no improvements for the combined work group. Management insisted that because AFA did not have the same language in our CBA as the pilots’, management did not have to negotiate a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) with us.
The JNC solidly rejected that approach. It was adamant that there was no deal unless all Flight Attendants benefited from this merger. After months of hard bargaining, AFA prevailed.
Merger Agreement highlights
This tentative Merger Agreement includes:
- AS pay rates for VX (converted at 1.13 TFP per block-hour);
- 4.5% increase to the entire AS pay scale and retro to 1.1.2018;
- Over 10.35% in compounded wage increases;
- Additional holiday: Christmas Eve, including actual or scheduled provisions;
- Two (2) additional Attendance Points reduction/credit;
- Increase in 401(k) Company match to 7.5% (@100%);
- Improved medical leave period of four (4) years;
- Five (5) minute grace period for MBL;
- Ground commuting protections that apply to all FAs (not just registered “air” commuters);
- Elimination of the 1/12 vacation reduction if there is no paid time in the month; and
- Immediate and ‘down-line’ enhancements for pmVX FAs.
Other airline mergers
Consistent with other mergers in the industry, pmVX FAs will transition onto the Alaska system over a period of time. Because of systems and technology constraints, Alaska Airlines cannot simply just combine the groups immediately. Pre-merger American Airlines (AA) Flight Attendants and pre-merger US Airways (US) Flight Attendants are still working under separate work rules even though their JCBA was reached in late 2014. The execution of the United agreement is proceeding faster, but full implementation is still many months away. Because of their complex negotiations situations, many Flight Attendants in the aforementioned mergers went several years without pay increases. One could argue that the relatively significant increases on the effective date of their JCBAs did not make up for the years of stagnant wages.
The merger most analogous to ours—in which a comparatively larger group merged with a relatively smaller carrier—was the AirTran (ATR)-Southwest (SWA) merger in 2011. Those merger negotiations resulted in no pay raises or other contractual changes for the SWA FAs. The ATR operation was kept separate and individual groups of approximately 40 ATR FAs at a time crossed over the partition to SWA pay and work rules over a multi-year period. It took years to complete, kept the groups divided and denied pay and work rule improvements to the ATR FAs.
Bargaining rationale
An important consideration that made a “mid-term” JCBA an option is that AFA does not want to go into our next round of regular negotiations with a divided work group. Despite AFA’s best efforts to secure as many interim improvements for pmVX FAs as possible up to this point, the reality is they are currently working for sub-par wages and they are not protected by a full union contract.
This Merger Agreement clears a path for all Flight Attendants to:
- Be covered by the Alaska JCBA (effective date of ratification in early April 2018);
- Fly together under a fully integrated operation (currently estimated in March 2019);
- Experience the Alaska contractual work rules first hand for a sufficient period of time that everyone understands the value of those work rules; and
- Learn more about the Alaska bargaining history, bargaining objectives and related challenges.
This will provide a powerful platform for AFA to go into the next round of full negotiations (early opener in late 2020) as unified as possible in order to achieve the pay, benefits and work rule improvements that we all deserve.
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.
The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) is publishing a comprehensive summary of agreements that make up the overall AFA Alaska Airlines-Virgin America Merger Agreement. The summaries contain a listing of the provisions agreed to during merger negotiations. The full text Merger Agreement and related agreements will be posted by the end of the week.
SUMMARY OF CHANGES TO THE 2014-2019 CBA >
This summary denotes the negotiated changes made to the current 2014-2019 AFA Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). If the overall Merger Agreement is ratified, these changes would become immediately in force and incorporated into the contract. The new document would become the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA).
SUMMARY OF AS TRANSITION AGREEMENT >
This summary denotes the changes that would occur to transition the pre-merger (“Legacy”) Alaska Flight Attendants into the JCBA. These are temporary provisions that are variations on current contract provisions or are one-time happenings.
SUMMARY OF VX TRANSITION AGREEMENT >
This summary denotes the changes to pay, work rules and benefits that would occur to transition the pre-merger (“Legacy”) Virgin America Flight Attendants into the JCBA. Because of technology, training and software constraints, management cannot combine the Inflight operations until approximately first quarter 2019.
Please take the time to read all the summaries. The JNC will answer questions through a negotiations blog on afaalaska.org once the full text Merger Agreement and related agreements have been posted by end of week.
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.
The AFA Alaska-Virgin America Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) presented the tentative Merger Agreement to the Master Executive Council (MEC) in a special session today (Monday, February 12), and the MEC unanimously approved to release the tentative agreement for membership ratification.
The JNC will be publishing a comprehensive summary of agreement tomorrow and full text language to follow by end of week. However, we know everyone is eagerly anticipating more details, so…we’re going to give you a sneak preview to tide you over until tomorrow’s summary of agreement.
Spoiler Alert: Pay Raises for Everyone!
If the Merger Agreement is ratified:
- The entire Alaska pay scale will receive an across the board 4.5% increase to every step rate of pay;
- “Legacy” Virgin America Flight Attendants will be immediately brought up to the Alaska pay scale (converted from $/TFP to $/block-hour); and
- The new pay rates will be retroactive to January 1, 2018.
More details to follow tomorrow…
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 ”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 pmAS or 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.
The AFA Alaska-Virgin America Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) just reached a tentative Merger Agreement with Alaska Airlines management during our twelfth negotiations session this week in Seattle, WA.
A tentative agreement is not released for a membership-wide vote until approved by your directly elected union leaders in the Master Executive Council (MEC). The JNC will be presenting the full text tentative Merger Agreement to the MEC on Monday, February 12.
No information about the Merger Agreement will be released until after the MEC has reached a decision whether or not to release the tentative agreement for ratification. Assuming the MEC approves the Merger Agreement, the JNC will conduct informational roadshows around the system in early March.
More updates to follow pending the outcome of the Special MEC meeting on Monday!
In Solidarity,
Your JNC – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Jennifer Wise MacColl, Jamie Cogen, Lindsey Steele and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo
Keep in mind that merger negotiations are a different process than regular negotiations. Discussions are focusing on a limited list of Flight Attendant priorities. All the provisions in the AFA Alaska contract (scheduled pay raises, etc.) will continue in force for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants; all the provisions in the Virgin America work rules will remain in effect for pre-merger Virgin America Flight Attendants unless modified and/or superseded by the AFA Virgin America letters of agreement.
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