Dear Flight Attendants,

 

 

There has been an incredible amount of chatter about Section 14 Vacations and changes to the annual 480 TFP minimum. As a result, your Negotiating Committee feels compelled to address the chatter. Under an agreement we had with management – through the mediator – detailed information like this was not supposed to be communicated until we had a full tentative agreement (TA). At that point you would have been able to consider all provisions, including improved pay, etc., together in one package. Unfortunately, details were spelled out in the latest edition of management’s Grab & Go that left many of you wondering…”What the heck is this?!”

 

Since then, we have informed management and the mediator that AFA will no longer abide by the “communication blackout.” This cannot be a one-sided effort and it seems to us that after every session, this policy has caused big issues for us. So, NO MORE!

 

OK, on to explaining Vacation Section Changes:

 

There were several changes to the S14 Vacations. Please read through the entire communication as the new system is fairly complicated. Why is it so complex? Management is on a serious mission to reduce benefits to those who do not work “sufficiently” in their eyes to earn those benefits. The Negotiating Committee, in turn, had to protect the accruals of those who were not able to earn the benefit due to a leave of absence or other situation beyond their control. Thus the intricate provisions that had to be created.

 

While we are not in complete agreement with management’s philosophy because of the impact to our group’s scheduling flexibility, we did walk a little way down that road in an effort to beef up the economic package. The economics, of course, continue to be a work in progress. In the end, YOU will decide if the entire TA package is sufficient for ratification.

 

Now, we will to take this opportunity to share with you the tentatively agreed graduated accruals and seven (7) days of Longevity Paid Time Off (PTO) concept:

 

 

BASE VACATION ACCRUALS (no change except addition of longevity PTO):

Years of service	Days of Vacation
< 1 year	1.167 days per month employed
1 – 4	14 days
5 – 9	21 days
10 – 17	28 days
18 – 24	35 days
(new) 25+ years with 960 Worked TFP, excluding vacation and sick leave.	35 days plus additional 7 days Longevity PTO

 

Important Concepts to Understand:

 

Worked TFP = ALL credited TFP (including premiums, training, etc.), but excluding Sick Leave and Vacation.

 

Twelve (12) Month Look-Back = The last twelve (12) bid months of full paid activity. Any bid month in which a Flight Attendant coordinates sick leave with short/long term disability or worker’s compensation pay will not count toward the 480 TFP (or 240 TFP) threshold calculation. A full twelve (12) month look back will extend into additional months until twelve (12) full months are included in the determination of the threshold. That is, any bid month in which a Flight Attendant is an a leave of absence (LOA) and is coordinating sick leave will be skipped for the purposes of the 480 TFP. This way, FAs are not penalized for months in which they are on a medical or on the job injury (OJI) leave and coordinating with sick leave.

 

1.333 TFP Daily Credit on LOAs Not Using Sick Leave = FAs will receive an unpaid credit of 1.333 TFP for each day on which they are on an unpaid personal, military, extended, medical, maternity, FMLA, worker’s compensation or parental leaves of absence or on a furlough (including voluntary furlough) when they are not coordinating w/ sick leave. This credit will count towards the “480.” (This is the same application in the current contract for unpaid LOAs.)

 

Vacation Accrual Reduction 1/12 for Full Unpaid Bid Month: A Flight Attendant who does not have Worked TFP, vacation pay, or sick leave during a bid month will have her/his vacation entitlement reduced by 1/12. (Same application as today.)

 

Annual Worked TFP Impact:

Graduated Accrual for Worked TFP
0 – 239 TFP	No accrual/no pay of vacation days for subsequent year.
240 – 479 TFP	Accrue half of the vacation days above and vacation days are unpaid.
480+ TFP	Full accrual and pay for vacation days.

 

 

New Provision for those with 960+ TFP and at least 25 years seniority:

 

Longevity PTO: In addition to vacation accruals a Flight Attendant employed twenty five (25) years or longer who at her/his option has greater than or equal to 960 Worked TFP will qualify for an additional seven (7) days of longevity PTO. Although similar, PTO is not to be confused with vacation time. PTO is personal time off rewarded for productivity and working high time. 960 TFP equates to (not including vacation or sick leave credit) an average of 79.5 TFP monthly in addition to the six (6) TFP annual credit for recurrent training. Other required training TFP credit such as Flight Path or computer based training would apply to the formula.

 

Vacation and Longevity PTO shall be paid at four (4) TFP per day. The Longevity PTO will be bid with your vacation and awarded as split six (6). The maximum number of vacation/PTO periods in any month is increased from three (3) to four (4). Flight Attendants may continue to request early vacation/Longevity PTO pay.

 

Some Flight Attendants have asked why the vacation credit was not increased above four (4) TFP per day. This is particularly true in light of the Reserve guarantee based on five (5) TFP per day. (“Why should I get paid less on my vacation than a Reserve?”)

 

Here’s a little background. Our vacations are bid based on a full week (or seven days). True, one can split vacation blocks to less than seven days in “Vacation Open Time” but that is after the fact. Looking at vacation on the basis of a full week, a Flight Attendant is credited 28 TFP for seven days of vacation. In contrast, the Reserve guarantee based on a five day work week (due to 48/7 contractual legalities) is 25 TFP.

 

We also looked at other carriers and 4 TFP per day vacation credit (or 3.54 block-hours per day when comparing to all other carriers except Southwest) is a very competitive benefit. That is, 4 TFP per day is right there with the highest credit in the industry. The fact is our vacation accruals are also very competitive. Taking all this information under consideration, the Negotiating Committee made the determination to focus more of our bargaining in other areas related to compensation such as rigs, pay rates, 401(k) match, holidays, and other premiums.

 

Your Negotiating Committee spent countless hours reviewing, discussing and enhancing the provisions of Section 14. In summary, we were successful in negotiating:

• A longevity PTO provision of seven (7) days, and
• A full twelve (12) bid month look-back for the purpose of calculating the 240/480 Worked TFP thresholds so those on LOAs and coordinating sick leave are not “dinged” for doing so.

Some have asked the Negotiating Committee to “reopen” negotiations related to changes in the 480 TFP threshold (i.e. “Hard time” vs “soft time”). This is not likely to happen because the related sections have been TA’d. We can understand the confusion because several provisions have been changed after being TA’d so far. The difference is that the parties mutually agreed to reopen the TA’d sections.

Considering that making changes to minimum flying benefits was one of management’s primary objectives in these negotiations, we do not believe management will be inclined to do so this time. Your Negotiating Committee has done our best to minimize changes to the 480 TFP minimum. Just know that after months of negotiations and heavy consideration, we only agreed to the changes with the expectation that management “make up for it” in the compensation package. Consequently, Flight Attendants will need to consider the changes in Section 14 Vacations in the context of the entire TA once presented.

Thank you for your continued support! It really makes all the difference knowing that you are behind us at the table!

 

 

In solidarity,

 

 

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

“Five Bases, One Voice”

negotiations@alaskamec.org

Dear Flight Attendants,

 

It has come to our attention that Alaska Airlines Vice President of Inflight Services Andy Schneider and other members of management have been calling some Flight Attendants who have emailed regarding AFA contract negotiations. You cannot be retaliated against for putting forth your opinion and the calls to date have not implied that.

 

First of all please know that if you feel uncomfortable discussing negotiations, you have the absolute right to refuse to discuss that subject—even if you are speaking directly with Andy.

Secondly, if you do choose to discuss negotiations feel free to pass along that you expect management to do the right thing on the overall compensation and benefits package. You can tell them that your Negotiating Committee speaks for you. Do not engage in any conversation in which you are asked (and please do not volunteer!) to rank different contract provisions, e.g. “Which are more important? $X in compensation or rigs?” etc.

 

If management engages you in conversation via phone or email regarding specific negotiations objectives, it is imperative that you email negotiations@alaskamec.org with the details so that AFA can investigate.

 

Thanks for your support of the Negotiating Committee. Together we will fight for the contract we all deserve. If you have not already contacted management via email, we suggest that you add a disclaimer stating that you do not want feedback.

 

Remember: in all discussions with management, maintain a respectful tone and “My Negotiating Committee speaks for me!”

 

In solidarity,

 

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

 

“Five Bases, One Voice”

negotiations@alaskamec.org

[Note: Please read this communication in its entirety. It is lengthy, but the detail is necessary to fully explain the changes. –NC]

 

Dear Flight Attendants,

 

There are still rumors and misinformation surrounding the tentative agreement (TA) specific to Junior Assignments. It has been a while since we explained the proposed changes to JA and your Negotiating Committee will take this opportunity to review the process, the provisions and the enhancements to our current system compared to the TA.

 

What is JA?: Junior Available occurs when a Flight Attendant is required to work on an unscheduled day(s) [i.e., a day off] or when Crew Scheduling assigns additional flying after a completed sequence.

 

What is a Reassignment?: Reassignment is any assignment changes or additions occurring on days you are already scheduled to fly, although may carry into days you were scheduled to be off.

 

Chart outlining the current JA system vs. the TA’d version

 

	JA premium	Can FA trade JA assignment?	Premium follow trade?	If FA JA’d out or order?	FA not JA’d?	Premium OT to avoid JA
TODAY	1.5x pay	Not really*	N/A	1.5x	N/A	N/A
TA	2.5x pay	Yes	Yes	3.0x	2.5x	1.5x min

 

*Under the current contract, a JA trip may be posted for trade only once and you must contact Crew Scheduling to work out the trade. What that effectively means is that nobody trades a JA trip and in fact it is so inaccessible that very few Flight Attendants realize this provision even exists per 9.G of the Contract. The TA provides for unlimited trading of the pairing without restrictions.

 

Current Process TODAY:

 

Company decides in order to cover the operation they need to utilize Junior Available provisions of Section 9. Crew Scheduling (CSKD) utilizes the monthly seniority list starting with most junior qualified, available Flight Attendant in the domicile from which the sequence departs who is completely legal for the flight(s) or sequence to be assigned. CSKD will start at the bottom of the list and work up: 1) by calling the FA at the primary contact number on file with CSKD if s/he is not already on duty, or 2) if s/he is on duty, by flagging the FA to be contacted in flight via ACARS in and/or a supervisor upon arrival.

 

Due to improvements to technology (e.g. caller ID), only about 1 out of 200 Flight Attendants on the average answer their phone—usually by mistake.

 

Except for a very few, in reality Flight Attendants who are already on duty are the ones who are JA’d today – because it’s a game of “tag, you’re it.” True, there might be a delay in notification because CSKD has to go through the charade of calling those at home but they still get you nonetheless. If you are tagged for JA today, it is because CSKD has already attempted to call everybody junior to you who is legal for the assignment(s). Remember that legalities disqualify many FAs and you also cannot be JA’d if you trade away a trip off your original line on that day. (This loophole legally allows many junior Flight Attendants to become ineligible for JA with just a few clever manipulations of their schedules.)

 

A Flight Attendant cannot be contacted for JA duty more than twenty-four (24) hours before the needed scheduled sequence or reserve duty period. Flight Attendants who are JA’d are offered 1.5 times the appropriate trip rate or a day off at straight pay of her/his choice equal in number to those assigned by the JA assignment.

 

New TA’d Section 9 Junior Available procedure:

 

Company decides in order to cover the operation they need to utilize Junior Available provisions of Section 9. Prior to attempting to JA any Flight Attendant, CSKD can post the trips in OT with a minimum 1.5x premium to encourage someone to pick it up. The premium can be increased to 2.0x or even 2.5x and once the premium goes on the trip, it cannot be removed unless assigned to a Reserve or there is a cancellation. Crew Schedulers do not want to JA Flight Attendants and Premium OT is actually a cheaper option for the Company even at 2.0x pay because we raised the JA premium to 2.5x pay.

 

Crew Scheduling utilizes the monthly seniority list starting with the most junior available Flight Attendant on duty anytime the day prior—essentially the same list utilized today. For the purposes of this provision, duty is defined with specific reference to inbound working crews and any Flight Attendant on a layover or at check-in—basically anytime you are accruing time away from base (TAFB).

 

The new provision eliminates the step of calling Flight Attendants at home who do not answer their phones. This “trade-off” results in hugely increased premiums at a significant financial penalty to the Company!

 

Remember – the Company today has the ability to JA working Flight Attendants concurrently with making the calls to Flight Attendants at home. It really just depends on whether ‘your number is up’ on the seniority list of those legal for the assignment(s).

 

If a Flight Attendant is JA’d the Flight Attendant will receive a premium of 2.5 times the applicable trip rate for all flying.

 

Under the TA there is no option to elect days off when receiving a JA assignment. Why did we change this? The thought process behind this new JA provision is to minimize the number of Flight Attendants affected by JA. When a Flight Attendant chooses a day off in lieu of compensation it affects Reserve coverage on subsequent days which often causes additional JA assignments or reassignments due to operational needs. The goal is to cover the operation and get flying back to normal with the least amount of impact to the group.

 

If a Flight Attendant receives a Junior Assignment, Crew Scheduling is required to notify the FA if they will fall below the minimum of 12 days off in a bid month or if there is a 48/7 violation and the Flight Attendant may decline the Junior Assignment if either situation applies.

 

Flight Attendants will have the ability to trade Junior Assignments and the premium of 2.5 times the applicable rate will follow the sequence. A Flight Attendant may be contacted for JA duty while on a sequence no earlier than the preceding calendar day before the needed, scheduled sequence or reserve duty period.

 

The preservation of seniority is critical! We eliminated the loophole that allowed junior Flight Attendants to gain “super seniority” and avoid JA by trading away trips from their original line. Some FAs would swap trips with each other and become “untouchable” for JA for an entire month. This is course would push the JA list even higher in seniority. Well, no longer!

 

The new process, protections and provisions allow for both the Flight Attendants and the Company to manage and audit the Junior Available assignments. Transparency is integral to this provision. Consequently, management will provide a list of those JA’d so the assignments can be fact-checked.

 

With such a high premium attached to JA assignments the Negotiating Committee is extremely confident that the Company will first attempt to utilize Reserves, make reassignment adjustments to those already flying (when applicable—this very rarely happens) and offer Premium Open Time (minimum 1.5 times the applicable trip rate) prior to JA’ing.

 

As a last and final resort to cover the operation the Company will utilize the provisions of Section 9, while also protecting seniority, minimum days off and contractual rest provisions.

 

Your Negotiating Committee spent countless hours reviewing, discussing and enhancing the provisions of Section 9. We were successful in negotiating a seniority-based system of assignment, protections, waivers and compensation. We are optimistic that once we present a contract to the membership for ratification, Flight Attendants will read over Section 9 Junior Available Rules and understand the complete depth of all changes and improvements.

 

 

In solidarity,

 

 

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters, Jake Jones and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo

 

“Five Bases, One Voice”

negotiations@alaskamec.org

[Post script from MEC President Jeffrey Peterson: Many of you have written directly to me over the last month or so asking for clarification to this section. I have been able to respond to many but I apologize that I have definitely fallen way behind on writing back to some of you individually. If you haven’t heard back from me on this issue I hope this communication will go a long ways towards answering your questions and/or addressing your concerns. The other members of the Negotiating Committee have kindly offered to assist in answering negotiations-related questions in a more timely manner. You can email negotiations@alaskamec.org and your message will be sent to all members of the AFA Alaska Negotiating Committee. -jtp]