July 12, 2013
Dear Flight Attendants,
First order of business is to congratulate our brothers and sisters of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) at Alaska Airlines on ratifying their Tentative Agreement. We hope that success bodes well for our efforts at the table.
We just wrapped our first week of mediation in Valencia, CA. Victoria Gray, our National Mediation Board federal mediator, assisted both sides in defining all remaining open items and mapping a path forward. She also strongly suggested that both sides keep public communications very general and less detailed than in pre-mediation times. She explained that mediated sessions can become very intense and negotiating positions can shift rapidly. Having detailed positions outlined in publications can sometimes hamper the flexibility to get the deal done. Both parties agreed to keep updates more generic.
That said, we are still committed to keeping you apprised of what’s going on at the bargaining table. With Mediator Gray’s assistance, we were able to TA three sections: New Section: Hotels, Section 30: Training and Section 27: Association Business. We had significant discussion on Section 14: Vacation, Section 16: Sick Leave and Section 32: Attendance Policy.
As we reported earlier in the week, AFA has retained a very experienced travel industry economist to assist us with costing and evaluating the company’s financial modeling. Dan Akins brings over 30 years of experience and has worked with several AFA councils and other unions in negotiations. We are very happy to have Dan’s expertise and he has already been very helpful at the bargaining table.
Our next session is August 20-22 in Portland, OR.
In solidarity,
Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Tracy, Karina Cameron-Fetters and AFA Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo
“Five Bases, One Voice”
