Negotiations Update – August 29, 2014

Your Negotiating Committee just wrapped up 4 days of mediation under the direction of NMB Mediator, Victoria Gray, at the La Jolla Marriott in San Diego, CA.  

The days were long and stretched into the night as both teams were frustrated as we grappled with complex issues and tough decisions.  We did reach some consensus.

Thank you to everybody who worked yesterday and who attended informational picketing system-wide.  Your enthusiasm was a big encouragement to your NC.  The SAN Flight Attendants stopped by our caucus room to show their support!

This session we did TA 3 Sections: 

• Section 9 JA
• Sick Leave Make-up Program (which will end up in Section 16)
• Section 23 Insurance Benefits
• Section 32 Attendance Policy

Section 9 – JA

We retained protections from being JA’d when trading away days off one’s line provided you don’t replace those days with anything else and all the improvements from the TA.  Additionally, a FA cannot be JA’d into or while on a vacation.

Sick Leave Make-up Program

This will allow F/As to restore their sick leave on a 1:1 basis under conditions of the program.

Section 23 Insurance Benefits

We achieved the 15% year on year cap on health care contributions and maintained the annual cost share caps from the TA.

Section 32 Attendance Policy

• In the TA a FA does not have to complete one leg to avoid the 2.5 points when calling in sick-on-line.
• For record improvement, we improved the flying requirements compared to TA1.
• We retained the increased 6 bank points and negotiated that a FA will have the choice to use her/his Quarterly Point Reduction Form prior to having bank points apply.

Your Negotiating Committee will meet with management’s team in SEA in September to work on language clean-up for Section 12 and parameters for an automated Reserve Repositioning Calendar.

The next mediation session is scheduled for October 6-8 in Portland, OR. We also have a mediation session scheduled in Washington, DC, November 12-14.

Please check out the Negotiations Update video on our You Tube channel at http://youtu.be/GDX3CDjZZN8

Wear your RED pin, stay informed and stay engaged.  Keep an eye out for more opportunities to show your spirit and voice your thoughts to management!   More information can be found on our new website at afaalaska.org.

In solidarity,

Your Negotiating Committee—MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Jake Jones, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Negotiator Paula Mastrangelo