Q&A: What did we give up to achieve that provision?

Many Flight Attendants have asked, “What did we give up to achieve that provision?”

Most often it’s not as simple as the Negotiating Committee had to “give up” one provision in order to gain another. Sometimes there is a certain amount of trading for various aspects of the Tentative Agreement but not always. There were many times during these negotiations when management would give us a “freebie” when we asked for it, usually when it was a non-economic item.

For instance, some have wondered what AFA had to give up in order to achieve protections in Section 25 Air Safety, Health & Security from having to ferry on a flight with an inoperative engine. What has particularly concerned Flight Attendants is that regulations actually prohibit F/As from ferrying such flights. Therefore, some are concerned that we gave up something to achieve what we already have (even if it’s not in contractual language).

AFA had a whole list of protections or clarifications we were seeking in Section 25, some of which we achieved and others we did not. Even though regulations prohibit ferrying on those flights, AFA believed it was important Flight Attendants were aware they were not required to ferry such flights by including language in the contract. In this case, management agreed without further discussion.

There were plenty of similar instances when AFA asked for something and management agreed to incorporate it into the contract. Of course there were plenty of times when there was a lot more discussion and potentially even some “trading” to make it happen. We certainly didn’t have to give up something in order to gain something else for every change in the TA.