furloughs

Early Out and Other Furlough Mitigation Options

July 10, 2020 20:00

Furlough mitigation resources

AFA has compiled the following furlough mitigation resources for easy reference.

Company resources (AAG SSO required)

All furlough mitigation options
- Alaska Flight Attendant early-out & leave options
- Compare all Flight Attendant furlough mitigation options (grid)
Early Out (EO)
- FA Early Out Program Guide (aka FA Early Out Plan Document)
- Early Out Q&A
Extended Leaves of Absence (ELOAs) and Enhanced Voluntary Furloughs (EVFs)
- ELOAs and EVFs Q&A (aka Leaves Q&A)

AFA resources

Combined resources – “Early Out and Leave Options” informational sessions

Management is hosting and AFA will also be co-participating in upcoming “Early Out and Leave Options” informational sessions in which all furlough mitigations will be addressed: Early Outs, Extended Leaves of Absence and Enhanced Voluntary Furloughs.

Available Sessions – An individual calendar invite has been sent by management for each event. Please join us if you have questions!

Tue 7/14 @ 12pm – 1pm PT

Thu 7/16 @ 4pm – 5pm PT

Tue 7/21 @ 2pm – 3pm PT

“The Numbers”

Everyone wants to know the target numbers for the Early Out program, Extended Leaves of Absence and Enhanced Voluntary Furloughs. The MEC shared that feedback with management prior to publication of yesterday’s email announcing the EOs and other furlough mitigation options. According to the Company’s Early out Q&A (AAG SSO required), management estimates needing approximately 600 Flight Attendants to take the Early Out.

In our June 5^th “A Message About Current Events, and Planning for the Future” communication, the MEC projected that Alaska Airlines will possibly need 35%-50% less Flight Attendants systemwide—at least temporarily—beginning on October 1. We now project the impact to be fairly significantly less, but the MEC cannot say more due to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). However, the MEC will continue to press management to be more forthcoming with projections as soon as possible.

Company Early Out

Management has now released the details of the Company Early Out program (AAG SSO required). As mentioned in the June 30^th edition of the AFA Update, AFA did not negotiate this Early Out package. AFA approached management back in March regarding our interest in negotiating an Early Out, but management declined our offer.

AFA’s assessment is that the Company’s EO package will not attain even close to the desired number of takers. Candidly, the Master Executive Council (MEC) is disappointed in the Company’s EO; we had hoped the Company’s EO would be more in line with industry leading Flight Attendant EOs like at Southwest Airlines. However, the EO will interest some Flight Attendants who were already considering retirement or who are interested in early retirement.

Involuntary Furlough (IVF) Mitigations

No lower line averages

Pursuant to §18.A [Involuntary Furlough Mitigation], AFA and management have been working on furlough mitigations over the past two weeks. After careful consideration and in consultation with industry experts, AFA has declined to lower the line averages or adjust the line value range. AFA already lowered the minimum domicile average line value from 78 TFP to 75 TFP in the 2014-2019 CBA, which allows individual lines to be built up to 10 TFP lower at 65 TFP. Our analysis is that the scale of anticipated reduced staffing is so great and the duration of lower lines so uncertain that these mitigations would be unacceptable to the majority and seen as a concession.

October 2020 Furlough Mitigations Letter of Agreement

Click here for the October 2020 Furlough Mitigations Letter of Agreement >

Furlough mitigation enhancements and clarifications that are in addition to Extended Leaves of Absence and Voluntary Furlough provision in Section 18.A [Involuntary Furlough Mitigations]:

Extended Leaves of Absence of 12-month duration (ELOA-12) -> No change to contract
- COBRA-eligible for healthcare
- Regular 480 unpaid credit of 1.333 TFP per day
- Base guarantee
- See contract for additional details
“Enhanced” Voluntary Furloughs of 6-, 9-, 12- and 15-month durations (EVF-6, EVF-9, EVF-12 and EVF-15)
- Company-paid healthcare premiums
- Double 480 credit
- Base guarantee on EVF-6 & EVF-9 (contractual voluntary furloughs have no base guarantee)
- No base guarantee on EVF-12 or EVF-15 unless recalled June 2021 or earlier
Productivity Premium Program eligibility on ELOA & EVFs (and on IVF via separate email acknowledgement from management)
Recall procedures
- Order of recall clarified: IVF followed by EVF (followed by ELOAs requested but not required)
- “Live” recall or bypass form
- Full-time student bypass for the remainder of the term while on ELOA, EVF or IVF (proof of enrollment in accredited college or university required)
Staffing Adjustment Leaves (SALs) -> Enhancement to §15.B [Staffing Adjustment…]
- Offered one month at a time (in order to avoid the perception of seniority violations) but may be awarded consecutively
- Double 480 credit
- Company-paid healthcare premiums
FAs on involuntary furlough may choose to remain current by attending regulatory training (RT/RQ)
- Company-paid healthcare premiums during the month of training
- Out of domicile provisions if FA is required to take training out of domicile (e.g. SANFAs)
- Positive space Company Business travel provided to and from domicile if required
Unemployment insurance (UI)
- Company will not contest UI
- Company will provide support letter to the FA
“Reconvene clause” in case legislation (e.g. potential extension to the CARES Act) is subsequently passed that prevents IVFs

Reduction in Force 2020 Sideletter of Agreement

Click here for the Reduction in Force 2020 Sideletter of Agreement >

AFA and management recognized that references to “seniority” in §18.A [Involuntary Furlough Mitigations] and §18.K [Involuntary Furlough Seniority Retention] required clarification to reflect intent and established practice:

Occupational Seniority always accrues: FAs always receive scheduled pay increases and are not negatively impacted in bidding seniority or relative seniority while on any type of leave or furlough.
Company Seniority always accrues: FAs always receive scheduled vacation accrual increases and are not negatively impacted for non-rev seniority while on any type of leave or furlough.
Longevity: 401(k) vesting and retirement eligibility are ‘frozen’ (i.e. retained but not accrued) while on certain types of leave or while on furlough.

The parties clarified the procedures for returning from an Extended Leave of Absence under §18.A:

Domicile protection while on ELOA and recall in Occupational Seniority order

The parties will allow Flight Attendants to conduct Union Business (UB) or Company Business (CB) while on a voluntary furlough under §27.AA [Union Business and/or Company Business…]:

Flight Attendants who routinely conduct UB and/or CB work may be potentially willing to take voluntary furloughs, and this provision would allow them to do so while continuing to provide necessary services to the Company and/or to the Association.
Examples: Inflight Training Instructors, Special Project work Flight Attendants and union reps

Tell Congress: Extend the CARES Act

If not enough Flight Attendants voluntarily take the Early Out, Extended Leave of Absence or Enhanced Voluntary Furlough, then at least some of our sisters and brothers will be involuntarily furloughed starting in October. Consequently, it is vitally important that each and every one of you help AFA-CWA, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 556 achieve a six-month extension to the CARES Act in order to protect Flight Attendant jobs. Tell Congress to keep our industry intact by extending the CARES Act!

These are extremely difficult and stressful times. Please remember that your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Committee is always available as a support resource. As your direct representative on the MEC, your LEC president is available to answer questions or concerns that you may have about all the information presented here. Contact information for your respective LEC president can be found by clicking here. We hope to see you at one of the upcoming “Early Out and Leave Options” informational sessions on 7/14, 7/16 or 7/21!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Matt Cook, Terry Taylor, Steve Maller, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

A Message About Current Events, and Planning for the Future

June 5, 2020 15:00

A Message About Current Events

Nearly constant bombardment of disturbing news lately

The Master Executive Council (MEC) recognizes there has been a nearly constant bombardment of disturbing news lately. The COVID-19 pandemic and the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have touched every one of us in some way or another, and we are all struggling to process the enormity of the situation. Flight Attendants are feeling understandably anxious about their safety, health and financial security and for those they care about.

Impact of recent events on our Black sisters and brothers

We would be remiss as union leaders if we did not acknowledge that our Black sisters and brothers are understandably feeling particularly impacted by recent events. An injury to one is an injury to us all, and AFA will continue to defend our members’ rights, safety and freedom. We can and must do better as a society to achieve true racial equality. Black Lives Matter!

Juneteenth and Pride Month

June brings the celebration of Juneteenth and also is Pride Month. AFA’s mission is to unite Flight Attendants and promote equality for all regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. We also recognize the increased discrimination that Black and brown LGBTQ+ Flight Attendants face.

Discrimination undermines our country

Discrimination of any kind undermines the strength of our country. We must work together to protect the rights that should belong to every human being. We stand up for fairness and equal opportunity for all.

Planning for the Future

Future staffing discussed by management

Alaska Airlines management hosted an all-employee webcast yesterday morning (AAG SSO required) during which the subject of future staffing was discussed. CEO Brad Tilden and President Ben Minicucci also sent an email message (“An update on our airlines from Brad and Ben”) to all employees shortly thereafter. Flight Attendants want to know how the data translates into implications for future staffing, and we’re here to help.

Disclaimer

All indications are that management has been very transparent with the entire employee group, but keep in mind that any projections for future demand, revenue, capacity, block hours, etc., are all based on continually shifting data. These figures are potentially highly variable depending upon numerous factors that are too complex to anticipate with absolute certainty, and the forecasts become less certain the further into the future one goes. The following analysis is the MEC’s “worst-case” assessment based on management’s projections, so actual results may vary.

We’re going to cut through all the statistics, underlying assumptions and calculations by going straight to our assessment. The MEC does not feel at liberty to explain our methodology at this time because we do not wish to disclose data that could unintentionally provide a competitive advantage to other carriers. All that being said, we have vetted our calculations and feel confident in our conclusions—or as confident as we can be given all the caveats.

Q4 2020 staffing

Beginning on October 1, Alaska Airlines will possibly need 35%-50% less Flight Attendants systemwide—at least temporarily.

Summer 2021 staffing

Alaska Airlines will possibly need 20% less Flight Attendants through summer 2021 and for an indefinite period of time thereafter. Presumably, the other 15%-30% of Flight Attendants (i.e. from the initial reduction of 35%-50% in Q4 2020 above) would be brought back to active service by next summer if the 20% holds true.

Potential furlough mitigations

However, that does not mean the aforementioned percentages of Flight Attendants will be involuntarily furloughed. The number of actual involuntary furloughs could be much less depending on potential furlough mitigations such as extended leaves of absence, voluntary furloughs, et cetera. For example, there are more than enough Flight Attendants currently on Staffing Adjustment Leaves—over 3400 FAs and 55+% in June—to prevent involuntary furloughs if the staffing reduction were to be applied today.

AFA and management began discussions regarding early retirement back in March, and the parties have scheduled regular meetings starting next week in an effort to achieve an attractive “Early Out” package and explore other furlough mitigations as soon as possible. AFA will also continue to press Congress for additional payroll support programs and other legislative relief.

“Worst-case” assessment

The following “worst-case” assessment is based on the assumption of no furlough mitigations, which is quite simply not in the realm of possibility. At least some Flight Attendants will inevitably take extended leaves, voluntary furloughs and perhaps early retirement (if the parties agree to an Early Out package), all of which will reduce the potential number of involuntary furloughs. This information is provided only in order to give everyone a better sense of the theoretical scale of anticipated staffing reductions.

A forced 20% staffing reduction would hypothetically affect system seniority numbers 4780 to 5975 and occupational seniority dates March 2017 to August 2019. A 35% forced staffing reduction would hypothetically affect up to system seniority number 3884 and an occupational seniority date of March 2015. A 50% forced staffing reduction would hypothetically affect up to system seniority number 2988 and an occupational seniority date of May 2012. Again, AFA will work with management to mitigate the number of Flight Attendants who may be involuntarily furloughed.

Section 18 Reduction in Force

One of the key provisions that will potentially benefit Flight Attendants is the right to recall under Section 18 Reduction in Force. Flight Attendants are kept on the seniority list and have the right to be recalled in seniority order for up to five years. The MEC encourages Flight Attendants to familiarize themselves with Section 18 over the coming months.

Contract negotiations

Some Flight Attendants have asked about the status of upcoming contract negotiations. The contract is amendable in December 2021, but negotiations may start one year prior to the amendable date if notice is served by either party (AFA or management) at least 60 days prior to December 17, 2020. The MEC completed first round interviews with potential Negotiating Committee candidates in March and April. However, the bargaining ‘landscape’ has significantly changed in the past few months. In consultation with AFA Collective Bargaining, the MEC has decided to hold off on moving forward with second round interviews for now. We will provide another update on the issue no later than August.

Lots of sobering information to absorb! As your direct representative on the MEC, your LEC president is available to answer questions or concerns that you may have. Contact information for your respective LEC president can be found by clicking here.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Matt Cook, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

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