8.16.17 – (LAA/LUS) – APFA Objects to the Company’s Timeline for FOI

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Wednesday, August 16, 2017

 

The APFA Board of Directors (BOD) met with the Company yesterday to learn more about the Company’s FOI timeline.

Its timeline involves declaring Flight Attendant Operational Integration (FOI) in October 2018 prior to the full implementation of PBS at all LAA bases. APFA emphatically objected to the carving out of PBS at LAA bases prior to the migration of LUS Flight Attendants into the LAA Crew Management System (FOS). 

APFA maintains this plan is a blatant violation of the implementation letter (L1) of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA). The area of disagreement centers around the interpretation of two provisions in the JCBA’s implementation letter: L1.Sec.A.3. and the bolded heading on page L1-5.

L1-3 reads, in part: “Flight Attendant Operational Integration will be defined as the date on which LUS Flight Attendants migrate to the Crew Management System under a common scheduling platform covering all Flight Attendants under this Agreement.”

L1-5 reads, in part: “At the point in time when PBS, TTS, ETB and the Reserve processing are implemented, the LUS Flight Attendants will be integrated into the Flight Attendant Scheduling System with the LAA Flight Attendants…”

APFA believes the language is clear: FOI cannot be reached until all scheduling programs have been implemented for all Flight Attendants at all bases, including the PBS program.

Conversely, the Company contends that FOI can be reached prior to the implementation of PBS at all bases. 

Given APFA’s position that the Company lacks the authority to unilaterally carve PBS out of FOI, any alteration of the contractual definition of FOI would require mutual agreement between the parties.

Additionally, APFA contends that the Company’s plan to stagger the implementation of PBS for LAA bases over a fifteen month period, rather than all at once, also violates the JCBA language. The only mention of a staggered implementation schedule pertains to the three months of mock bids that precede the systemwide installation of PBS. As a result of the Company’s piecemeal approach, LAA Flight Attendants will be forced to work under two different sets of scheduling rules—one for bases which have line bidding, and another for bases which have already been converted to PBS.

Getting to FOI is a shared interest, and APFA is aware that many of our members are eagerly waiting to transfer between legacy bases, but that cannot come at the cost of unilateral decisions by the Company that violate our contract or cause potential harm to Flight Attendants.

Your APFA leadership is committed to reaching FOI in a way that brings the least amount of harm to the membership while preserving the intent and language of the JCBA.

 

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