6.26.18 – (LAA/LUS) – Presidential Grievance on Pay Protection Resolved

Presidential Grievance on Pay Protection Resolved!

In a major victory for APFA, the Presidential Grievance on Pay Protection has been resolved in APFA’s favor. With the arbitration less than a week away, the Company approached your APFA leadership to resolve the case.

Faced with almost 20 years of bargaining history and a witness list that included a current APFA Base President, a current APFA Base Vice President, the current APFA Interim National Vice President, former LUS Base Presidents, former LUS Master Executive Council Presidents and others, the Company decided they would rather settle the grievance on our terms than take a chance at arbitration.

As a reminder, this grievance arose when the Company abruptly changed the way they calculated pay protection when a LUS Flight Attendant was rescheduled or replaced due to crew or equipment substitution. In 2016, the Company began deducting canceled segments from the pay protection provisions under Section 10.J. of the LUS Red Book. These same protections appear in Section 10.J. of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement, so their change in calculation would have carried forward in the implementation of the JCBA if left unchallenged by APFA.

APFA is pleased the Company came to this resolution that benefits our members without placing the issue before an arbitrator. Under the resolution that was reached, the Company will pay all the outstanding NODs that have been filed since 2016. Additionally, it restores the previous methodology of calculating the pay protections for rescheduling or when a Flight Attendant is replaced as a result of crew or equipment substitution. Under those circumstances, a Flight Attendant is guaranteed the greater of what she/he actually flies or the value of her/his originally awarded/assigned sequence, including payment for any canceled segments. It is important to note that not every change to a sequence constitutes a rescheduling. Section 10.J. of the JCBA outlines the sequence changes that do and do not trigger these provisions.

The programming necessary to satisfy these contractual provisions will take some time to accomplish. In the meantime, here is how the provisions will be applied:

• For LUS Flight Attendants, effective July 1, the provisions will be restored using the processes currently in place.
• LAA Flight Attendants will continue to receive pay for canceled segments as they do today until August.
• Beginning August 1, a manual process will be established for LAA Flight Attendants to claim the pay protections. For claims submitted in August and September, the Company will pay them as soon as possible but no later than December 31, 2018.
• Beginning October 1, the manual process will continue until the programming is in place to automate the process. However, the claims submitted from October 1 forward will be paid within the normal payroll process time frames.

It was truly a team effort that made the preparation and ultimate resolution of this case possible. It would not have been possible without the hard work of the entire System Board of Adjustment Department, especially Regional Representatives Mark Gentile and Roger Holmin. APFA National President Nena Martin, PHL Base President Kim Kaswinkel, former MEC President Mike Flores, and the JSIC were also instrumental in putting together a case so strong that the Company was compelled to resolve rather than arbitrate.

LOA: Pay Protection

Mark L. Littleton
Interim APFA National Vice President
[email protected]