11.22.21 – Negotiations Update #7: Monday, November 22, 2021

Monday, November 22, 2021

Negotiations Update #7

Negotiations continued in DFW on November 8th-11th. At this session, we continued discussion on Section 22-Filling of Vacancies, Section 29-Training, and Section 38-Crew Rest.

We were able to reach a Tentative Agreement (TA) on Section 22- Filling of Vacancies.

Section 38- Crew Rest has been tabled as there is no more movement either side is willing to make at this point in negotiations. When a section is tabled, the unresolved issues remain open to be bargained later in the negotiations. We are apart on several issues in this section. Your bargaining team is fighting for dedicated seats on overnight long duty period flying. We are also apart on the issue of the limited number of over seven-block hour domestic segments, which we believe should receive the same crew rest as international flying.

The Union has rejected management proposals to limit the number of Flight Attendants who can take a break simultaneously. We are all adults and believe the language allowing Purser discretion to schedule breaks works fine. As previously reported, we did improve the language on what seats must be provided if bunks or rest seats are inoperable.

Section 29- Training has two outstanding issues. One is pay for training which will be addressed later in negotiations. We have not proposed a specific amount yet but will be seeking an increase over the current $75 per day, which is clearly not enough to compensate Flight Attendants for attending training. We will make our specific proposal when we propose the rest of the economic items.

The other open issue is our proposal to provide positive space for in-base commuters to get to and from training. The company has not agreed to the positive space language. However, we are pleased to report that we have agreed to a provision providing DFW-based commuters access to training hotels while attending training in DFW.

We have proposed limited changes in Section 32- Union Business. The company is proposing to move to all electronic contracts, whereas we believe there is value in having hard copies of the agreement. These are our work rules, and we need to refer to them to know our rights. The Union is seeking better access to certain scheduling information to better resolve Flight Attendant concerns. Other changes are mainly minor clean up.

We exchanged proposals on Section 25-Leaves of Absence/Approved Time Off for the first time this week. One of the significant issues concerns FMLA. The Union is proposing that individuals be allowed to designate whether a leave should be considered FMLA rather than the company making that determination. We also propose that Flight Attendants be able to decide whether to use their sick or vacation while on leave rather than the company deciding.

We have reached an agreement on limiting the situations where the Flight Attendant must notify the company of other employment when they are on a leave of absence. Another big issue in this section is bereavement leave. The Union is attempting to expand the definition of covered individuals and increase the pay from the current four (4) hours of pay.

Another important issue in this section is the issue of personal days. We are proposing language that defines what coverage is and a process to get personal days approved. Additionally, we are proposing if a reserve needs multiple days off in a reserve block, that should only count as one personal day.

Our next meeting with the company will be on December 6th-9th in DFW. The survey is out and will close on December 10th, at 1700 CST. We encourage everyone to participate.

In Solidarity,

Your APFA Negotiating Committee

Sara Corrigan
Kelly J. Hagan
Julie Hedrick
Timothy Legeros
Brian Morgan
Wendy Oswald
Susan Wroble
Joe Burns, Lead Negotiating Attorney

[email protected]