8.13.22 – Negotiations Update #16

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Negotiations Update #16

Negotiations continued in DFW on July 19th and 21st and this week. During these sessions, we furthered discussions on Section 10 – Scheduling. As mentioned in the last negotiations update, we are approaching Section 10 in phases due to its complexity. In addition to the details provided below, you may view status updates for all the opened sections on the Negotiations Status page of the APFA website.

Section 10 – Scheduling 

The Company and APFA both held firm on many of their respective positions. The Company is open to allowing access to TTS and UBL for Reserves on their days off with a few restrictions. First, Reserves bidding a TTS trip prior to being released into a day off may report no earlier than 1200 HBT (Home Base Time) and must release no later than 1600HBT on the last day off to allow for the new FAR-required rest of 10 hours. Second, the Company proposed that required Home Base Rest following a sequence picked up from TTS/UBL must be completed by 0200HBT on the first day of Reserve duty. The Company proposed that these same restrictions extend to ETB transactions as well. While the Negotiating Committee is amenable to incorporating FAR-required rest into the current language, the Company’s proposal as is will significantly restrict what a Reserve can pick up from TTS/UBL/ETB.

The Company rejected our proposal to increase the number of days off for Reserves in a 31-day month and our proposal to limit the number of times Reserves could be flown into their Flex Day(s). The Company also rejected our proposal to allow Flight Attendants the option to pick up ETB sequences on top of pay-protected days (currently only able to pick up from TTS/UBL). More notably, they ignored our proposal for short call UBL and reduced our out-of-base UBL proposal to a future enhancement “provided the constraints of the system will allow it.” Limiting the membership’s ability to choose what and when we fly outside of PBS does not increase our flexibility, which we so desperately need.

Our most significant proposal to increase opportunities for flexibility within the systems is to allow daily and/or monthly limitation exceptions when improving a more negative day. We proposed language for that process to increase the ability to trade trips in TTS (e.g., trading into a trip reporting earlier both with and without overlapping days between the two trips, etc.). We are also proposing that sequence trades be allowed in UBL with the same daily and/or monthly limitation exceptions. The ability to trade sequences in UBL would considerably improve our options for last-minute schedule changes (currently we can only drop in UBL – if daily limits allow). The Company rejected all of these. Needless to say, we are holding firm in our position, as we have heard loud and clear how essential increased flexibility is to the membership.

Next Meeting/ Stay Up-to-Date

Our next sessions with the Company will be September 7th and 8th. Please keep up-to-date with the status of our Negotiations by visiting the Negotiations Status page on the APFA website. This page will be updated after each session with management.

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In Solidarity,

Your APFA Negotiating Committee

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

[email protected]