3.04.23 – Negotiations Update #21

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Negotiations Update #21

The New Year kicked off with a successful picketing event in January and spending Valentine’s Day with you at airports throughout the system.

We bargained with the Company in January and February. During these sessions, the company and APFA exchanged updated proposals on Section 10- Scheduling and Section 12– Reserve. We are focusing on narrowing our remaining differences in these two sections prior to tabling them.

Section 10- Scheduling 
PBS Enhancements

The Company has agreed to APFA’s proposed PBS enhancements (bidding aircraft by position, reserve work block size, generic double up).

Reserve Flex Days

The Company did move in our direction by proffering that no Reserve may be involuntarily assigned into a flex day more than two (2) times in a month unless all legal/available Reserves within the Reserve Availability Period (RAP) have been assigned twice (similar to standby assignments today).

Trading for a More Negative Day

We have seen movement in the discussions on trading for a ‘more negative day’ exception to the daily open time limit. This would allow more trades to be processed when trading for a day with worse coverage than your original sequence. These discussions will continue.

Electronic Notification

Discussions with the Company regarding electronic notification have started. We reviewed the entire contract and are now working to define when electronic notifications would best support the membership and in which circumstances they would/wouldn’t be acceptable. We have preliminarily discussed an app, texting, CCI, Crew Portal, Comply365, email, and the ability to participate in all or some of the options available. Having two-way communication, return receipts, and a history of each transaction is a must.

Occasions when a Flight Attendant might want to initiate electronic notification include:

• Sick call (9.B)
• Dropping a rescheduled sequence prior to report (10.J.2)
• Reserve calling out of time (12.L)
• Last live leg (10.P)
• Voluntary extension (11.O, 14.D)
• Deadhead flexibility (16.G-H)
• Unable to commute (37.I).

Electronic notification will also correct the issues that we see when a Flight Attendant acknowledges a sequence at the start of a RAP, but crew scheduling cannot see the acknowledgment.

We are not considering allowing the Company to reschedule Flight Attendants via electronic notification. This would still require positive contact, the same as today.

‘Cartel’ Activity

We understand the valid concerns on the ‘cartel’ issue. The challenge becomes addressing abuse of seniority by some without substantively limiting everyone’s flexibility. Discussions continue on this important topic.

Section 12- Reserve Duty

As previously communicated, the committee has been focused on lowering the seniority of those subject to reserve rotation while simultaneously improving the quality of life for those subject to reserve.

Receiving Credit for Your Reserve Obligation

We are currently examining how you receive credit for your reserve obligation as it plays a major role in deciding who serves reserve in a particular month. Our focus has been on addressing the inefficiencies and inadequacies of partial month reserve status (when returning from a leave of absence mid-month). As a solution, we have proposed that Flight Attendants who return from a leave of absence mid-month not be required to fulfill reserve duty for that month (unless they are on straight reserve) but would become eligible for reserve duty in the following months. Currently, a Flight Attendant can receive credit for their reserve obligation by generating pay on one available reserve day in the bid month.

Reserve Credit for a Voluntary Leave of Absence (VLOA)

We have also proposed that a Reserve Flight Attendant granted a Voluntary Leave of Absence (VLOA) would not receive reserve credit for the month of their VLOA. This is a change from today, where they receive credit, causing another Flight Attendant to be pulled onto reserve. Our proposal would have the VLOA Reserve Flight Attendant be subject to reserve the following month (if their seniority required them to serve reserve).

Proposed reserve improvements include:

• Redefining the current aggressive 40 hours to be the first actual aggressive hours awarded (not just the first 40 credited hours like we have today, which currently includes hours for sick, vacation, jury duty, etc.).
• Providing more flexibility when bidding into a flex day regardless of open/closed grouping status.
• Providing an electronic mechanism for a Flight Attendant to request release from their reserve obligation once they have reached their monthly reserve callout time.
• Protecting flex days by limiting the number of times crew scheduling may schedule a Flight Attendant into a flex day.
• Limiting when crew scheduling transfers flying out of your base.
• When faced with reserve to lineholder transition, crew scheduling will assign in inverse seniority order.
• Formalizing a process for trading days off with the company.
• Reducing the number of RAPs from four (4) to three (3).

The aforementioned proposed improvements are in addition to the improvements sought in: 

• JCBA Section 10- Scheduling: An additional day off in a 31-day month, so all reserve months are 18 days of reserve.
• JCBA Section 3- Compensation: Adding an hourly reserve override.

The company believes reserve is fine as is or should even be more restrictive, as evidenced by their proposals. Their newest proposal is that when a reserve Flight Attendant is able to drop their reserve trip on ETB (remember the last proposal they wanted to remove that ability), they would not receive sick/vacation accrual or reserve credit for the month if they drop below 40 hours. This company proposal is not acceptable.

Reserve Rotation

We continue our discussions on reserve rotation. We are looking at changing the individual rotations, but as stated in previous hotlines, we will not be moving to a completely straight reserve model. Any Flight Attendant on the property as of the date of contract ratification will remain under the existing rotation. Any new rotation would only apply to those hired after the date of ratification.

Next Meeting/ Stay Up-to-Date

Our next meeting with the Company is March 7th. We anticipate passing our initial proposals on Section 3– Compensation, Section 4– Expenses, and Section 26– Insurance, Retirement and other Benefits.

Have you visited the Negotiations page of the APFA website?

click image above to view the Negotiations webpage

We are committed to transparency throughout this negotiations process. When reviewing the negotiations status updates to the individual sections, please keep in mind these are updates to ongoing negotiations. It is common to have numerous proposals passed between the parties on the same section over several months. Because of this, you may see much back and forth between the parties, and either or both parties holding firm in their respective positions.

Although the company may have rejected a proposed item from APFA, it does not mean the item is no longer in discussion, as it may be reworded or presented again with reviewed changes. When reading these highlights from ongoing negotiations, remember that Section 6 Negotiations afford both parties (APFA and company) the opportunity to seek changes to the existing collective bargaining agreement.

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• Keep up-to-date on negotiations.
• Discuss info with your flying partners.
• Encourage your flying partners to support actions to pressure the company to agree to our demands.

Click here to join the Contract ACTION Team

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]