8.10.24 – 2024 Tentative Agreement Update #5: Questions From the Road

Saturday, August 10, 2024

2024 Tentative Agreement Update #5
Questions From the Road

In this hotline:

• Frequently Asked Questions From the Road
• Base Visit Times Extended- RSVP Here!
• More Questions? View Virtual Town Halls #1 and #2
• Need More Information, Including Access to Retro Pay/ Boarding Pay Calculators, and a Trip Comparison Calculator for JCBA v TA2024 finances?

Base visits are in full swing! Thank you to everyone who joined us in ORD, DCA, CLT, and MIA! Here are some of the great questions thus far.

Frequently Asked Questions From the Road

Q1: How does our Agreement stack up against inflation? Why didn’t we secure increases after the amendable date?

A: Since January 2020, inflation has increased 22.3%. Our increases combined with Boarding Pay are 26-28%. In the out years, inflation is now projected to be around 2%, and our negotiated increases on average are 3% above the inflation rate. Additionally, one reason we fought so hard for retro pay was to address the impact of inflation.

Some Flight Attendants have asked why we can’t negotiate increases past the amendable date of the agreement since bargaining goes so long. Although we proposed such increases, they were not agreed as part of the contract.

There are two issues with such a provision. One, these provisions are not standard in the industry, making reaching an agreement more difficult.

The other problem is the type of increases management would agree to would not necessarily help our cause. When we think of increases penalizing the company for going past the amendable date, we probably think of increases like 5-10% per year and above. In the rare cases these provisions have been agreed to in other airline contracts, the increases are 1% or so, which does not help. It does not penalize the company, becomes more of a ceiling than a floor, and makes everyone complacent in bargaining. For that reason, we believe that a targeted negotiation strategy, strike threat strategy, and pressure will be better to combat negotiation delays.

Q2: Why doesn’t this Agreement Include a snap up with United and Delta? 

A: One of our proposals was a wage adjustment if Delta granted a wage increase or United reached an agreement. Snap-ups are not common in Flight Attendant bargaining. Although these items remained on the bargaining table until the end, they were not agreed to.

Our priority was securing larger increases up front and in the out years, which outpace projected inflation, and we were able to do that.

Q3: What happens if this Tentative Agreement is rejected?

A: This answer is based on experience, and while we do not have a crystal ball, we have experience in this matter. If a Tentative Agreement does not pass, typically the negotiating committee would need a process to figure out why the Tentative Agreement failed to pass.

We would need to survey the membership to find out views on the Tentative Agreement and figure out the key sticking points. It is important to note that with 27,000 Flight Attendants voting, your key issue may or may not be shared with your fellow union members.

Through the survey and feedback from the membership, the union would need to formulate a set of demands to return to the bargaining table. Typically, you would try to keep this down to a handful of issues, so you are not in negotiations for an extended period. Then, we would have to contact the Federal Mediators from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to request meeting dates based on their schedules and the company schedule. As our case is still in mediation, the timing of the meetings is at the discretion of the NMB.  When we initially filed for mediation last April, it took several months before they were able to make time available to schedule our mediation sessions.

While there is no set timeline for this process, between the surveys and the setting of meetings, it would not be uncommon for this process to last six months before we sat down with the company, although we would try and speed it up.

Once we do sit down, we have to deal with the company, and assuming economics are involved, we would need to figure out a plan to force the company to put more money into the deal. American Airlines management consistently takes the position that they will not put any more money into a new Tentative Agreement and any future negotiations would involve shifting money around. Certainly, this management team took that position during Tentative Agreements 1 and 2 at US Airways circa 2011.

While we would reject this framework, we would need a credible strategy to force the company to change its position. We won this Tentative Agreement with the direct threat of release to strike and the involvement of Cabinet-level officials from the Federal Government. We would have to attempt to recreate that and would have to bargain to impasse once again before any request for release would be considered. Variables will include the results of the elections this fall, the state of the industry, etc. Any improved economic offer would take considerable time and is not guaranteed.

In short, we respect the will of the membership. This is your contract. If the Tentative Agreement is voted down, we will fight to address the membership concerns but we cannot promise a speedy resolution of the matter.

Q4: Why were there no increases to specific premiums like IPD override and Speaker Pay?

A: Our opening economic proposal contained increases over most of our pay components. When we arrived in Washington D.C. for intensive negotiations, we focused on directing compensation to the areas of the contract that would benefit all our members, including wage rates, per diem, 401(k), and Boarding Pay.

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Base Visit Times Extended

Base Visit times have been extended to ensure we have time to answer all of your questions about the 2024 Tentative Agreement.

All remaining Base Visits begin at 1030am HBT and end at 1430 HBT. Base visit specific locations may be found here.

click image to enlarge

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Have More Questions?

Check out the August 6th Virtual Town Hall #2, where we addressed more of your frequently asked questions.

00:00 – Welcome
01:12 – Implementation Timeline
03:55 – Delayed Programming Boarding Pay
09:11 – Delayed Contract Concerns
17:04 – Outcome of TA Vote
23:23 – Boarding Pay vs Wages
32:27 – Inflation & COLA
35:44 – How the TA is Industry Leading
42:00 – Retro Pay Q&A
46:16 – 401(k) & Profit Sharing Q&A
49:55 – Holiday Q&A
50:50 – Compensation Q&A
55:15 – APFA Website Calculators
57:45 – Boarding Pay Q&A
01:03:40 – Sit Rig Q&A
01:08:32 – Hotel Penalty Pay Q&A
01:11:36 – Cartels Q&A
01:13:43 – Deadheading Q&A
01:18:08 – Electronic Communication System (ECS) Q&A
01:23:44 – Reserve High Seniority Bases & Reserve Q&A
01:31:44 – TTS/UBL Q&A
01:33:35 – TTS/UBL Q&A (and Retro Pay question follow up clarification)
01:33:38 – RHRA Q&A
01:40:10 – Attendance Policy Q&A
01:41:36 – Miscellaneous Q&A

To watch the full video, click here

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July 31, 2024 Virtual Town Hall #1

Your APFA Negotiating Committee hosted its first virtual town hall on Wednesday, July 31st, 2024, to discuss the 2024 Tentative Agreement.

Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome and Negotiations Process Recap
07:35 – Economics (Joe Burns and Dan Akins)
27:06 – TA Wages & Compensation (Joe Burns and Dan Akins)
40:43 – Other TA Economic Components (Joe Burns and Dan Akins)
42:27 – 401k Improvements & Profit Sharing (Joe Burns and Dan Akins)
49:40 – Implementation Timeline (Joe Burns and Dan Akins)
56:13 – Next Steps
01:01:53 – Retro Pay
01:07:10 – Boarding Pay & Position Pay
01:10:49 – Holiday Pay
01:11:38 – Compensation for Hotel Delays & Hotel Penalty Pay
01:13:47 – Vacation Pay & Credit
01:15:01 – Protected Work Rules
01:20:40 – PBS, TTS, UBL Improvements
01:27:55 – Pay Protections
01:31:53 – Satellite Bases
01:33:28 – Misuse of Scheduling Systems
01:34:40 – Electronic Communications System (ECS)
01:38:06 – Completed Trip
01:38:57 – Sit Rig & Boarding times
01:42:15 – Voluntary Extension (VE)
01:43:08 – Reserve Pay Above Guarantee
01:50:50 – Reserve Rotation & Scheduling Improvements
02:11:38 – Section 15 Foreign Language Speaker
02:13:10 – Deadheading & Self-Booking
02:15:30 – Deadhead Stand-Up
02:17:30 – Transfers
02:18:50 – IOD & RHRA
02:20:07 – Section 29 Training
02:21:05 – Grievances
02:23:15 – Changes to Commuting
02:24:05 – Crew Rest
02:24:33 – Miscellaneous
02:31:00 – Q&A

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Need More Information, Including Access to Retro Pay/ Boarding Pay Calculators, and a Trip Comparison Calculator for JCBA v TA2024 Finances?

Questions? Contact the Tentative Agreement Call Center
The call center is open daily from 9 am until 5 pm (CT).

(424) 4TA-INFO
(424) 482-4636

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Continue to wear your red WAR pin, red lanyard, and bag tags until we secure the contract we’ve earned.

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]