AFA Merger Committee
Q and A
Bill McGlashen, MEC/LEC Vice President
Merger Committee Member
Q. Who serves on the AFA America West and AFA US Airways Merger
Committees and what are their duties?
A. AFA America West Merger Committee representatives are:
MEC/LEC President Gary Richardson and MEC/LEC Vice President
Bill McGlashen. AFA US Airways Merger Committee representatives
are: MEC President Mike Flores (Charlotte-based) and Merger
Committee representative Carol Austin (PHL-based). The duties of
Merger Representatives are to negotiate a single
agreement/contract for all US Airways Flight Attendants with
management, as well as negotiating a Merger Transition
Agreement.
Q. Who serves on management's negotiations committee?
A. Management representatives on their negotiations committee
are as follows: Erin Lewin, Legal Department, Sherri Shamblin,
Inflight Services, Cindy Simone, Labor Relations, Linda Audorff,
Labor Relations and Mike Finn, Director of Crew Resources.
Claude Sullivan, a negotiator from the Atlanta-based firm of
Ford & Harrison serves as management's primary negotiator.
Q. How does this Single Agreement negotiations process work?
A. AFA Merger Committee members from AWA and US Airways meet
initially and separately from the management to form a
negotiations strategy and to produce a contract opener or
proposal. The contract opener contains a list of key issues in
sections that your union representatives want to maintain or
improve on in negotiations for a Single Contract. AFA
representatives review the AWA and US Airways contract
section-by-section in order to propose the best contract for all
of us. (Below is a discussion of key differences between each
contract.) We then provide management with our opening proposal
and negotiations proceed.
Management then enters the negotiations process as the third
party at the bargaining table with their own goals and
objectives and negotiations proceed.
Make no mistake about it, management wants to proceed with
Single Agreement negotiations because they want scheduling
efficiencies ( meaning less flexibility for you) and they want
the lowest cost sections of each contract, be it vacation,
insurance or other sections. Management will insist that any
significant or meaningful pay rates are offset by so-called
savings in other areas, so the attempt by management to portray
these negotiations as the best avenue for everyone is just half
the story.
Q. Can we strike if we don't reach a Single Agreement?
A. It is a legal question and one that is not clear at this
point. The US Airways contact is not open until 2012. Our AWA
contract remains open under the guidance of a Federal Mediator,
even though the mediator has recessed our talks for an
indefinite period of time. Management believes that if we don't
ratify a Single Agreement that they can simply place all AWA
flight attendants under the current US Airways contract. We
think otherwise and plan to pursue the matter in Federal Court
if the company attempts to throw us under the US Airway contract
if we don't ratify a Single Agreement.
Q. What is the difference between Section 6 Negotiations,
Transition Agreement negotiations and Single Agreement
negotiations?
A. Section 6 negotiations were on-going between AFA and America
West management prior to the merger. These negotiations started
in 2004 and the company foot-dragged on any progress just before
the announcement of the AWA-US Airways merger. Section 6
negotiations are being guided by a Federal Mediator and in early
December, 2005, the mediator put our contract talks in recess
with management. Recess means that there are no scheduled dates
for negotiations for our AWA contract. We can request to restart
negotiations -for our AWA contract- in the future.
Transition Agreement negotiations is an attempt to reach a
Letter Of Agreement between AFA representatives at AWA, US
Airways and management. A Transition Agreement covers the period
of time that the AWA and US Airways operations are separated.
Our intent in attempting to reach this agreement is to secure
PHX domicile protections.
Single Agreement negotiations will begin in early 2006 and the
purpose of these talks are to reach a single contract that will
cover all US Airways Flight Attendants once integration occurs
and the company is operating under one FAA certificate.
Q. Why did we continue fighting for our AWA contract in Section
6 negotiations?
A. The company wanted us to shelve our AWA contract talks and
proceed to single contract negotiations without addressing our
job security, pay and scheduling issues. As you will see in the
below Q and A, there are significant issues that separate both
AFA contracts at AWA and US Airways. We were not going to
voluntarily suspend our negotiations and just give up fighting
for improvements. The company should have honored our agreement
and respected you by providing raises and job security
improvements.
In September, we filed for mediation with the National Mediation
Board, a federal agency with oversight on airline contracts. A
federal mediator was assigned to our negotiations in October and
he called for contract talks to resume in mid-December.
Negotiations resumed the week of December 12, 2005 in PHX. We
could have reached a contract, but we would not give in to
company demands to slash our vacations just to move money
around. The company also demanded a reduction in our health care
coverage and wanted us to agree to PBS, a bidding system
drastically different from our current process. If we conceded
on all of these issues, then the company would have rolled some
of the savings in these areas into wage rates, not all, some. It
was not worth the trade off for us, especially given the fact
that significant differences in these same areas exist between
our agreement and the AFA contract at US Airways.
Giving up important elements of our contract now would have
given the company an advantage in Single Agreement negotiations.
Further, keeping our Section 6 contract talks open allows us
some options down-the-road should Single Agreement negotiations
fail and the company attempts to throw all of us under the US
Airways contract.
Q. What are the key differences between the AWA and US Airways
AFA contracts?
A. Our AWA AFA contract is better than the US Airways contract
in terms of Vacation, PBS, Health care, deadhead pay, some
Reserve rules and some scheduling issues. The US Airways AFA
agreement provides substantially more pay for Flight Attendants
with 1-10 years of service.
Vacation. AWA top vacation days is 35 at 4.5 credit hours per
day. US vacation tops out at 25 days at 4.0 credit hours per
day, but that rate applies to those with 30 years or more of
service. In fact, AWA flight attendants with 16-23 years of
service would only have 17 days of vacation at 4.0 credit hours
per day if we were placed under the US Airways contract. The US
vacation chart goes up to 35 days of vacation in 2009, but only
for those with 30+ years of service!PBS. US AFA agreed to PBS -Preferential Bidding System- in their
2004 restructuring agreement. PBS is not implemented for US
Airways flight attendants at this time, however it is widely
incorporated in their contract and management wants it.
With PBS, there are no lines to bid, just a pairing packet.
However, PBS is bidding system that awards you a line of flying
based on bidding preference such as days on, days off, overnight
city preferences, specific pairings, and return to domicile time
preferences and a host of other potential preferences.
In 2005, AWA management proposed PBS for our AWA contract. Your
Negotiations Team (NT) rejected PBS after an exhaustive research
process. We talked to negotiations committees at other AFA
airlines and met with three PBS providers; Ad Opt (who runs our
AWA pilot PBS), Nav Tech and Carmen Systems.
We met with these vendors separate from management. In the end,
we rejected PBS for a variety of sound and substantial issues.
Alaska, United, Northwest, Jetblue, Frontier and Mesaba Flight
Attendants either have PBS up and running or are working towards
implementation of that program.
We can now gather information about PBS from our Flight
Attendant colleagues separate from management or vendors and
weigh the good and bad aspects of PBS.
Insurance: Imagine paying Platinum paycheck deductions for UHC
Choice insurance benefit levels or less. That's essentially the
current US Airways health care insurance program which has steep
paycheck deductions and co-pay and deductible formulas that cost
you more when you use health care services.
Only AWA Flight Attendants and Mechanics have the Platinum Plan
because of our AFA contract. No other company employee,
including pilots, rampers and others, have the Platinum Plan.
The company has made it clear in our AWA negotiations that they
want to get rid of Platinum and move us all to the UHC Choice
Plan options as a cost-saving measure.
The company will no-doubt insist on restructuring our AWA Flight
Attendant health care costs when we negotiate a merged contract.
Deadhead Pay. Our AFA AWA contract provides 100% deadhead pay.
The US contract provides 50% deadhead pay. This will be another
major issue in merged contract talks.
Scheduling. US Flight Attendants and pilots fly together on the
same pairings, just as we did many years ago. Our 1999 contract
provided a separate pairing generation that allowed for pairings
with mixed aircraft assignments because it made our pairing
generation more flexible. US Flight Attendants bids contain far
more 4-day trips than our current bids (even with bad bids
lately) and AWA Flight Attendants like the flexibility of a mix
of 1,2,3 and 4 day pairings. AFA reps and management will have
to resolve this issue in single contract negotiations.
Definitions
Transition Agreement - A Letter of Agreement negotiated by AFA
representatives at AWA and US Airways and management that
governs the period of separate operations and provides specific
protections for Flight Attendants on each seniority list.
Section 6 Negotiations - The process of negotiating our second
contract at AWA. "Section 6" refers to rules and regulations
under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act, a law that governs
airline labor negotiations. These are the negotiations the
Federal Mediator placed in recess while we attempt to negotiate
a Single Agreement.
Single Agreement - A contract negotiated by AFA representatives
from AWA and US Airways and management. Will cover all US
Airways Flight Attendants once the operation is merged and the
company operates under a single FAA certificate. All US Airways
and AWA Flight Attendants will have the opportunity to vote on
the new Single Agreement.
Negotiations Schedule for Single Agreement
Caucus = meeting between AFA Merger Committees and AFA
International Negotiators, no management. Caucus meetings are
scheduled so that AFA representatives can prepare proposals for
later meetings with management.
Joint Meetings = AFA and Management negotiations sessions
Location Dates Caucus or Joint Meeting
January 9-12 PHX (AFA office) Caucus
January 23-26 DCA (AFA office) Caucus
February 6-9 CLT (Charlotte) Caucus
February 21 - 23 PHX Joint Meeting
March 6 - 9 CLT Joint Meeting
March 21 - 23 PHX Joint Meeting
April 10 - 13 PHX Joint Meeting
April 24 - 27 CLT Joint Meeting
May 15 - 18 PHX Joint Meeting
May 29 - June 1 CLT Joint Meeting
Under US Airways contract, flight attendants (11 years and up) at AWA would get a pay cut! I don't think so!
Q and A
Bill McGlashen, MEC/LEC Vice President
Merger Committee Member
Q. Who serves on the AFA America West and AFA US Airways Merger
Committees and what are their duties?
A. AFA America West Merger Committee representatives are:
MEC/LEC President Gary Richardson and MEC/LEC Vice President
Bill McGlashen. AFA US Airways Merger Committee representatives
are: MEC President Mike Flores (Charlotte-based) and Merger
Committee representative Carol Austin (PHL-based). The duties of
Merger Representatives are to negotiate a single
agreement/contract for all US Airways Flight Attendants with
management, as well as negotiating a Merger Transition
Agreement.
Q. Who serves on management's negotiations committee?
A. Management representatives on their negotiations committee
are as follows: Erin Lewin, Legal Department, Sherri Shamblin,
Inflight Services, Cindy Simone, Labor Relations, Linda Audorff,
Labor Relations and Mike Finn, Director of Crew Resources.
Claude Sullivan, a negotiator from the Atlanta-based firm of
Ford & Harrison serves as management's primary negotiator.
Q. How does this Single Agreement negotiations process work?
A. AFA Merger Committee members from AWA and US Airways meet
initially and separately from the management to form a
negotiations strategy and to produce a contract opener or
proposal. The contract opener contains a list of key issues in
sections that your union representatives want to maintain or
improve on in negotiations for a Single Contract. AFA
representatives review the AWA and US Airways contract
section-by-section in order to propose the best contract for all
of us. (Below is a discussion of key differences between each
contract.) We then provide management with our opening proposal
and negotiations proceed.
Management then enters the negotiations process as the third
party at the bargaining table with their own goals and
objectives and negotiations proceed.
Make no mistake about it, management wants to proceed with
Single Agreement negotiations because they want scheduling
efficiencies ( meaning less flexibility for you) and they want
the lowest cost sections of each contract, be it vacation,
insurance or other sections. Management will insist that any
significant or meaningful pay rates are offset by so-called
savings in other areas, so the attempt by management to portray
these negotiations as the best avenue for everyone is just half
the story.
Q. Can we strike if we don't reach a Single Agreement?
A. It is a legal question and one that is not clear at this
point. The US Airways contact is not open until 2012. Our AWA
contract remains open under the guidance of a Federal Mediator,
even though the mediator has recessed our talks for an
indefinite period of time. Management believes that if we don't
ratify a Single Agreement that they can simply place all AWA
flight attendants under the current US Airways contract. We
think otherwise and plan to pursue the matter in Federal Court
if the company attempts to throw us under the US Airway contract
if we don't ratify a Single Agreement.
Q. What is the difference between Section 6 Negotiations,
Transition Agreement negotiations and Single Agreement
negotiations?
A. Section 6 negotiations were on-going between AFA and America
West management prior to the merger. These negotiations started
in 2004 and the company foot-dragged on any progress just before
the announcement of the AWA-US Airways merger. Section 6
negotiations are being guided by a Federal Mediator and in early
December, 2005, the mediator put our contract talks in recess
with management. Recess means that there are no scheduled dates
for negotiations for our AWA contract. We can request to restart
negotiations -for our AWA contract- in the future.
Transition Agreement negotiations is an attempt to reach a
Letter Of Agreement between AFA representatives at AWA, US
Airways and management. A Transition Agreement covers the period
of time that the AWA and US Airways operations are separated.
Our intent in attempting to reach this agreement is to secure
PHX domicile protections.
Single Agreement negotiations will begin in early 2006 and the
purpose of these talks are to reach a single contract that will
cover all US Airways Flight Attendants once integration occurs
and the company is operating under one FAA certificate.
Q. Why did we continue fighting for our AWA contract in Section
6 negotiations?
A. The company wanted us to shelve our AWA contract talks and
proceed to single contract negotiations without addressing our
job security, pay and scheduling issues. As you will see in the
below Q and A, there are significant issues that separate both
AFA contracts at AWA and US Airways. We were not going to
voluntarily suspend our negotiations and just give up fighting
for improvements. The company should have honored our agreement
and respected you by providing raises and job security
improvements.
In September, we filed for mediation with the National Mediation
Board, a federal agency with oversight on airline contracts. A
federal mediator was assigned to our negotiations in October and
he called for contract talks to resume in mid-December.
Negotiations resumed the week of December 12, 2005 in PHX. We
could have reached a contract, but we would not give in to
company demands to slash our vacations just to move money
around. The company also demanded a reduction in our health care
coverage and wanted us to agree to PBS, a bidding system
drastically different from our current process. If we conceded
on all of these issues, then the company would have rolled some
of the savings in these areas into wage rates, not all, some. It
was not worth the trade off for us, especially given the fact
that significant differences in these same areas exist between
our agreement and the AFA contract at US Airways.
Giving up important elements of our contract now would have
given the company an advantage in Single Agreement negotiations.
Further, keeping our Section 6 contract talks open allows us
some options down-the-road should Single Agreement negotiations
fail and the company attempts to throw all of us under the US
Airways contract.
Q. What are the key differences between the AWA and US Airways
AFA contracts?
A. Our AWA AFA contract is better than the US Airways contract
in terms of Vacation, PBS, Health care, deadhead pay, some
Reserve rules and some scheduling issues. The US Airways AFA
agreement provides substantially more pay for Flight Attendants
with 1-10 years of service.
Vacation. AWA top vacation days is 35 at 4.5 credit hours per
day. US vacation tops out at 25 days at 4.0 credit hours per
day, but that rate applies to those with 30 years or more of
service. In fact, AWA flight attendants with 16-23 years of
service would only have 17 days of vacation at 4.0 credit hours
per day if we were placed under the US Airways contract. The US
vacation chart goes up to 35 days of vacation in 2009, but only
for those with 30+ years of service!PBS. US AFA agreed to PBS -Preferential Bidding System- in their
2004 restructuring agreement. PBS is not implemented for US
Airways flight attendants at this time, however it is widely
incorporated in their contract and management wants it.
With PBS, there are no lines to bid, just a pairing packet.
However, PBS is bidding system that awards you a line of flying
based on bidding preference such as days on, days off, overnight
city preferences, specific pairings, and return to domicile time
preferences and a host of other potential preferences.
In 2005, AWA management proposed PBS for our AWA contract. Your
Negotiations Team (NT) rejected PBS after an exhaustive research
process. We talked to negotiations committees at other AFA
airlines and met with three PBS providers; Ad Opt (who runs our
AWA pilot PBS), Nav Tech and Carmen Systems.
We met with these vendors separate from management. In the end,
we rejected PBS for a variety of sound and substantial issues.
Alaska, United, Northwest, Jetblue, Frontier and Mesaba Flight
Attendants either have PBS up and running or are working towards
implementation of that program.
We can now gather information about PBS from our Flight
Attendant colleagues separate from management or vendors and
weigh the good and bad aspects of PBS.
Insurance: Imagine paying Platinum paycheck deductions for UHC
Choice insurance benefit levels or less. That's essentially the
current US Airways health care insurance program which has steep
paycheck deductions and co-pay and deductible formulas that cost
you more when you use health care services.
Only AWA Flight Attendants and Mechanics have the Platinum Plan
because of our AFA contract. No other company employee,
including pilots, rampers and others, have the Platinum Plan.
The company has made it clear in our AWA negotiations that they
want to get rid of Platinum and move us all to the UHC Choice
Plan options as a cost-saving measure.
The company will no-doubt insist on restructuring our AWA Flight
Attendant health care costs when we negotiate a merged contract.
Deadhead Pay. Our AFA AWA contract provides 100% deadhead pay.
The US contract provides 50% deadhead pay. This will be another
major issue in merged contract talks.
Scheduling. US Flight Attendants and pilots fly together on the
same pairings, just as we did many years ago. Our 1999 contract
provided a separate pairing generation that allowed for pairings
with mixed aircraft assignments because it made our pairing
generation more flexible. US Flight Attendants bids contain far
more 4-day trips than our current bids (even with bad bids
lately) and AWA Flight Attendants like the flexibility of a mix
of 1,2,3 and 4 day pairings. AFA reps and management will have
to resolve this issue in single contract negotiations.
Definitions
Transition Agreement - A Letter of Agreement negotiated by AFA
representatives at AWA and US Airways and management that
governs the period of separate operations and provides specific
protections for Flight Attendants on each seniority list.
Section 6 Negotiations - The process of negotiating our second
contract at AWA. "Section 6" refers to rules and regulations
under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act, a law that governs
airline labor negotiations. These are the negotiations the
Federal Mediator placed in recess while we attempt to negotiate
a Single Agreement.
Single Agreement - A contract negotiated by AFA representatives
from AWA and US Airways and management. Will cover all US
Airways Flight Attendants once the operation is merged and the
company operates under a single FAA certificate. All US Airways
and AWA Flight Attendants will have the opportunity to vote on
the new Single Agreement.
Negotiations Schedule for Single Agreement
Caucus = meeting between AFA Merger Committees and AFA
International Negotiators, no management. Caucus meetings are
scheduled so that AFA representatives can prepare proposals for
later meetings with management.
Joint Meetings = AFA and Management negotiations sessions
Location Dates Caucus or Joint Meeting
January 9-12 PHX (AFA office) Caucus
January 23-26 DCA (AFA office) Caucus
February 6-9 CLT (Charlotte) Caucus
February 21 - 23 PHX Joint Meeting
March 6 - 9 CLT Joint Meeting
March 21 - 23 PHX Joint Meeting
April 10 - 13 PHX Joint Meeting
April 24 - 27 CLT Joint Meeting
May 15 - 18 PHX Joint Meeting
May 29 - June 1 CLT Joint Meeting
Under US Airways contract, flight attendants (11 years and up) at AWA would get a pay cut! I don't think so!
