FRH – 10.09.14

 

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FACT Rep Update – October 9, 2014
Flight Attendant Communications Team

T/A Call Center number: (682) 292-0244
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Central Time M-F

 

FACT: The contractual language for the T/A has been posted online under the negotiations section of the APFA website. Visit the negotiations page at www.www.apfa.org/negotiations. You will also find links to the T/A Highlights as well as the schedule for the T/A roadshows that began this week.

FACT: APFA has commissioned our very own Alex Rodriguez (IOR) to create another iPhone app for Flight Attendants. This app will allow LAA and LUS Flight Attendants to estimate the amount of money they make today vs what they will make under the T/A. The app can only be downloaded via your iPhone. Go to: www.www.apfa.org/taestimator.

FACT: Ratification ballot packets will be mailed to your last known address on file with APFA on Friday, October 10th. This begins the 30-day balloting period. Voting will open that day October 10th and ballots must be cast by 9:00 AM Central Time on November 9th. All Flight Attendants, including those Flight Attendants on probation, are eligible to vote and may cast their votes via the internet or by telephone.

If you need to update your address, please email the APFA Membership Department at [email protected].

If you are not an APFA member, in order to be eligible to vote, you must become a member no later than the 5th day prior to the end of the balloting period – by close of business on November 4th. We encourage you to sign up to become a member now by clicking here. Also, if you are a member in bad standing (more than 60 days in dues arrears), to be eligible to vote you must arrange to be in good standing by that same date – close of business November 4th. To do that, email the APFA Dues Department at [email protected].
 
Once the ballot packets are mailed, we will post Q&As on the balloting process. In the meantime, you can send any questions to APFA’s National Ballot Committee at [email protected].

FACT: The 40-hour scheduling limitation continues to be an area of uncertainty for some LAA Flight Attendants. This is NOT an employment threshold but a scheduling limitation for dropping or trading trips below 40 hours. This provision eliminates the threshold requirement for accruing benefits, vacation and sick time. It will not be implemented until PBS is implemented in 2017 and will be implemented with the enhanced Trip Trade System (TTS) and the Electronic Trade Board (ETB). For Q&As on the 40-hour scheduling, click here.

FACT or Fiction:
Q: Is there pay protection for all trips under this T/A that doesn’t involve a complicated system to ensure Flight Attendants don’t lose pay?
A: Yes. Section 9 covers “Illegal Through No Fault” Pay Protection. This covers all sequences/pairings in which a Flight Attendant is removed from a sequence due to contractual or FAR illegalities with pay. If a Flight Attendant is FAR or contractually illegal during a sequence, s/he shall have the option to split back onto a sequence once s/he becomes legal. (Splitting onto a trip is joining your original sequence on any leg other than the initial leg.) If impractical to split back on, the Flight Attendant will be released and paid the value of the originally scheduled trip. The Flight Attendant must be FAR illegal for pay protection. Should the Flight Attendant choose not to split back onto the sequence then s/he will be paid and credited for any portion of a sequence flown by a substitute crew up until the point where they could split back onto the sequence.

Q:  Will there be pay protection for the last trip of the month?
A:  Yes. Not only is the last trip of the month pay protected but this includes any lost time in the last series of trips. Example: If a Flight Attendant has four consecutive trips October 28th thru October 31, any lost time in that series is protected in its entirety (last series can happen anytime in the month).

Q: How do wage rates in the T/A compare to current LUS “Red Book” pay rates?
A: The current Top of Scale (TOS) at LUS is $47.62. The T/A TOS on Date of Signing (DOS) will be $53.52. All wage rates at every year and pay step will increase by 2% for the first three years and conclude with a 3% increase in the last year of the contract. These out-year pay increases exceed the pay increases specified in the Red Book. By the end of the agreement, the top of scale will be $58.50 as compared with $49.06 in the Red Book – a 19.2% increase.

Q: As a new hire I am worried all of these changes will mean I will lose my job.
A: Scheduling efficiencies, including but not limited to PBS, will NOT result in furloughs of any FAs employed as of the ratification date. Protection ends 12 months after full implementation of PBS (2018, if PBS is implemented in 2017 as expected).  For those Flight Attendants hired after the ratification date of the T/A,  the company must offer leaves in lieu of furloughs first.  
 
Q: Under the transition to the new paychecks will LAA Flight Attendants be losing 2 weeks of pay?
A: No.  LAA Flight Attendants will actually be receiving their “pay over base” 2 weeks earlier for the prior month’s per diem, purser pay, etc. not 2 weeks later.  This transition will result in two “pay over base” paychecks in a row for LAA Flight Attendants.  After the T/A is ratified, LAA Flight Attendants will be notified well ahead of the month this transition will occur.

Q: Why is APFA now being paid by the company for union work?  Isn’t that what union dues are for?  Why should union officers receive a 25% fringe benefit?
A:  While this is new to APFA members it is common in the industry for unions to be reimbursed for certain costs associated with their representatives’ work. In fact, the LUS “Red Book,’ in Section 32.G, contains just such a provision.  The T/A section adopts some of that language  This provision is to reduce some of the cost burden on the membership. The “fringe benefit” is NOT a payment to the union but a charge for reimbursements over the stated amounts.

Q: Why is there now a requirement in the contract that AA can request a medical certificate? What happened to LUS language allowing 4 absences before requiring a doctor’s note?
A: Under the current LAA agreement, Article 26.1 allows AA to ask a Flight Attendant for a medical certificate without any parameters.  Under the T/A Section 9, there are now limits as to when AA may request medical documentation and prevents the request from being based on the number of sick calls within a year.  The company is now contractually REQUIRED to demonstrate that it has reasonable cause to believe a Flight Attendant may have used their sick time for reasons other than legitimate ones allowing the company to request medical documentation based only on a specific number of sick calls.

If you are interested or know someone who is interested in becoming a FACT Rep please sign up by clicking on this link and following the directions for sign-up. 

As a member of FACT we ask that you please share this information with your co-workers in person, via email, and posted to social media to ensure everyone is getting the FACTs. If you have any questions please email me at [email protected].

AmericanAirlines + US Airways 
“On Our Way”

Kelli Harrington, LAX-I
FACT Rep Coordinator