AFA HOME

CONTACT US
AFA Council 66
AFA-CWA International
Change of Address/E-mail
US Airways Contacts

DISCUSSION FORUM
Login/Sign Up Here

OUR CONTRACT
AFA/AWA Agreement
Contract 101
Constitution and Bylaws
Transition Agreement
Cabin Seat Agreements

COMMUNICATION
AFA International
AFA US Airways.org
Hotlines
Podcast
Reserve Reporter
West Wing

COMMITTEES
Air Safety, Health & Security
Benefits
Communications
EAP
Government Affairs
Grievance
Hotel
Membership
Negotiations
Reserve
Scheduling
Scheduling Bid Review
Seniority/Merger
Uniform Committee
Voice Committee

BID AWARDS
Bid Award by C#
Bid Award by Line #
Buddy Bid Award
LAS Vegas Bid Award
Vacation Shuffle Bid
Recurrent Bid Award
2008 Vacation Bid Award

FLICA/MAESTRO HELP
What is FLiCA?
FLiCA Sign Up & Access
FLiCA Reference Guides
FLiCA FAQ
New Sorting Features
Assistance with Maestro
Monthly Timelines
Nonfly Codes
Maestro Reference Guides

FORMS
Contract Violation Form
Dues Payment Online
GD Replacement Form
Hotel Irreg. Form
Medical Leave Packet
Partial Auto Form
Reserve Trade for Trade
RV Holiday Trip Request
Safety Event Report Online
Uniform Expense Report

LINKS
AFA Airline Websites
AFL-CIO Websites
Aviation Links
Discounts
Employee Travel Center
Flightline
Government Agencies
Labor Coalition
Nonrev/Interline Travel
Pegasus Project
Reward Programs
Twinhill Apparel
Wings

Transition Agreement Q & A

What Are The Protections For America West Flight Attendants in this Transition Agreement?

A. There will be no “system flush” where active flight attendants may displace other active flight attendants from our positions. This means that there will not be a bid whereby everyone gets to bid for their base by seniority. If that happened, wholesale displacement would occur in PHX as hundreds of more senior US Airways flight attendants would have bumped former AWA flight attendants out of PHX. It won’t happen now because that protection is in writing. This means that the 4,500 active US Airways can’t bid to displace us out of PHX. Only future vacancies in PHX would potentially expose us to senior US Airways flight attendants bumping us down on our list, but only a few at a time, not hundreds.

B. Furloughed Flight Attendants on the US Airways list will not bump/displace active flight attendants. There are 1,639 US Airways flight attendants on the furlough list. When the seniority lists are combined, at least 1,000 of those furloughees will be senior to America West flight attendants. We had to get legally binding protections for our most junior members, to protect them from getting bumped and displaced out of PHX when the operations merge in 2007.

How is our flying protected during separate operations?

The Transition Agreement separates the operations by the tail number of the aircraft, protecting against the Company transferring aircraft from the America West fleet to US Airways fleet. The tail number and fleet plan is attached to the Transition Agreement to lock in those protections in writing. The Company had the ability to transfer planes under our current contract and this closes that avenue for the Company to cut flight attendant positions in Phoenix and transfer flying to US Airways.

Section 1, Recognition and Scope of our current AWA contract provides additional protection, because it states that all revenue and all known flying at America West must be done using America West flight attendants. That provision is the subject of a grievance filed last week when the Company cancelled several America West flights and substituted US Airways aircraft and crews on those cancelled flights.

How long will operations be separate?

Before flight attendant operations can integrate, the airline must operate under one FAA certificate. The company has to receive FAA approval on a joint training program that ensures all US Airways flight attendants fly under the same procedures and are educated on the same I.O.M. The company’s early plan is to have one FAA certificate by April, 2007.

Why are US Airways furloughees coming here? How will they be treated?

The agreement provides that furloughed US Airways Flight Attendants will be offered positions at America West rather than the Company hiring off the street. The Transition Agreement protects our junior flight attendants in a couple of ways. During separate operations, the US Airways furloughees will remain junior to the America West flight attendants. They will be able to use their US Airways company longevity for purposes of where they fall on the America West pay scale, etc. But for bidding for lines of flying, vacation bidding, etc. they will be under current America West Flight Attendants. After the integration of operations, the furloughees will move to their seniority on the combined list only when they would have been recalled to a position at US Airways.

There are 1,639 US Airways furloughees, with hire dates that range from November, 1999 to their last new hire of June, 2001. They will be given only two-(2) chances to accept a position at America West. If they do, here is what happens:

They are treated as a new-hire at America West and must successfully complete the entire new-hire training program that runs from 7 to 8 weeks. They are at the bottom of the seniority list until Operational Integration or when they are recalled to a previous US Airways base. They bring in their US Airways longevity for pay purposes, but on the America West pay scale not the US Airways pay scale. Longevity is different than seniority. Longevity is related to pay issues because it’s a measurement of the length of time that a Flight Attendant is active on-line. For example, if you take an extended leave or are furloughed, your longevity, for pay purposes, stops at a certain point, usually 30-31 days after your leave or furlough. Seniority is basically your date-of-hire as a flight attendant and is not affected by leaves or furlough.

Longevity is calculated with the following example. If a US Airways furloughee was hired in June, 2000 but was furloughed in 2002, they have accrued approximately 1.6 years of longevity at US Airways and approximately 5.6 years of seniority. If they accept a position at America West, they would be paid at the 1-2 year America West wage, which reflects their longevity.

No moving expenses to PHX and no paid living arrangements while in training and they must purchase the AWA uniform.

Your MEC proposed wage parity for those America West Flight Attendants who would have less longevity than a US Airways furloughee who accepts a job here. But management refused to give one cent, even an AFA-proposed 68 cents per hour increase to AWA flight attendants with 2 or less years of service.

Why isn’t there a longer fence? Why not hold out for a strong fence agreement?

There is no legal obligation for management or the US Airways MEC to agree to any fence provisions.    Section 1 of our current contract obligates management to negotiate a “possible” fence agreement and by negotiating they met that minimal obligation.    Despite Doug Parker’s promises, once we got into actual negotiations, the new US Airways management team repeatedly stated they did not need a fence agreement and showed no concern for America West Flight Attendants.

Management rejected out of hand the best chance we had for extended fence protections in November. After management rejected the joint AMW US Airways MEC proposal on fence protections, fence negotiations broke off.

At that point, we were forced with a choice, move on to continued contract negotiations or lock in some protections for America West Flight Attendants.   Because there was a desire to hire the US Airways furloughees, there was an opportunity to restart the negotiations to get some essential protections for America West Flight Attendants. After studying all options and determining that holding out would not result in a better agreement, but, instead, mean that there would be no Transition Agreement, your merger representatives decided to lock in the important protections outlined.

Why was the potential for US Airways furloughees bumping on the date of operational integration a concern?

Absent the protections in the transition agreement, there was the potential that US Airways flight attendants currently on furlough would be allowed to bump active America West flight attendants when the operations merge.   Whether they would have been allowed to do this without an agreement is not clear.   We would have fought any such attempt vigorously and it is not certain such an attempt would have been upheld.

However, it was a real threat and one that had to be reckoned with. Any potential for a substantial amount of our members to be out of work had to be decisively eliminated. It is too important a decision to be left up to chance. We had fought for a commitment against this possibility from the beginning and needed to have it in a legally binding document and have the Company’s signature and US Airways MEC East signature.

What are the profit sharing provisions of the Agreement?

The Agreement provides that America West flight attendants will be able to participate in the profit sharing provisions on the same basis as the US Airways flight attendants. This addressed the inequity of America West flight attendants being one of the sole groups. If and when the new US Airways groups makes a profit, America West flight attendants will get a share of the flight attendant portion of the profit sharing pool. The profit sharing pool is 10% of the first 10% of profits and 15% of the profits above ten percent. The Flight Attendant portion in 14.5% of the profit sharing pool.

Why is the EMB 190 Aircraft language in the Transition Agreement?

The EMB 190 is a twin-engine regional jet that will seat over 100 passengers. The company may use those jets to fly it’s routes. We wanted to lock in the fact that US Airways mainline flight attendants will fly those jets and not flight attendants from a regional airline. Further, we wanted to lock down the fact that pay rates for flying that aircraft are mainline rates and not a B scale or lower hourly rates.

MidAtlantic Airlines is in the Transition Agreement. What is MidAtlantic?

MidAtlantic was a subsidiary of US Airways, created during their bankruptcy. It is staffed by furloughed US Airways flight attendants and will cease operations soon because it was sold to Republic Airways. Furloughed US Airways flight attendants were offered positions at Mid Atlantic during their furlough but remain on the US Airways furlough list. It’s not an additional airline with more flight attendants.

We know that other questions and concerns will emerge and this Q and A posting is just one in a series to come.
Please send your questions/responses to mec@afa66.org