Participants for AMFA:
Louie Key –National Director
Earl Clark –Region I Director
Jason Munson – Airline Representative Local 14
Mark Sheldon – Airline Representative Local 32
Participants for Alaska Airlines:
Greg Mays – VP Maintenance & Engineering
Kurt Kinder – Managing Director, Line Maintenance
Bob Hartnett – Director, Labor Relations Ground
Sonia Alvarado – Manager, Labor Services M&E
Constance VonMuehlen – Managing Director, Airframe, Engine, Component MRO
In accordance with the terms outlined in Article 23, Wage Rules, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to discuss the fourth and final Annual Wage Review of our current Agreement in Oakland, California. Both sides reviewed all data used for the review. We then conducted an external review of our all-in wage compared to our primary competitors in accordance with the Agreement. The rates used were as of September 15, 2015, with none of the compared carriers’ rates expected to change before October 17, 2015, the effective date of the contractual 1.5% pay increase. The all in rates, which includes base pay, license premiums, line premium, and longevity at the top of each scale are: 1) Southwest $43.89, 2) Delta $39.55, 3) Alaska $39.14, 4) US Airways $38.01, 5) JetBlue $38.00, 6) United $36.92, 6) American $36.63, 7) Frontier $32.37. The midpoint all-in wage rate for the carriers we are compared with is $37.46, and since our rate with the 1.5% increase is $39.14 and above the midpoint, no additional increase is required. Other Technician all-in pay rates that were not part of the wage review are Hawaiian at $37.71, Virgin America at $34.34, and Allegiant at $32.57.
We then went to the internal review and due to the fact that Alaska negotiated an Agreement in the past twelve months, we had the ability to look at where our co-workers in other labor groups rank compared to their peers. We did the comparison of the other labor groups on the property and identified where they rank compared to their peers in the industry. The rankings are as follows: Pilots (ALPA) fifth, Flight Attendants (AFA) second, Dispatchers (TWU) sixth, RSA (IAM) third, COPS (IAM) fourth. This puts the average ranking of the labor groups on the property at four (4) compared to their peers in the industry. The contractually required minimum 1.5% rate increase keeps us at the number three (3) position, therefore no additional increase is required.
As most of you are aware, Delta announced that they plan to raise their Technician all in rate to $46.15 on December 15, 2015. Because this is after our Wage Review, it was not contractually relevant to our process; however, it will certainly be relevant in upcoming contract negotiations.
Fraternally,
Your Negotiating Committee