June 7, 2016
Participants for AMFA:
Louie Key - National Director
Earl Clark – Chairman and Region I Director
Jason Munson – Airline Representative, Local 14
Mark Dahl – Airline Representative, Local 32
Lucas Middlebrook – AMFA Counsel
Participants for Alaska Airlines:
Greg Mays – VP Labor Relations
Kurt Kinder – VP Maintenance & Engineering
Constance Von Muehlen – Managing Director Airframe, Engine, Component MRO
Bob Hartnett – Director, Labor Relations Ground
Sonia Alvarado – Manager, Labor Services M&E
Molly Gabel – Alaska Counsel
Meagan Koering – Sr Financial Planning Analyst
The Negotiating Committee is providing this update to the AMFA Membership at Alaska Airlines. This is the only official authorized source of negotiating communications by the Committee.
On May 31 through June 2, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Hilton Garden Inn in Livermore, CA. The first day we reviewed our agenda and action item list. The Company shared the Travel Bureau Commuter Pass Policy, which will be published on the Maintenance & Engineering SharePoint site along with an additional Divisional Policy document containing exceptions that can be granted by the VP of Maintenance & Engineering.
The Company provided us with requested data on vacation buy back usage, the number of individuals that are maxed out on their vacation roll over, the number of individuals maxed out on their sick leave accruals, and the number of employees in the retirement plans: 401K plan and enhanced (defined benefit only, defined benefit plus 401K, enhanced 401K only, and non-participants). We then moved to the action item to review the lead course and testing outlined in Article 4, Classification of Work, paragraphs Q and R, and the notification to the training department of a new lead being awarded a bid. After discussions we agreed to remove both paragraphs from Article 4. The reason for the removal is due to the new lead selection language we tentatively agreed (TA’d) in our last session. We also added some intent language for the removal of Q and R and recessed for the day.
On Wednesday June 1, we worked on Article 3, Status of Agreement and a proposal we requested to add a notification provision in case of an acquisition or merger. The Company agreed and the language was added to Article 3 as a new paragraph E 2. With this addition, Article 3, Status of Agreement is also TA’d. We then received a counter proposal from the Company on our job protection Letter of Agreement (LOA) #9. In the Company’s counter they agreed to add all but two of the cities we requested to have added. They also proposed language that stated the Company would not subcontract any aircraft maintenance to "McGee Air Services, Inc." The last change to our proposal was the Company reinstating the provision that the LOA will expire one day prior to the amendable date.
We then caucused to work on our counter. In our counter we agreed with the Company’s proposal on the added stations and the new language on McGee Air Services. We also asked for additional language to protect us from any other like entity Alaska Airlines or Alaska Air Group may create. We introduced language that would have the LOA stay in effect until renegotiated. The Company asked why we added the additional provisions to their proposed McGee language, then took a caucus. After returning, the Company informed us that they could not agree to our proposed changes. We then had some very spirited debate over the LOA.
On Thursday June 2, we continued our vigorous discussion over Job Protection LOA #9, and after much enthusiastic debate, the Company informed us that they were not currently prepared to make any additional changes to the LOA. We were extremely disappointed and decided to table the issue for now and will re-address the matter in future discussions. We then outlined what we plan to discuss during or next session, which will be health insurance and retirement.
Our Committee would like to thank the observer that took the time to attend. Remember to check your Local’s website for the most up-to-date information on times and locations of negotiations: www.amfa14.org and www.amfa32.com. If you have any questions, please contact your Airline Representative or attend your next monthly membership meeting for a question and answer period.
If you plan to attend a future negotiation session, please contact your Airline Representative to RSVP; by RSVP’ing you are guaranteed a seat if the room is full.
Sincerely,
Your Negotiating Committee
Upcoming Negotiation Dates - Upcoming meeting accommodations and times are yet to be determined.
June 28 – 30 |
June 28 – 30 |
July 18 – 21
|
Southern California
(Location to Be Determined) |