January 2, 2018
Dear Members:
I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Year’s holiday. I am very optimistic 2018 will be a great year for all of us. December was very busy for your National Executive Council (NEC) as we worked on a variety of issues including the National Budget for 2018, Safety and Compliance Initiative, and conducting the Alternate AMFA-Southwest Airlines (SWA) Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) Representative Election and Annual National Survey. We also spent time looking ahead and compiling our goals and objectives for the New Year.
In 2018 we intend to assist with ideas to reach a long overdue (1,965 days) contract with SWA, to achieve AMFA- Alaska (ASA) and Virgin America Integration and Transition Agreements, to assist our local if necessary, to continuing updating member contact information to further enhance communication, and continue station visits. The NEC continues our efforts to achieve the best communication practices to reach our members, including emails and push notifications as well as website, Facebook, and Twitter posts. The NEC also continues to conduct station visits throughout the system.
January will be a busy month with the negotiations on both fronts: Transition Agreement at ASA and Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) Contract negotiations at SWA. The AMFA-ASA and the Virgin America Seniority Integration committees have finalized the language related to seniority integration. We will meet with ASA on January 2-3, 2018, in Dallas TX to commence negotiations on a Transition Agreement detailing how the Virgin Technicians will be brought into the CBA including the establishment of protection provisions for all. Once that is completed, both the Seniority List Integration and Transition Agreements will be sent out for membership ratification.
If the Seniority List Integration and Transition Agreements are approved by both the AMFA-Alaska and Virgin America members, AMFA intends to file for Single Carrier Status with the National Mediation Board (NMB). Within 30 days of approval by the NMB, the integrated seniority list will be made public to all combined members, and the members will then have 30 days to protest their seniority per Article 9 D of the AMFA-Alaska CBA. Note: The ASA-Virgin America Single Operating Certificate (SOC) is a separate and distinct process, and will not affect the ongoing seniority integration/transition agreement negotiations. For more details regarding these negotiations, please visit the Alaska Airlines page of the AMFA National Website.
The AMFA-SWA AMT Negotiating Committee completed the informational roadshow to discuss where we are in the negotiations process, what issues remain open, and to answer questions from the membership. The Committee has completed 24 meeting sessions in DAL, HOU, PHX, MDW, and MCO. Additional outstations were able to participate in these sessions via Zoom video conferencing and others via TurboBridge conference calls. The roadshow was extremely successful by allowing the Committee to convey true-factual information to our members in a face-to-face setting. We have received a tremendous amount of positive feedback and we will continue to stand united. The mediator for AMFA-SWA AMT negotiations has recently given informed us of a scheduled negotiations session in Washington DC on January 18-19, 2018. We will keep you informed on details moving forward.
For more carrier specific updates and further information regarding AMFA and the airline industry, please visit the AMFA National Website at www.AMFANational.org. Our most determined efforts will only succeed with your continued support and participation – please stay informed. Remember, “Safety in the air begins with quality maintenance on the ground.”
I wish you the very best for 2018.
Sincerely,
Bret Oestreich
National Director