January 19, 2023
Participants for AMFA
Bret Oestreich – National President
Earl Clark – Region I Director
Will Abbott – Region II Director
Jarod Mills – Local 14 Airline Representative
Jeff Heard – Local 32 Airline Representative
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel
Participants for Alaska Airlines
Jenny Wetzel – Vice President, Labor Relations
Sonia Alvarado – Managing Director of Labor Relations
Don Wright – VP, Maintenance & Engineering
Scott Harmon – Director of Maintenance
Brett Jacobs – Financial Planning & Analysis
Kelly Welch – Senior Corporate Counsel
Denise Kliskey – Labor Relations
Karen Themelis – Labor Relations
The AMFA-Alaska Negotiating Committee (the “Committee”) is providing this update to the Membership at Alaska Airlines (Alaska). This is the only official authorized source of negotiating communications by the Committee.
The parties held a two-day bargaining session on January 17-18 in Los Angeles to commence bargaining towards a successor collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The first day began with introductions of each party’s respective negotiating committee members, followed by an exchange of opener documents, which listed each article of the CBA and generalized items in each to be discussed during these negotiations. The parties spent the remainder of the morning discussing each side’s opener documents and thereafter caucused to review and formulate clarifying questions. Upon reconvening from caucus, the parties engaged in further discussion on the openers as well as addressing common areas of the CBA that should be modernized and cleaned up without changing substance. The parties then spent the remainder of Day 1 in interest based bargaining to discuss cleaning up certain areas of Article 16 – Grievance Procedure. In addition, the Company passed its first proposal on Article 1 – Purpose of Agreement, which included updates to the non-discrimination language to align it closer with existing law.
The parties began the second day in a short caucus, and upon reconvening, AMFA passed a counter to Article 1 – Purpose of Agreement. The parties discussed and were able to promptly reach tentative agreement (TA) on Article 1 – Purpose of Agreement. The parties then engaged in further conversation as to Article 16 – Grievance Procedure, regarding cleaning up language related to the amount of time notices of discipline remain in an employee’s personnel file. After this discussion, AMFA delivered its counterproposal to the Company, and following a final review, the parties should be able to TA this article as well. The Company presented a proposal on Article 11 – Leave of Absence, which focused primarily on modernization of the maternity leave language. The parties caucused at this point and thereafter AMFA delivered its counterproposal to Article 11 – Leave of Absence to the Company. The parties were able to align on Article 11 – Leave of Absence except for one ask by AMFA, which the parties agreed to hold negotiation on until discussions regarding economics. The parties continued discussion on various issues into the afternoon, and the Company presented proposals on Article 18 – Safety and Health and Article 15 – Transportation.
Prior to conclusion of this session, the parties identified and agreed the following articles would not, outside of general cleanup, need to be opened for negotiation: Preamble; Article 3 – Status of Agreement; Article 17 – System Board of Adjustment; Article 24 – Savings Clause; and Article 31 – Union Shop.
The next bargaining session is scheduled for February 15-16 in Seattle. The Committee would like to thank all the observers that attended this session. If you would like to be an observer in future negotiation sessions, please communicate with your ALR.
And remember, stay engaged, remain informed, and continue to provide the Negotiating Committee with ongoing support, which increases the Committee’s ability to bargain a CBA you deserve.
Fraternally,
AMFA–Alaska Negotiating Committee