June 30, 2023

Participants for AMFA
Bret Oestreich – National President
Pat Amore – National Vice 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 – VP, Labor Relations
Sonia Alvarado – Managing Director of Labor Relations
Don Wright – VP, Maintenance & Engineering
Scott Harmon – Managing Dir. of Maintenance
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 three-day bargaining session June 27-29 in Seattle to continue bargaining toward a successor collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The parties began Day 1 by continuing off-the-record discussion regarding Article 6 – Overtime from the previous session. Both sides continued to speak openly to fully understand the remaining issues within the Article. Thereafter, the parties went on-the-record to memorialize their discussions and to capture the off-the-record concepts discussed within Article 6 – Overtime. The parties passed respective written proposals on this Article with the Union focused on your top issues as identified in the bargaining survey. The Company also advised, at the end of Day 1, that it would be prepared to pass another proposal on Article 5 – Hours of Service.

The Company asked for the morning of Day 2 to caucus and prepare a formal counterproposal on Article 6 – Overtime. The Union spent this time reviewing Article 10 – Vacancies and Article 5 – Hours of Service. The Company, following its morning caucus, delivered a counterproposal on Article 6 – Overtime. The parties spent considerable time discussing this counterproposal and identifying the remaining open areas. The Company also presented an on-the-record counterproposal on Article 5 – Hours of Service. AMFA took both articles under advisement with a focus on potentially reaching a tentative agreement (TA) on Article 6 – Overtime during this session.

AMFA, on the morning of Day 3, presented a counterproposal on Article 6 – Overtime. The Company asked productive questions, and the parties engaged in robust dialogue on the remaining issues, including the continuing issue of overtime bypasses and how those bypasses should be addressed under the contract. AMFA also presented a counterproposal on Article 10 – Vacancies to which the Company indicated it would respond to promptly. The Company returned in the afternoon of Day 3 having made additional movement in AMFA’s direction on both Article 6 – Overtime and Article 10 – Vacancies. The parties engaged in discussion to understand the intent associated with the remaining open items within Article 6 and Article 10, and following that discussion were able to TA both of those articles. The Article 10 – Vacancies TA included contractual improvements associated with the filling of vacancies. The Article 6 – Overtime TA includes substantive improvements, which were identified within the survey as important to the membership. Those improvements include, but are not limited to:

• Payment at the applicable rate for all overtime hours bypassed;
• Overtime will not be cancelled by the Company or the Employee within 12 hours of the start of the overtime shift; and
• A more clearly defined overtime offering and awarding process.

The parties spent the remainder of Day 3 in off-the-record discussions to identify and discuss open items within Article 8 – Field Service & Special Projects and discussed what items were left to be discussed within Article 5 – Hours of Service.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for July 10-12 in Seattle. Your 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