AFA US Airways MEC E-Line - "Staying Informed"

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LONGEVITY - Longevity step increases continue throughout the duration of this Agreement. For example, a Flight Attendant in his/her sixth year on the effective date of the Agreement will make $29.91. When that Flight Attendant starts his/her seventh year as a flight attendant, he/she will be paid $31.52.

ETB – Any trips dropped to other Flight Attendant’s via the ETB reduce a Flight Attendant’s flying obligation for that month. For example, a Flight Attendant with a line worth 90+00 hours who drops 40+00 hours of time to other Flight Attendant’s via the ETB is obligated to fly 50+00 during that month. Trips placed on the ETB are the Flight Attendant’s responsibility until such trips are picked up by another Flight Attendant(s).

DEADHEAD – All deadhead time will be “pay-no credit”. For example: a blockholder with a line of flying worth 80+00 hours pay and credit with four (4) hours of deadhead time in the month would be paid 82+00 hours. 

Example: A reserve who flies less than his/her guarantee and has four (4) hours of deadhead time in the month will be paid his/her 71+00 hour guarantee and two (2) additional hours of pay- no credit. If the same reserve flew 80+00 hours and in that month had four (4) hours of deadhead time, he/she would be paid 82+00 hours like the blockholder in the previous example.

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE – No employee previously offered bereavement leave as a result of the May 2000 Agreement is excluded as a result of the Tentative Agreement; domestic partners are still included as the Letter of Agreement that includes them is part of this new Agreement.

RESERVE VACATION ADJUSTMENTS – Any reserve that has a vacation period of seven or more days can slip ANY OR ALL of his/her off days outside the period of vacation. If the reserve Flight Attendant has less than seven days of vacation, he/she can slip up to three of his/her off days outside of the vacation period.

TAX ON TRAVEL PRIVILEGES – Any employee who leaves the service of the Company via the VFLR, retirement, or any future Voluntary Furlough Program or VSIP (Voluntary Incentive Separation Program) will be taxed on the value of said travel that former employee utilizes after his/her separation from the Company. That taxation is a result of IRS regulations and is not a Company policy or the result of this Agreement or any previous Agreement between AFA and the Company.

EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE – Any flight attendant who notifies the Company of his/her intent to retire by 12/31/05 and who notifies the Company by 3/1/05 has the right to rescind his/her retirement by the close of business on the last business day prior to his/her scheduled retirement date. 

ACCRUAL OF SICK AND/OR VACATION – The reference in the tentative agreement to a flight attendant who is “available for 15 of more calendar days in a month” is not a change from current practice.  For example, if a Flight Attendant returns from a leave and is only available for fewer than 15 days in the month he/she returns, he/she will not accrue any sick or vacation time in that month. 

PBGC MONTHLY MAXIMUM GUARANTEES – The 2005 Chart for maximum monthly payments for pension plans terminated in 2005 can be found on the AFA USAIRWAYS website at www.afausairways.org In addition, AFA’s Senior Benefits Attorney Mary Lou Savage has also published the answers to many frequently asked questions on the website.  We strongly suggest anyone with any questions regarding retirement and retiree medical please refer to the AFA website.

ITD FENCE ELIMINATION – All rest requirement and duty provision provided in the Agreement will remain in place when the ITD Fence is eliminated. For example, in the current ITD, a Flight Attendant can be scheduled for 14 hours and required to remain on duty up to 16 hours due to mechanical, weather, etc. That provision will continue to apply after the ITD fence is eliminated. In addition, if the transoceanic flight segment with an IRO is scheduled for 16 hours, the crew can be required to remain on duty for up to 18 hours. Consistent with FAR 121.467, the Flight Attendant crew complement will be adjusted according for such flight segments. (Domestic and NTI rest requirements and duty limitations remain unchanged.)

WHEN WILL WE BE ABLE TO DROP/PICK UP TRIPS FROM THE ELECTRONIC TRADE BOARD and WHAT ARE THE LIMITS? - The actual start up date is to be determined. This T/A effectively eliminates the “options” one month after the implementation of the ETB therefore it is logical to assume the Company will move quickly to put the ETB in place. It may take some time to implement the board electronically but the Company will establish a temporary Crew Trip Trade Desk in the interim period. There is no limit to the amount of time that can be picked up from the ETB (FAR legalities notwithstanding). A Reserve who picks up time from the ETB will be paid that time ABOVE the 71 hour guarantee. Lineholders will be allowed to drop trips down to 50 hours (assuming trips are picked up).

AS A LINEHOLDER WHAT WILL MY MONTHLY FLYING OBLIGATION BE? - The greater of the primary line award or post-SAP line award.

WILL THERE STILL BE SECONDARY LINES? - Yes. In addition secondary lineholders will be able to augment their secondary line after the line awards by calling scheduling and picking up open time on a first-come/first-served basis; secondary lineholder obligation will be the secondary line value or the augmented line value.

WHEN CAN A RESERVE CALL OUT OF TIME? - Prior to line construction the Director of Crew Scheduling will establish the monthly maximum for each domicile of 85, 90 or 95 hours. That maximum will apply to lineholders and reserves. A reserve can call out of time at the established monthly maximum less 4:59.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY SICK BANK? – Your sick bank remains untouched. There will be a limit of 1500 hours going forward but if you have more than 1500 hours your bank will not be reduced but you will not accrue additional sick time.

IF I CALL IN SICK DO I ACCRUE SICK TIME FOR THAT MONTH? – It depends. In a month you are available and call in sick you will only accrue sick time if your sick bank exceeds a certain amount. For 2005 your bank must contain 300+ hours to accrue sick time in a month you call in sick. The required bank amount decreases over the lifetime of the agreement. The intent is to eliminate those with little or no bank to call off sick for five hours and get five hours back from the Company.

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES TO THE BID SHEET? -  The bid sheet will exist but it will not have to be “seeded” with open time. The current practice of touching a weekend trip will change. A lineholder having a trip that works on Saturday and/or Sunday will be required to work those weekend days. You do not have to fly the scheduled trip, just the weekend days that the trip touches.

HOW DOES THE RESERVE DUTY CHANGE TO 0001-2400 WORK? - Future will still process Reserves beginning at 1500. A Reserve coming on duty at 0001 will be processed by future at 1500 the day prior to coming on duty. Such a Reserve will have three options: 1) Can contact crew scheduling and be available by phone contact; 2) Can leave a list of trips with crew scheduling; 3) Do neither and be passed to Daily scheduling. This does have an upside to it, especially for those who commute to reserve duty.  If you pick up a trip from future and are thus released (current book) you are not required to be in base until the report time for that trip. Can you say “latest departure”? The downside is that if you do not get anything from Future and you are a reserve F/A returning to duty after days off you will be available for duty for trips departing after 0201. Obviously there are no trips scheduled to depart at that time but you would technically have to be in base and able to report by that hour. It is my understanding that Daily will not begin processing open trips at 0001 but will continue the 0500 practice.

HOW IS ANY OF THIS BETTER FOR RESERVES? - As I have said in previous E-Lines every effort was made by the negotiating committee and the MEC to eliminate LTO and restore seniority for Reserves. We were unsuccessful in that attempt but certainly not for lack of trying. What the T/A does is offer Reserves a chance to increase their earnings by picking up trips from the ETB to be paid above guarantee. In theory a Reserve could pick up a 20 hour 4 day from the ETB, not be utilized by the Company for the entire month and end up with a 91 hour paycheck. Go figure! As DH is 50% pay/no credit any DH pay will also be paid above guarantee. Reserves will be grouped in five hour LTO groupings and will then be offered available trips in seniority order within each group. Reserves with 7 or more days of vacation will be able to slip any or all days off out of the vacation period. 3 off days may be slipped out of vacation of less than 7 days.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE T/A IS NOT RATIFIED? – If the agreement is not ratified the Company’s 1113c motion to abrogate our contract will be heard in court. AFA will present our side and the judge will then decide the fate of our contract. His decision will be either to throw out our existing contract or leave it in place. The Court will not write our contract and will not require the Company to impose their last offer. The Company will be free to impose WHATEVER they want. I can only guess what that may be. 

ADDITIONAL CLARIFICATIONS:

-- If not specifically addressed or changed in the 2004 Tentative Agreement, all provisions of the 2000 Agreement, as amended live on. The language in that Agreement (2000) that was not changed in this TA or in the July 2002 or January 2003 Restructuring Agreements, will be incorporated into the new 2004 Agreement. 

-- The $300 Early Retirement Incentive would no longer be paid if the Company ceased to operate.

-- The VFLR with $10K payout does not forfeit your pension benefit when you become eligible for that benefit.

-- Travel Privileges Associated with the Proposed VFLR 
If completed 5 years but less than10 years of service, the employee gets 10 passes per each eligible family member per year for 10 years. If 10 or more years of service, the employee gets unlimited travel for each eligible family member. Employees with less than 20 years travel at a boarding priority lower (S4) than active employee (S3). If the employee has 20 or more years, he/she can travel as if an active employee. Fair market value of passes are reported to the IRS as income. 

-- Retiree Medical Announcement 
Please note that, in most cases, these changes cannot be made without the approval of the bankruptcy court. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the retiree medical benefits described above will be the ultimate result. Furthermore, additional changes to retiree medical benefits may be required as we move through the bankruptcy process, and the Company reserves the right to seek to change or terminate retiree medical benefits at any time. You should keep these factors in mind when making retirement decisions. 

-- IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT RETIREE MEDICAL BENEFITS FOR US AIRWAYS' FLIGHT ATTENDANTS
Many employees have been understandably anxious to know what the Company's plans are regarding retiree medical benefits, and about when any changes to those benefits will take effect. You should know that the decisions described in the linked article have not been easy to make, but reflect the critical need to immediately lower these substantial costs or risk an end to the Company and a cessation of all benefit programs for all current and former employees. 

The Company intends, through negotiations within the bankruptcy process, to make the following changes: PLEASE SEE THE PDF FILE HERE (http://www.afausairways.org/Restructure/Ret_Med.pdf) (if you do not have the free adobe reader, go HERE - http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) 

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