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

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The AFA Newsletter for US Airways Flight Attendants

In this Issue

 

January 22, 2006

  • ADDITIONAL VFLR OFFER 
  • EXCESS FILLER DAY PAYOUT
  • March Primary Lines of Flying
  • Accessing The Hub
  • AFA Local Numbers
Dear Members,

 

ADDITIONAL VFLR OFFER 2006

As part of the 2004 Transformation Agreement the company and the Union agreed to terms for a Voluntary Furlough with Limited Recall (VFLR). The VFLR I was limited to 500 slots but the agreement specified if the number of bids exceeded the number of slots offered 

Additional Links
(Adobe pdf Documents)

VFLR Memo - VFLR Program
VFLR Bid Form - VFLR Release

then, within twelve (12) months following the last release date, the "surplus" number must be offered in a continuation of the VFLR know as an "Additional VFLR Offer. The VFLR I had 823 eligible bidders and therefore the company is offering an Additional VFLR for the "surplus" of 323 slots. Those awarded the Additional VFLR will receive the same cash payment ($10,000) and travel benefits associated with the initial offering.

There several points to note regarding this offering:

  • The bid is now open and will close on March 4, 2006 at 11:59 pm EST.
  • The VFLR will have three release dates July 1, 2006 (100 slots), September1, 2006 (100 slots) and November 1, 2006 (123 slots).
  • Flight attendants must have been in active status on December 1, 2004 and be in active status on his/her awarded release date. The status requirement is because this offering is due to the oversubscription of VFLR I and therefore subject to the same terms as the initial offering. 
  • The company will not contest unemployment, however flight attendants may not qualify for unemployment benefits as this VFLR offering is not considered by the company to be due to a lack of work. In light of the continued Voluntary Personal Leave of Absence (VPLOA) offerings and the return of four aircraft in February AFA will be monitoring staffing levels throughout the year to determine the validity of the company's statement. The company or its agent will be required to indicate the words Voluntary Furlough, Limited Recall on initial claim forms. 
  • The $10,000 cash payment may be denied if a flight attendant awarded a VFLR claims excessive sick prior to his/her award date. For the purposes of this VFLR excessive sick is defined as: 1) July 1 release date - no more than two (2) sick calls, 2) September 1 release - no more than three (3) sick calls and 3) November 1 release - no more than four (4) sick calls. Any extraordinary circumstances will be reviewed on a case by case basis. 
  • Any eligible flight attendant may bid for this offering. There is no "carry over" of bids from the previous VFLR offerings.
  • If the Additional VFLR is oversubscribed the process will repeat itself within 12 months of the last release date.
  • Once the awards are published a flight attendant awarded a VFLR can not rescind the award.

The complete Additional VFLR Program details and bid form can be found on our website (www.afausairways.org) and on theHub.

The relevant contract language is provided below and the complete contract language describing the VFLR process is located in Side Letter #41 of the 2004 agreement. 

a. If the Company receives more bids for VFLRs than the number of slots offered (such difference, "the surplus number"), then, no later than twelve (12) months from the last release date range for VFLR's previously implemented, the Company will implement an additional offer of VFLRs (an "Additional VFLR Offer") for at least the surplus number of flight attendants from the prior VFLR offer, subject to all of the terms and conditions applicable to VFLRs described herein. If an Additional VFLR Offer has more bidders than slots available, the Company will repeat this process, until the Company offers an Additional VFLR Offer for which it has fewer bidders than available slots, after which time, at its sole discretion, the Company may terminate the VFLR program. For clarification, note the following:

i. A flight attendant who receives a VFLR under an Additional VFLR Offer may not qualify for unemployment unless his/her VFLR can be shown to be related to a lack of work as described in paragraph 1 above; 

ii. A flight attendant who is not eligible for the initial VFLR offer pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 4 below will not be eligible for any Additional VFLR Offer;

iii A flight attendant who bids for a VFLR offer and is not sufficiently senior to hold a slot for that VFLR offer may bid in an Additional VFLR Offer but will not have any special seniority rights as a result of his/her previous unsuccessful bid.

EXCESS FILLER DAY PAYOUT

The company announced January 13, 2006 any excess filler days (above the 20% allowed) would be assigned and paid out in January 2006. In earlier communications from the company they had indicated they would continue the previous process of treating the excess filler days as Carry Forward Filler Days and assigning those days as regular vacation days. Those days could be re-bid in the monthly re-bid process or traded. The company has agreed to continue the previous process for 2006 and as a result any excess filler days will be assigned rather than paid out. The assignment will completed by January 30. 

Thank you,

The Master Executive Council

------------------

March Primary Lines of Flying

The Director of Crew Scheduling, Mike Finn set the maximums in ALL bases at 85 hours of Company time for the month of March. The blocking objective was a flight attendant window for March of 70 - 85 hours. The pilot's scheduling committee and the computer built the primary lines as follows:

CLT A319 75-90 PHL A319 75-90 PHL 76M 70-85
CLT 733 70-85 PHL 733 70-85 PIT 733 70-85
CLT 76 D 75-90 PHL 76D 75-90 PIT 21M 70-85
CLT 21M 75-90 PHL FAI (INT) 70-85 PIT A319 70-85
CLT 33F (INT) 70-85 PHL 33F (INT) 70-85 DCA 733 70-85
CLT FAD 70-85 PHL FAD 70-85 DCA A319 75-90
CLT FLS (LODO) 70-85 PHL 21M 70-85 LGA A319 75-90
CLT 32J (LODO) 70-85 PHL 32J (LODO) 70-85 LGA 21M 75-90
BOS A319 75-90 PHL FLS (LODO) 70-85

Note: The way the pilot lines are built (by aircraft type and all separately constructed) some lines exceeded the proposed high end of the blocking window. AFA agreed to publish such lines in order to give more flight attendants primary blocks.

Flight attendants that receive a line which exceeds the maximum of 85 hours are obligated for March to come in with 80 to 85 hours of Company time, not to include Electronic Trade Board (ETB) time. As such, flight attendants awarded a line that exceeds 85 hours may call Crew Scheduling and drop a trip to downward project his/her block or drop via SAP.

Further, the AIL may be utilized to eventually get to the aforementioned window of 80 to 85 hours. Flight attendants in PHL, CLT, LGA, BOS & DCA that received such a block are encouraged to drop time during the SAP window.

March SAP: The timelines are: Group 1 (PIT, PHL, and BOS) opens on January 25th at 1800 and closes on January 31st at 1800 - Group 2 (CLT, DCA, and LGA) opens on January25th at 1800 and closes on February 1st at 1800. Further, the non-high option window is the following: MAX of 85 and MIN of 60.

Secondary Lines of Flying for March: The blocking objective will be a window of 70 - 85 hours. The secondary lines of flying will open on February 7th at 1800 and close on February 12th at 1800. 

March Reserve Maximum: The reserve maximum for the March bid month will be 85 hours; therefore, a reserve may call out of time at 80:01.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessing The Hub:

http://thehub.usairways.com 
Logging in the first time your user name is u0(zero) and your five digit employee number. Your initial password is the first five digits of your social security number. Questions about the Hub? Please contact the EDS Help Desk at 336-744-6000 for assistance. More information can also be found HERE.

AFA Local Numbers

Council 40 PIT 724-695-3329
Council 41 DCA 703-212-8090
Council 69 BOS 781-289-8454
Council 70 PHL 215-492-0840
Council 82 LGA 315-736-3483
Council 89 CLT 704-527-0325

New Hotline Number Toll Free: 866-USA-AFA2
US AIRWAYS Benefits Information 800-872-4780

Reply to Inflight: askinflight@usairways.com


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