The committee is assisted by AFA- CWA Senior Staff Negotiator/Attorney, Joe Burns.

Both of the September sessions were internal caucus sessions and focused on the Scheduling sections of the two Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) and the Company's initial Scheduling proposal.

Please bear in mind; this is an update, not a transcript of the two sessions. The Scheduling Section is comprised of many different components and all components will be addressed with the goal of ending up with the best Scheduling section in the industry. That goal applies to every other section of the contracts as well.

There are very distinct differences between the current East and West scheduling systems. The differences in the two systems are the result of history and culture. The East system is a seniority based system in almost every respect. The West system is seniority based for the primary bid but then reverts to a first come- first serve (or "Jungle rules" as the West calls it) system.

In single agreement negotiations the Company has proposed a system based on Preferential Bidding, more commonly known as "PBS". PBS has been in our CBA since the December 20, 2002 Restructuring Agreement. PBS has never been implemented at US Airways for two reasons:

1- The agreement to replace Primary Lines, SAP and Secondary Lines with PBS contained provisions that would insure the Union's mutual agreement and participation in vendor selection and algorithm, line build parameters, constraints and interface. The Company and the Union never reached agreement on the above before the Company's financial condition deteriorated.

2- The Company entered bankruptcy in September of 2004. The bankruptcy resulted in the US Airways/America West merger which necessitated the negotiation of a merged CBA.

The JNC is evaluating the differences in our current scheduling systems. The East system is multi-tiered with Primary Lines, SAP, Secondary Lines followed by Secondary Line Augmentation and the Reserve Lines. The West system is less time consuming, but not as flexible as our SAP and AIL systems.

The Company does not want either system and proposes to eliminate "hard line" bidding with PBS. All PBS systems are designed to eliminate "conflict bidding"- the ability to bid a line that contains trips that conflict with vacation and training. More importantly, PBS allows the Company to avoid month-to-month trip conflicts. It is no secret that a PBS system saves time, money and manpower for the Company compared to a traditional hard line bid. If the Company really wants PBS they will have to share the wealth with their Flight Attendants.

In light of the fact the two scheduling systems are so different; the JNC will have to make some very hard choices. From an East perspective we will have to re-evaluate PBS as the systems have all changed since the Union's first evaluation took place.

PBS has its pros and cons. Essentially PBS is one big SAP where Flight Attendants bid for trips, either specifically or generically, to fill a line of their own. Sounds simple but like most things, the devil is in the details.

The JNC hosted four PBS vendors during the first September caucus session. All PBS vendors tell you what you want to hear, but there are ways of determining which vendor can best meet the needs of our membership.

The bottom line with PBS is that it is only as good as the parameters, constraints and flexibilities that are negotiated between the Union and the Company.

The second September session was spent evaluating the vendor presentations and identifying other areas of differences and commonalities within both Scheduling sections. The committee is dedicated to a system that allows flexibility and the ability to drop time.

Although PBS language exists in the East contract, the language was placed there as a result of concessionary bargaining. This time, the world is different and you can be sure if the JNC decides to negotiate PBS, the savings it generates will have to be shared and the system itself will have to be the best there is.

Thank you,

Mike Flores, President
The US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA- CWA

Carol Austin
Master Executive Council Scheduling Chairperson