• On page one of the TA is a letter to the FA’s from the NC, the letter states; “This Tentative Agreement also provides some protection for flight attendants if our airline goes into bankruptcy. In our agreement (“Section 1113 Letter”), management has committed to not seek more in concessions from us than those contained in this agreement, if it ratifies.” On page 9 of the TA is a copy of the letter given to us by management. Please note the time frame for the 1113 letter protection. We will only be protected from additional concessions in the event the company files for bankruptcy until the end of calendar year 2002 (6-months). FYI, Carefully read the entire letter on Pages 9 & 10. Also, carefully read the section titled “Temporary Relief Items” on Page 24 for more information. 

• Salary Continuance. On Page 17 of the TA it states; ‘flight attendants shall accrue both vacation and sick leave for the first six months of their workers compensation.’ Our 2000 agreement (page 22-16) states; ‘A flight attendant shall accrue vacation for the balance of the calendar year in which the salary continuance commences and sick leave for the first six months of salary continuance.’ In other words the vacation accrual in the TA will be more than our present agreement for those who get hurt from August through December but less for those who may get hurt during the months from January through June.

• Furlough Protection. 275 aircraft out of bankruptcy and 245 aircraft in bankruptcy. On page 18 of the TA it states, B. ‘Active Aircraft Count’ means the number of aircraft in the pilot permanent bid plus an additional number of aircraft equal to 8% of the number of aircraft in the pilot permanent bid.’ This simply means the 275 and 245 numbers can be reduced by 8% to calculate the number of ‘active aircraft’. In other words, when calculating for the number of FA’s needed, the minimum number of ‘active aircraft’ outside of bankruptcy can be as little as 253 and inside bankruptcy the number of ‘active aircraft’ can drop to as low as 226.

• On page 19 of the TA Summary is the pay chart. Please note that year 2003 was omitted. All step increases for all year groups WILL be realized just as they are today. If you are presently in your 5th year, your pay WILL increase from $26.74 to $32.22 (includes 8,4% wage reduction) when you go into your 6th year. In other words, you are NOT frozen at the lower scale. Those at the lower scale (sometimes called 'B-scale') will move up to the higher ('A-scale') when you have completed 5-years of service. Please note there is no 'B-Scale' even though many of us still use that language to indicate the move from years 5 to 6.

• On Page 15 of your Summary, is states "Effective with this agreement, former Shuttle flight attendants will be placed on the mainline vacation chart." This one statement seems to have confused many of you, let me try to explain. In the Shuttle Transition Agreement, the number of vacation days accrued was not equal to what US Airways enjoyed. In the Shuttle transition agreement, all former Shuttle FA's would remain at the lower number of vacation days until 2005. The above statement will put previous Shuttle FA's vacation in line with the US Airways vacation days (equal to years-of-service) upon ratification of this agreement rather than waiting until 2005. 

• You have been told that the tentative agreement (TA) provided us with a degree of protection by saying that if the Pilot's target/bogie were lowered ours would also be lowered using the same ratio enjoyed by the pilots. That wording remains in the TA. It refers directly to the "VERIFICATION" section that states "If concessionary negotiations with ALPA achieve less than 85% of its savings target (based on $90/$595 relationship), wage rates for the flight attendant group will be adjusted such that the flight attendant group achieves the same percentage of its savings target." What was not stated in the referenced section, which the MEC voted on, was the term (in years) to which the 90/595 applies. This is important because it has fostered a debate on whether or not we have been deceived. One could assume that since the existing TA is based on a 6.5-year term that the 6.5-year term applies to the section in question. The Company and some members of the MEC, however, say this is not correct. 

First there are three definitions I will use: 

Bogie: (not in the dictionary). The amount of compensation asked for by the company from each employee group in an effort to keep the Airline going. 

Percentage of the Bogie: 85%. This is the one factor that has remained constant. 

Term: The length in years the compensational period will last.

Initially, the FA's and the pilot's bogies were $90 and $595 million respectively (90/595) and the term was 7.5 years. The time frame for all labor concessionary agreements was changed to 6.5-years sometime around June 7, 2002. The position of the Company is the reduced time period changed every labor group's basic bogie because of the effect that the loss of the last year had on the plan. Confusing, I know, but bear with me. With the last year gone, the average amount the pilots had to give the company changed from $595 to $547 million. Our compensation was much more level loaded and therefore our average annual gift was reduced to only $89.2 million after the last year was deleted. Using these new numbers, the pilots agreed to a $465 million gift or 85% of $547. In the same manner, after Council 40-PIT and Council 70-PHL challenged the company, our gift was reduced from $77 million to $75.8 million or 85% of the new $89.2 bogie. 

The current problem stems from what is meant by the section I have quoted in the last bullet point. The Company admits it is not written correctly but insists they were not trying to be deceptive. Unfortunately, what they believe, is not what they wrote, nor was this explained to the MEC, at the time of the vote, by either the AFA Attorney or the MEC President. 

I believe the TA would not have received a unanimous vote to send it out to the members had it read differently as some of us were sure the pilots would not reach 85% of their $595 target (which in fact, they did not). The Company, along with some others, state the pilots have reached 85% of their bogie. Those who read the paragraph literally believe they have only reached 78% of their bogie and the FA's should have their bogie reduced accordingly (money back in our pockets).

So there you have it. While this is not the only element of the TA it is surely the most volatile. Each of you must decide for yourselves, are the pilots at 78% or 85% of their bogie? If you want more information on this topic, let me know and I will write a more detailed explanation.

There is one more aspect to the change of the term from 7.5 to 6.5 years that has me baffled. If the money lost by the Company (in theory saved by the employee groups) in the last year of the original term of 7.5 was needed to pay back the ATSB, why wasn't everyone's bogie raised to compensate for the loss of the last year? As an example, if I owe you $100 and want to pay you back $10 a week for ten weeks and you say I have to pay in eight-weeks, wouldn't I have to pay you $12.50 a week for the eight- weeks? I think so, so why didn't the bogies go up, especially the pilots. Where is that money now coming from? Could a member of management or the NC please answer this question for me? Thanks.
As Alice said, "it gets curiouser and curiouser"

MEDICAL/DENTAL AND VACATION

We have had many questions concerning the new medical, dental and vacation portions of the TA. These are very convoluted items and time does not permit a detailed explanation in this particular News-Line. We realize that time is running out, so we have decided to hold as many crew room sits as we possibly can to explain the above issues and entertain other questions. 

I will also send an additional News-Line to you in an attempt to walk through these issues with you as best I can in the next few days.

 
We will be in the crew room on Friday, July 26, 2002 between the hours of 12 – 3 p.m., Tues, July 30, 2002 between the hours of 3-6 p.m. and Thurs. Aug 1, 2002 between the hours of 9-12 p.m.

ELECTRONIC BALLOT

In order for your vote to count, you must carefully follow these instructions:

• To use the system, you must enter and ID number and a PIN. The ID number is your US Airways employee ID number. If your US Airways employee ID number is NOT a 5-digit number, you must add the appropriate number of 0’s in front of the number to equal a 5-digit number.

• Your PIN is the last four digits of your Social Security Number. Once you have logged in, you will be prompted to change your PIN. Be sure to remember your new PIN as you will need it if you wish to access the ballot again.

• Polls open: July 28, 2002 at 12:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time.

• Polls close: August 9, 2002 at 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

• Ballots will be counted at the close of the polls.

• To Vote by phone call: 1-877-AFA-VOTE (1-877-232-8683)

• To vote by Internet: Log on to https://www.ballotpoint.com/afa (note: you must type the ‘s’ in the https otherwise you will not be able to log onto the site. The ‘s’ indicates a ‘secured site.’

• Once you have voted, you may change your vote if you choose through either method. Remember your PIN. Only the last ballot cast will be counted.

• If you experience any problems with the voting system, call AFA Membership Services at 1-800-424-4201 x 860.
  

A WORD TO CLEAR THINGS UP

When the MEC sends out a recommendation on how to vote on an issue, they can send one of three different recommendations.

1. FOR, 2. AGAINST or 3. NO RECOMMENDATION. 

The motion was made by Council 41-DCA to send a 'FOR' recommendation. I could not support that motion. I have explained some of the reasons in the previous News-Line. In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, a less than thorough job was done on behalf of the majority of the NC. AFA reached an agreement more than a week before the pilots and neither the IAM nor the CWA have reached an agreement to date. I could not, in all honesty, recommend you vote 'for' a TA that I personally felt needed more discussion, clearer language and a lot of fine tuning. On the other hand, I also could not ask you to vote against the TA taking into consideration the fragile situation our company is presently in. The final decision will ultimately be yours to make. I believe my job is to answer your questions and supply you with as much information as I can. You will need to be fully aware of all aspects of this TA so you can make an informed vote. Unfortunately, there is no good or easy answer for us. This is a heavy time for all and the decision we will soon face, we need to be prepared to live with for the next 6.5-years. No one has a crystal ball on what the future holds, we can only make the best decision we can, given the information we have, live with that decision and look out for each other.