Negotiations Session 12

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AFA proposes regional industry leading wages to which management claimed Horizon will "cease to exist"!  

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The Negotiations Committee led off the session last week by passing our proposal for Article 3 (Compensation). The items proposed included: 

  • Pay rates equal to the Alaska TA (that did not pass)
  • A daily, rather than a monthly, guarantee for Reserves, at five (5) hours per day
  • Improved duty, trip, minimum day and average daily minimum credit rigs
  • Increased instructor and trainer pay
  • Increased rate for premium pay
  • Holiday pay at five (5) hours for all holidays observed for management
  • Pay for sit time in excess of two (2) hours
  • Boarding/deplaning pay at .75 hours per leg
  • Minimum leg value of one (1) hour
  • Productivity Premium for flying an average of 10 hours monthly over your bid award, for four-month blocks of time
  • Hazardous duty pay for flying during pandemics, epidemics or other destabilizing events

Management did not respond to our proposal, despite having more than two days to do so. Instead, they prepared a PowerPoint presentation showing how Horizon will “cease to exist” if they met your demands. They claim that increasing your pay as proposed would make them unable to compete with other carriers (mainly SkyWest) and that Alaska Airlines would not give Horizon flying if they are too expensive. In other words, the exact same thing they said in 2015-16 when they asked you to “commit to compete” so that they could get jets.  The committee—not so gently—pointed out that you had not reaped the promised rewards of Commit to Compete, and that the current contract was reached just as COVID-19 was hitting the United States, cutting your bargaining power off at the knees.

Management continued to insist that they knew you need a raise but that they were not willing to agree to (regional) industry leading wages. The committee replied that it was offensive that Air Group could offer Alaska Flight Attendant raises in the range of 30-40% and not offer you anything even close to that. They had no response to that.

The committee expects management to have a compensation proposal at the next session. We also expect it to be unacceptable. We know, of course, that we will not achieve every item or amount demanded in the first proposal. We hope, however, that management will take a long, hard look at the situation and give us a proposal that does not completely (and offensively) low-ball Flight Attendant pay. They need to do the right thing; after all, that’s one of their core values.

The committee is seriously considering filing for mediation with the National Mediation Board (NMB) if our November session is not fruitful.  This is a decision made by the MEC, the Negotiating Committee and the International President of AFA. What that means for you is that we will be asking the government to help resolve the bargaining stale mate. If we do so, we will explain this process in detail for you in a future communication.

Negotiation Session 12 was held on October 15-17. Representing you at the table were Committee Members- Heather Coleman & Lexie Massey, MEC President- Lisa Davis-Warren, AFA Staff Attorney & Negotiator- Kimberley Chaput.  The Committee met with Vice President Station Ops & Inflight- Shelly Parker, Manager Inflight Labor & Performance- William Casalins Altamar, Financial Analyst- Mark Schuck, Senior Corporate Counsel, Alaska Legal- Latrice Lee, and Seyfarth Shaw LLP Partner, Labor & Employment- Molly Gabel.  

We will update you again after our next session, which will be November 5-7. Until then, remember that we are "Stronger Together, Better Together"—and don’t forget to wear your AFA pin!