AMFA National - Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association

Negotiations Resume - August 23 & 24, 2005.

Participants for AMFA:
Louie Key – Region 1 Director
Alan Templeman – Local 14 Airline Representative
Earl Clark – Local 9 Airline Representative
Russ Grant – Local 17 Area Representative, ANC

Participants for Alaska Airlines:
Kurt Kinder – Director of Line Maintenance
Fred Mohr – V.P. Maintenance and Engineering

On Monday August 23 the negotiation committee met to review the replies to the failed tentative agreement survey. Additionally, we decided to prioritize the results as to those items that were most frequently sited. As we reviewed the results there were no surprises. The same items we attempted to resolve, and expressed concern over in negotiations, were the issues referred to by the membership.

Some of the major stumbling blocks were; the costs of the medical premiums in out years, the pay raise percentages in out years, lack of retroactive pay on date of signing, loss of the paid lunch when working overtime, the avionics and lead bid language changes. There were certainly other items identified that will be addressed, but these issues topped the list consistently.

On Tuesday we met with the Company to articulate to them the areas within the tentative agreement that caused it to be voted down and need to be resolved in further negotiations. The negotiation sessions Tuesday were productive with conceptual agreements to modify both the Lead selection language and the Avionics qualification language.

Wednesday we started the negotiation session with Tom Richards, Director of employee benefits, explaining the possibility of a high deductible plan as an option  to the current medical plan. He also answered questions about Healthcare spending accounts, defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans. We then finalized the Lead Technician and Avionics Technician language. The Special Project language in Article 8 was the next thing we worked on. We believe we are on the right track by removing the proposed language from the contract and incorporating it into a timelimited letter of agreement that clearly defines the difference between Special Projects and Field Trips. The time limited letter of agreement would allow us to revert back to the original language for special projects, if for some reason the new process does not accomplish the goal of keeping more unscheduled line maintenance in house.

Your Negotiating Committee thanks you for your continued support and professionalism throughout the negotiation process. We are here to represent you.

For additional negotiation information and other AMFA carrier updates, please call the AMFA National Hotline at (800)-520-AMFA (2632).