September 29, 2007 - At 10 p.m. last night, the Atlantic Southeast Airlines MEC announced that its Negotiating Committee had reached a Tentative Agreement with ASA management for a new collective bargaining agreement after more than five years of negotiations.
The parties were called by the National Mediation Board (NMB) to their 293rd negotiating session on Wednesday, September 26. But for the first time, participants included NMB Boardmember Elizabeth Dougherty, SkyWest, Inc. Chairman and CEO Jerry Atkin, and ALPA President Captain John Prater.
After three days of intense negotiations, ALPA and management were able to come to agreement on all remaining open issues, including scope, compensation, work rules and retroactive pay. Final contract language will be worked out by both sides in the coming days.
Once final language is complete, the ASA MEC will meet to review the TA, which would have a three-year duration. If approved by the MEC, ASA pilots will be invited to attend road shows to learn all the details of the agreement. A membership ratification vote would follow MEC approval.
The Negotiating Committee is compiling a comprehensive document with specifics on the TA. A few highlights of the final agreements negotiated in the past three days are:
Scope protection: The tentative agreement secures enhanced job protection that includes no-furlough and fragmentation provisions along with a letter that binds the holding company to Section 1.
Pay Rates: See the ASA MEC public website for pay rate tables at http://asanegotiations.alpa.org.
Signing bonus: $13.5 million: The MEC will work to determine the distribution of this money.
Profit sharing: ASA pilots will receive profit sharing.
Duty rigs: The agreement contains duty rigs that allow for 1 hour of pay for each 2 hours of duty up to 12 hours of duty and then 1 hour of pay for each hour after 12 hours, on a scheduled basis. The duty rig will apply to CDOs. Minimum pay for a day is 3.75 hours.