Merger Meeting Update!
“Any Merger Must Work for Flight Attendants”
Tired of merger talk? As a union, we can’t afford to get tired.
Mergers can be a serious negative for workers, or an opportunity to make our work lives and home lives better. AFA-CWA has a lot of experience with mergers and clear guidelines in our constitution to remain on top of the process and take action to use any and all leverage we have to ensure any merger produces benefits for Flight Attendants, rather than a destruction of our rights, representation, and contracts.
On Tuesday, August 30, our Flight Attendant elected leaders from Spirit met with AFA International Officers, and AFA professional staff, to review the proposed merger of JetBlue and Spirit including various government approvals, timelines, representation, seniority integration, and contract negotiations. The meeting set in motion a process to determine whether our union supports or opposes this merger.
Just as we said on the day the merger was announced, “Mergers take time and various approvals. AFA will only add our support to any deal that includes clear plans for Flight Attendants to share in the benefits of the merger. Our job is to improve conditions for workers and to be strategic about how we do that. AFA represents Flight Attendants at Spirit.”
Management will have to meet with us and demonstrate through a pre-merger agreement how this merger will benefit Flight Attendants in order to get our support, and we will reconvene by the beginning of October to assess any commitments or lack thereof.
AFA Merger Policy Denies Management Typical Divide Tactics
Most mergers have been used by airline management to pit workers against each other and “create efficiencies” that are put on the backs of Flight Attendants and other workers. Our AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws Section X Merger policy stops management from utilizing the merger to divide Flight Attendants and puts in place a specific timeline and professional resources to “provide protection for the employment rights of Flight Attendants.” The key priorities of our merger policy are to “ensure that representation is maintained (every Flight Attendant has a voice in the process) or enhanced, seniority is protected; and negotiation of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement is facilitated” to improve job security, pay, benefits and working conditions for Flight Attendants. AFA will fight for our rights throughout the process, but representation at the merged airline is essential for AFA to have the ability to ensure our rights are protected.
Necessary Merger Approval for Financial Closing of Merger
In order for the jetBlue-Spirit merger to move forward, it must be approved by the Department of Justice prior to financial closing of the merger, which typically takes around 12-18 months from the initial announcement of the merger agreement. Certain lawsuits, objections by members of Congress and other roadblocks may slow or halt the process for concluding the merger transaction. Management will need our support in this process. Our next scheduled joint meeting of AFA leadership is scheduled for the first week of October. We expect management to engage with us between now and then to demonstrate substantially how this merger will benefit Flight Attendants, like the shareholders, in order to gain our support.
A Merger of Operations Takes Time and Flight Attendant Approval
Following the financial closing of the merger, there are additional government approvals required before the operation can be merged. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must approve a Single Operating Certificate. And, the National Mediation Board must make a Single Carrier Determination for representation at the combined airline. This process can only be triggered by a union, not the company. The Spirit and jetBlue seniority lists are similar in size and there would likely be a representation election following a Single Carrier Determination. We will review these procedures at a later date since the issue is contingent on other approvals and not likely to take place for more than a year from now.
Seniority Integration Process
The fate of our seniority should never hinge on a corporate decision that is outside of our control. With a detailed process in black and white we focus our attention on our unity and work towards a single contract that reflects our valuable contributions to the airline.
AFA-CWA has a leading seniority merger policy that ensures the protection of each Flight Attendant’s seniority on a merged seniority list. Our merger policy was put in place nearly 35 years ago following mergers where the issue of seniority did nothing more than create division. This division plays out at a time when it is especially critical for Flight Attendants to stand together in unity. In mergers, our focus needs to be on making our seniority count with the best job security, pay, benefits, work rules and quality of life at the merged airline.
A Seniority Merger Integration Committee (SMIC), made up of Flight Attendant representatives from each pre-merger airline, will review each separate seniority list, provide a transparent process for each Flight Attendant to double check their seniority date before integrating the Flight Attendant bidding seniority by the seniority date that you use today to bid your schedule (“competitive bidding seniority”). This process cannot change any prior seniority integrations and no Flight Attendant can leapfrog another Flight Attendant on each respective list. The committee may only make adjustments to seniority dates based on seniority accrual during training. If it is possible to provide every Flight Attendant credit for the time they spent in training without disrupting the order of the current seniority lists, then adjustments will be made so that all Flight Attendants have credit for their time in initial Flight Attendant training.
Bottom line: Every Flight Attendant keeps the seniority she/he/they brought to the merger. Management cannot use seniority to divide us. Our fair, transparent seniority integration process is backed up by law adopted by Congress in 2007. Only AFTER Flight Attendant approval of a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement will management be given the seniority list for operational merger integration.
We will report back to members after our next meeting, or sooner if management agrees to conditions that gain our support before that time.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC Leadership
