Merger Rights and Protections
We have been working with our professionals for years to review the potential for mergers and at the same time we've discussed with you the protections we have as AFA-CWA Members through our Union, the law and our Contract. It’s important that we review these protections to understand the rights we have within any circumstance.
Contractual Protections
Our Scope Letter of Agreement protects our flying and requires that the terms of our Contract shall continue to apply whether United or a successor of any kind controls the post-merger airline. Flight Attendant opposition to the United merger with US Airways in 2000 played a role in derailing that ill-fated deal. We threatened to strike if that merger, causing a unilateral change to our Contract, had been consummated. In addition, the first section of our Contract confirms AFA-CWA as our bargaining representative for all United Flight Attendants and maintains our right to perform all work customarily and traditionally performed by Flight Attendants.
AFA Seniority Protections
We will utilize all of the tools that we have as AFA Members to vigorously defend the seniority of United Airlines Flight Attendants. In addition to our industry-leading AFA seniority merger policy and the protections AFA was able to achieve this past year under the law, there are means to protect seniority and maintain job security. During the course of Contract negotiations related to a merger, we can fight for fenced operations, buyouts from the combined group, and we have an industry-leading policy for merging seniority rights, along with Contractual furlough protections.
Seniority Protections with Two AFA Member Airlines
AFA has an industry-leading policy for merging employee seniority lists. All AFA Members receive equal protection of their current seniority status in the event of a merger between two AFA airlines. The AFA “Merger Policy and Related Employee Protective Provisions” takes effect in the event of a merger, consolidation, acquisition of control, purchase, sale, lease or other similar transactions. The seniority merge is based on the date from which each Flight Attendant accrues bidding seniority as a Flight Attendant on her/his current seniority list. Flight Attendants take part in the exhaustive review and transparent seniority integration process.
Seniority Protections in Merger with Non-AFA Carriers
While our seniority policy focuses on mergers between AFA carriers where we as a Union would have the greatest amount of situational control, it also covers mergers with carriers whose Flight Attendants are not represented by AFA. The policy states, “Seniority integration with a non-AFA carrier shall, to the extent legally possible, be accomplished by compiling an integrated seniority list in the same manner as provided for seniority integration between Flight Attendants on AFA carriers.” The full text of the policy is posted on our website. Disputes, if any, are resolved through negotiations with the other Union, or through arbitration if necessary.
And, this year AFA was successful in achieving seniority protections under the law that mirrors our policy as it relates to mergers with non-AFA carriers, providing a minimum standard for seniority protection. This new law and AFA policy for mergers with non-AFA carriers both rely on a “fair and equitable” standard with third-party arbitration if the parties cannot agree on how to merge the lists. While this is designed to prohibit one group being stapled to the bottom of the other group’s list, the “fair and equitable” standard is not perfect. It does not provide full protection for your current seniority like the AFA policy does for mergers involving two AFA represented groups.
AFA Seniority Protections Keeps Focus on Achieving Best Combined Contract
Our Merger Policy was developed in the late 1980s, after the turbulence that followed deregulation of the industry. This Policy is a powerful tool for protecting the seniority rights of Flight Attendants, and for easing the transition to newly combined work groups. It is designed to eliminate the disputes that too often have plagued other work groups in a merger.
Most importantly, our Union’s merger policy keeps our seniority out of the control of management and provides us with another tool at the negotiating table. Meanwhile, it frees the newly merged Flight Attendant work group to focus efforts on protecting jobs and winning a new Contract that includes the best protections combined from the previously separate agreements with the respective carriers.
How Seniority Integration Works in the AFA Merger Policy
The AFA merger policy protects Flight Attendants by maintaining your current seniority. It could take a great amount of time, even years, before two seniority lists are finally merged. In any case, here’s how it works under our Constitution and Bylaws:
- Each affected MEC elects or appoints two Flight Attendants to serve on a seniority merger committee to review seniority records and prepare a preliminary, merged seniority list, giving each Flight Attendant full credit for her/his seniority.
- Next, the merger committee notifies each Flight Attendant at both carriers by certified mail of her/his seniority date.
- Each Flight Attendant in turn has an opportunity to question the results. Mistakes made by the seniority merger committee can be corrected, but other adjustments are only allowed to account for differences in how seniority was assigned at the time of a Flight Attendant's initial training (i.e., whether a seniority number was assigned at the beginning or upon completion of initial training, ranking within a class, etc).
- If any adjustment for training date differences is made, such adjustments cannot result in a Flight Attendant changing relative seniority positions on her or his own (pre-merger) seniority list. This prevents anyone from jumping over someone on their own list as a result of such an adjustment for training dates. The effects of earlier furloughs, leaves of absence, mergers and other factors remain in place for both groups in the current seniority merger process.
- Once corrections and adjustments are made, if any, then each Flight Attendant’s date of hire is finalized and the seniority lists are then merged into one combined list. Once this process is finished, the list is then certified.
- Upon reaching an agreement with the surviving company over a merged collective bargaining agreement, the list is delivered to the company for implementation at the time of the merger of operations.
As we stated earlier, this final step helps to insulate our seniority from the whims of airline management as they decide whether to buy, sell, merge or acquire the airlines where we work. The fate of our seniority should never hinge on a corporate decision that is outside our control – about which airline will survive and which will not in the event of a merger.
Representation
If AFA-CWA represents the Flight Attendants at both airline involved in a merger, no representation election would be needed. Representation rights would carry over post-merger, and AFA-CWA would represent the entire combined workforce, and commence negotiations for a combined Contract. A representation election would only take place after a merger has cleared all regulatory approvals and the business transaction is finalized. When the merging airlines become a ‘single transportation system’ under the rules of the National Mediation Board, it would then hold the election. This process will take many months, which means any representation election could be a year or longer from the time of a merger announcement.
If the Flight Attendants at both merging airlines are not represented by one Union, any Union that represents at least 35% (Members and card signers) of the combined Flight Attendant workforce can trigger a representation election at the time the airlines become a single transportation system. In that case, the National Mediation Board (NMB) would conduct an election, with all Flight Attendants of the combined workforce having the right to vote.
- If less than a majority of the combined workforce cast a vote in such a representation election following a merger we would lose our Contract and our Union representation immediately.
- If at least a majority of the combined workforce cast a vote, then the Union with the majority of the votes cast would win representation rights for the entire group.
The only way to ensure the protection of our seniority, our right to have a Contract and our right to our own Union representation solely for Flight Attendants would be to vote for your AFA-CWA. For over 60 years we have been strong together through our Union, the Association of Flight Attendants.
We Will Capitalize on Any Opportunity for Improvements
There are many uncertainties associated with our industry in its current upheaval. It is also widely acknowledged that this can be a time of great opportunity for all of us. Unlike the bankruptcy where the laws, the courts and the Union-busting lawyers employed by management were all stacked against the Unions, we can leverage this environment to benefit Flight Attendants. It is more critical than ever that we work together and remain focused on protecting our jobs as we capitalize on all opportunities for improvement.
Merger Won’t Fly Without Flight Attendants
Still, any consolidating scenario is inherently risky for all parties involved. There is one certainty that all parties involved must know: this business venture will work only with the support of the Flight Attendants. Again:
- We will oppose any business combination that threatens job security or worsens the terms of employment or working conditions for United Flight Attendants.
- And, we will oppose any transaction that serves to delay, disrupt or impede our efforts to improve compensation and working conditions.
