Last week, the ASA MEC, XJT MEC, and the Company finalized an agreement on the Process for Interim and Single PBS LOA.

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As everyone is aware, choosing a bidding system that will ultimately become part of the JCBA has been an area of considerable disagreement between the two MECs. Since February, with mediation assistance through ALPA’s Representation Department, we have developed a process that will ultimately lead to a single bidding solution. Over the past few weeks, the JNC reached a tentative agreement with management and both MECs ratified that process agreement. This represents a major and important step forward toward JCBA completion.

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Specifically, this solution provides that the legacy ASA pilots will continue using FlightLine until a pilot-wide vote on a single PBS vendor as part of the next contract’s amendment round. The legacy XJT pilots will bid paper lines for up to two years following the JCBA’s execution. Within that two-year period, the XJT MEC may opt to begin using the SmartPref PBS or discontinue developing that system and begin using FlightLine. If the XJT pilots are not bidding their monthly schedules through PBS within that two-year period, then they will convert to the FlightLine system at that time. We will have the full language of the PBS process agreement available on the ASA and XJT ALPA Web sites in the coming days. In addition, we will provide a Q & A document to aid pilots in further understanding the PBS selection process.

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Having reached an agreement on this process, the JNC and management have been meeting to discuss remaining issues in Phase II and Phase III negotiations. These included an exchange of proposals on Scheduling, Training, Deadheading, Vacation, and Hours of Service. Also, the Scheduling Committee is working with the JNC to analyze Flight Time/Duty Time requirements and their impact on the JCBA. Significant progress was made, and a tentative agreement was reached on Training. The parties are also nearing agreements on Deadheading and Vacation.

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Negotiations will continue weekly through the end of June. In an effort to accelerate the pace of negotiations, the parties have agreed to enter private mediation in July. A neutral party will be present for our sessions throughout July, and we are hopeful that presence will aid our progress. Conceivably, as we enter private mediation, we may be focusing on resolving the more challenging and remaining topics—namely the economic items and job security provisions.

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We are now positioned to go forward with company negotiations, having established single positions on the remaining outstanding sections. We anticipate that as negotiation activity increases substantially, we will be providing more frequent updates through the JNC Link.