Friday, March 1st, 2024
This is the SWAPA Ride Report for Friday, March 1st, 2024.
The SWAPA Ride Report is your source for headlines, updates, and answers to frequently asked questions regarding your new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
I’m your host, Captain Matt McCants from SWAPA Communications.
Let’s lead off with a plug for the Annotated CBA and how it’s related to Implementation. With Joint Implementation Committee meetings every other week, you can expect updates to the Annotated CBA with that same cadence. While the Implementation Schedule on SWAPA.org is a decent reference card, the Annotated CBA will have more detailed notes on what has already gone into effect,and what’s coming soon. New versions of the Annotated CBA will always come with a synopsis of changes, so you know what’s new and how it has been affected.
Now would be a great time to go to the Contract Corner in SWAPA.org and download the word searchable and section-hyperlinked Annotated CBA onto your mobile device. And in the future, always make sure you’re working with the most current version.
Speaking of Implementation, and it being March 1st, there are a multitude of overrides kicking in for pairings that start today. These would be-
Ground Time Late Return Long Duty And Reserve Release OverrideRather than going over the details of what they all mean, take a moment to look at Section 2.J.3 where these overrides are described in detail.
As the Schedule Research Committee has pointed out, the override process hasn’t been completely automated yet. So those overrides are going to be displayed in various places. Some will be shown on the pairing itself, some in the payroll report, and some may even be paid as an additional non fly bar - the important thing is the company is making the effort to get the accurate pay to you. Stay patient, and rest assured Contract Admin and the SRC are tracking all of them.
The other big-ticket items are the first 4 minutes of overfly pay, reserve short notice callout provisions, and fully rigged open time. The latter is touched on in several sections of the contract, and the short notice reserve provisions are covered in section 13.M.3.
We continue to get a lot of good questions out there, so let’s dive into some of the Q&A.
On all things benefits and disability , there’s typically not a one-size fits all to a pilot’s journey through our various programs, as every pilot is in a slightly different situation. So let’s take this time to speak to some more generalized questions while the plan changes to Short Term and Long TermDisability get fleshed out.
We’ve been asked when are the current STD and LTD plans going away? STD and LTD plans are NOT going away. So why not? Well, some pilots do not have enough sick time to carry them through the 60 day loss of license elimination period and some pilots do not want to burn through a huge chunk of their sick bank during the elimination period, so they will want STD. OK, so why do I need LTD? And that depends- how old are you? How much sick time do you have? How much money do you need every month to pay the bills? Once you answer all of those questions, then you can decide if 50% of your Monthly Based Earnings is enough to live on if you lose your medical until retirement age. If you need or want more cash and you’re not sure if you want to burn through all your sick time while out on disability, then you should look at keeping one of new LTD plans. More details will be released when the new plans are finalized, but again, you are still being covered right now under the old plans.
You also might be wondering if you should keep the VLOL policy with Peterson. Wait until you see the details of the new STD and LTD plans and compare the premiums, the benefit amounts, and the duration of the benefit payout, and then decide which one is best for you and your family. Dates and more details coming soon.
Moving on to Compensation & Expenses, there’s not much to discuss on this side of the house, but keep your eyes out for the much-awaited uniform account funding with M&H. The company is advertising this to be up and running by the end of the month, so look for future communication in your company email, and we’ll let you know if we hear anything sooner. For reference, this is covered in Section 3.4.E in the CBA, and company also has a post about this on their Implementation Hub on SWAlife.
On the retirement horizon, we know that Profit Sharing accounts on the Empower website will fund on March 15th, but any cash excess will be paid on the normal March 20 pay cycle. For an in-depth discussion about this year’s profit sharing, how it works, and what we expect moving forward, listen to the last SWAPA Number Podcast featuring Negotiations Committee member Damian Jennette.
A final reminder from your 401K Committee – we’re aware that some errors were made in ratification bonus disbursements. Southwest Payroll and Schwab are actively working on the fix, so stay tuned on when to expect the corrective actions.
On the Contract Administration side of the house, here are some of the questions and answers that came across their desk:
This is one about shifting vacation weeks as part of a block bid. I have a 2-week vacation that I block bid. When I asked Flight Ops Planning if I could use the vacation shifts to shift each week in separate directions, I was told “no”. Why am I not allowed to shift the weeks independently?
OK, so there are a couple of moving parts here: The language specifies that, “A pilot may elect to shift a vacation week or a block of vacation weeks…”. Therefore, the company is correct that this specification means that a block must be shifted as a singular unit. While the company is unwilling to break up your vacation block for you, they freely admit that you can achieve this on your own. How? By simply trading part of the vacation block away and then trading back into it. This would cause your vacation weeks to now be read separately, and be eligible to shift independently from each other. Be sure to plan ahead and break your vacation blocks (if needed) before you submit your vacation shift request. The reference here is Section 14.E.2.A.
On to a deadheading question: I was at the gate and ready to pre-board, but the Ops Agent made me wait while other pre-boarders loaded. I thought we had new language that allowed me to board 1stamong the pre-boarders.
The new language in Section 12.G.6.A.1 will allow you to board with the operating crew if you are there in time. This will also give you the ability to board immediately if you do not arrive in time to board with the operating crew. However, this does not implement until they can update and train the appropriate processes and programs. According to the implementation schedule, this update will be complete no later than the 2nd quarter of 2024. So, safe to say, your mileage may vary on this one for now.
And here’s a question about jury duty - I received a jury summons that conflicts with a trip. I heard that that the new CBA allows me to use TTGA or ELITT without risking a non-paid pull. I may not actually have to report for my summons, and in case I don’t, I want a better trip that week.
You are correct. The new language affords you the ability to use TTGA or ELITT prior to your Legal-Duty-Leave trip pull. You will be pay-protected for the lesser of the new trip, versus the original trip if the new trip still requires a trip pull. It goes on to mention that you cannot create a conflict with greater duty periods in this process. Also new, Legal-Duty-Leave trip pulls will not split a trip. If conflicting with your summons, the entire trip will be pulled. Reference Section 17.G.1-2 for more.
And this question is pertinent seeing as we’re now in March- According to the implementation schedule, in March of 2024 we are shifting the Monthly Open Time close and the opening of ELITT to the left by 1 day. Does this affect trips in March? Or will this occur during March for April trips?
Indeed the latter is true - this temporary monthly timeline adjustment will occur in March for the trips being processed or awarded in April. This is covered in Section 9.A.1, so you can expect April’s Monthly Open Time to close on March 23rd, and April ELITT to open on March 24th. And yes, those Monthly Open Time trips are fully rigged.
Pressing on, let’s get a sneak preview of what’s coming from the Schedule Research Committee:
At the top of the list is the Scheduling Handbook – the rewritten CBA has scheduling touches from front to back, so this new guide will be the one stop shop for all the new provisions. From how overrides work to commuter rules, the SRC is actively writing this living document, and you can expect it to hit the streets in April.
SRC is also working around the clock on the much anticipated pay audit tool, slated for a March release on the SWAPA website. It does exactly what it sounds like, and will be able to differentiate between February and March pairings to reflect the different rules in effect.
That wraps up the headlines and Q&A this week. We will continue to pull common questions we seeacross the channels to identify trends we see out on the line.
Thank you for joining this week’s ride report. If you missed anything, this transcript will be on the Podcast Page under the Communications tab on SWAPA.org. Fly safe, fly informed.