What an A-card is and what it does. The A-card says: "I, the undersigned employee of Alaska Airlines, hereby authorize the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace workers (IAM) to apply to the National Mediation Board to hold a representation election." Under the Railway and Labor Act, the group that all US airlines fall under, the A-card is ONLY saying that you would like to have a vote on whether or not to join the union. This is not saying YES or NO to the union, just that you would like to have a vote. The A-card is NOT authorizing the union to represent you, it's authorizing the union to apply to the NMB for a vote. This is NOT giving a proxy vote to the union to vote for you. When the time comes for voting, the Nation Mediation Board (NMB) will send out ballots to each of the lounge employees and if they choose to vote, each employee can vote yes or no.

To have a vote, 50% + 1 cards need to be filled out. If the group consisted of 100 employees, 51 signed cards would be needed. If the group consisted of 1000 employees, 501 signed cards would be needed.

Yes, we would still have the vote. Even if 75%, 85%, 98% of the employees filled out the A-cards, we would still have a vote. Even if that many employees filled out a card, you would still have an opportunity to vote Yes or No to joining.

Absolutely not. Have a union doesn't take away your relationship with management, it enhances it. The union ensures that your voice is heard and protects your rights, while still allowing you to communicate directly with management. A union actually strengthens our collective voice. - Provides a structured process for addressing concerns - Ensures fair treatment and equal applications of policies - Supports open communication between employees and management - Protects individual rights and promotes workplace democracy Unions are not a barrier, but a bridge to better communications and collaborations. We all value direct communications, but we also want to ensure that our rights and interest are protected. A union provides that security, while still allowing us to work closely with management. It's about balance and fairness.

No. If lounge classifications were created and a CSA wanted to bid into that classification and never held seniority in that group, their CSA seniority would continue to grow but they would start a new lounge seniority. Example: If the number one CSA systemwide wanted to bid into the lounge as a Concierge, even though he has the best CSA seniority, he would be at the bottom of the list for concierge seniority. All concierges that started before him would be senior to him.

Currently the Alaska lounge employees have no protections or furlough rights whatsoever. If the company decided they needed to reduce the amount of staff at a location or closed a location, the non-union employees would have no furlough rights, meaning they don't have the rights to bump into another station or classification. The company could offer them a position at another lounge if they had openings but they have no requirement to do so. Would they ever outsource? History shows that they would if needed and have done so in the past. In 2020, the company outsourced all of the Horizon ramp at LAX, and the Alaska ramp in the main hub SEA back in 2005. At our sister company Alaska, the COPs (above wing) and RSSA (Alaska ramp) contracts now have some of the best work protections in the industry.

Contracts are for a certain amount of time. While negotiations can take time to complete, you don't wait until the end of the contract time period to start negotiating on the next contract. The negotiations process typically start a year and a half, 18 months, prior to that time so it can be completed before that date.