We are happy to let you know that, after an unnecessarily long and frustrating wait, the Company has finally informed our Union that they are ready to begin the full implementation of the preferential bidding rules for the Next Day Reserve Assignment (NDRA) process, as described in Article 12.B.2.e-g of our CBA. The Company has stated that you should see this component activated on July 17th.

Reserves will now have the ability to submit their preferences for not only Pairings, but Airport Standby Periods (ASB) and, finally, AM or PM Reserve Availability Periods (RAPs). This language in our contract was hard won and took significant effort on our Union's behalf to negotiate with the Company. These improvements to the NDRA process were a priority for our Negotiating Team during the bargaining of our CBA because they represent not only the significant quality of life improvements for our Members on reserve but, importantly, the protection of our Members' health and safety.

As we all know, fluctuations in scheduled Rest and constantly having to alter one's sleep patterns cause increased levels of fatigue, risks to our health, and, potentially, a less safe operation.

We are confident that these changes to the scheduling of Reserves will result in a better, safer working environment for our Members. While we are as frustrated as all of you are at how long it took the Company to implement these aspects of our CBA, we are very happy that they are finally ready to begin following the language in Article 12.

Unfortunately, the Company has informed our Union that this process will be done manually by Crew Services. As we all know, whenever a human element is added to a process it will inevitably lead to mistakes and human error. We ask that all Reserves closely monitor the processing of the NDRA and ensure that their preference bids are handled properly under Article 12.B.2 of our CBA. As always, If you ever believe that the Company has potentially violated any aspect of our CBA, please be sure to complete a contract violation form at our website, 579twu.org, here.

Again, we are excited to finally have these aspects of our CBA available to our Members. As mentioned, we believe they will lead to a safer operation and improved quality of life for our Reserves.

In Solidarity,

Your Grievance Committee