Ladies and Gentlemen:

Securing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement focused on your priorities continues to be our number one goal. Since we began these negotiations, our community has confronted a number of challenges designed to destroy our Solidarity.

We, along with the other employees at United Airlines, are embroiled in drawn out talks to reach new Agreements. In fact, all of the labor groups at United Airlines find themselves in various stages of negotiations. It’s worth noting that since all of these negotiations began in 2009, not one new Contract for any work group is in place today. To compound our situation we have been under an unprecedented attack on the terms and conditions of our employment by another labor Union. Despite these obstacles and challenges, we remain undeterred from our number one goal and seek a path forward that provides for an expeditious resolution to our current Negotiations while providing us with a step forward towards Single Contract negotiations.

We are well positioned to implement a process based upon the Nation Mediation Board’s Expedited Mediation Program. In June of this year, the National Mediation Board (NMB) announced the establishment of an “Expedited Mediation Project.”  The purpose of this project as described by the NMB is to help address mediation disputes in a timely and methodical manner. In order for this endeavor to become a reality, all parties (AFA, UAL, NMB) must agree to an expedited process that dramatically narrows the number of issues to be brought to the negotiating table. Further, there must be intensive mediation over a limited time period with a set of aggressive mediation sessions with all parties dedicating the resources necessary to reach an agreement.

Our Solidarity remains the key to reach an Agreement in Expedited Mediation.   If we view this endeavor as a stepping stone approach to achieving incremental improvements and a path forward towards Single Contract negotiations, we can move forward together while not losing sight of the opportunities we have worked so hard to achieve. As always information on our Negotiations can be found on our website.

We find ourselves at a crossroads and ready to embark on an innovative process to reach a new Contract. If all parties agree to an Expedited Mediation process, then we will have created the platform to change the dynamics in our Negotiations and move forward to a successful conclusion of our current Negotiations. We remain resolute in creating opportunities arising from the merger and moving forward to a new United Airlines.
In Solidarity,

Greg Davidowitch, President
United Master Executive Council