Dear AFA Recording: Jan 13, 2015

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Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to Dear AFA. We are a democratic, Member driven Union of Flight Attendants for Flight Attendants. Today is Tuesday, January 13, 2015 and this is San Francisco Council 11 Volunteer Sheri Meehleis reporting.

EEOP Third Round Release Dates & Travel Purchase Deadline
United has announced the third round of Enhanced Early Out Program (EEOP) participants and the date that these Members must submit a request to purchases the extended travel benefits. 

Pre-merger United Flight Attendants EEOP with the release date of January 30, 2015: 

Flight Attendants participating in the EEOP who wish to purchase the extended travel benefits must submit their request no later than January 21, 2015 at noon Central Time.  To submit a request to purchase the extended travel benefits please visit Flying Together > Inflight Services > Administration > Enhanced Early Out > Early Out Travel Purchase. 

This is your one and only opportunity to purchase extended travel.  There will be no further opportunity after the January 21, 2015 12:00N (CST) deadline.

If you have any questions about the early out or the travel purchase program please email earlyout@united.com.

NEW KCM Locations
Starting today, January 13^th the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has launched two (2) more airports with the Known Crew Member (KCM) program.  These locations are San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Ronald Regan National Airport (DCA).  With these two new locations there are a total of fifty seven (57) airports where the TSA has implemented the KCM program.

For the airport locations and checkpoint hours of operation for the KCM Program please visit our website.

Flight Attendant Alert Center
The Flight Attendant Alert Center is a great resource for Flight Attendants to receive up to date information on issues that may impact our jobs.  As things occur around the world we update this page to continue to give you the most up to date information. 

To read the current Flight Attendant Alerts visit our website.

United Continues to Outsource
United has announced once again that they are planning on outsourcing Union employees at 28 airport locations across the United States.  The Union jobs that are at jeopardy for these employees fall into the category of Airport Operations and include baggage handlers, ramp workers, and inside customer service agents.  These workers who are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) were given notice Monday morning that their jobs may be sourced to an outside vendor. 

United stated these cuts are inline with other major competitors.  This is the third round of Union jobs being outsourced to outside venders since 2013.  Nearly 500 jobs were cut in 2013, and more than 600 were cut in 12 airport locations in 2014.  Recently we have seen the results of United’s outsourcing Union jobs at Denver International Airport (DEN) when they replaced the SkyWest Unionized baggage handers with the vendor Simplicity USA.  Denver Airport is still recovering from the baggage issues due to the airlines outsourcing. 

Today IAM and the company are meeting to discuss ways to keep the work with United under different labor terms.  We stand in Solidarity with our Sisters and Brothers as they wait to see how the discussions between IAM and the company conclude.  We understand and know very well the sacrifices these front line employees have made to ensure our airline continues to thrive and make record profits.  Now is not the time to eliminate jobs, but rather to invest in employees who will ensure our passengers return and continue to invest in our airline.

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