Furlough and Partnership Program

Date: August 27, 2008
Type: AFA Article

As a result of United’s decision to reduce its aircraft fleet along with Flight Attendant staffing, the Company today announced a need of approximately 1,550 Flight Attendants on furlough status effective October 31, 2008. As defined in Section 21.A.4.a. of the Agreement, this requires the Company to conduct a bid for Voluntary Furlough and the Partnership Program prior to imposing an involuntary furlough. Without any Voluntary Furlough awards, this number would affect Flight Attendants with and junior to SW classification seniority date of January 16, 2006. If desired, all Flight Attendants, regardless of seniority, should bid for the Voluntary Furlough by September 22, 2008.

Our Contractual Voluntary Furlough program provides attractive benefits designed to mitigate or entirely block the imposition of an involuntary furlough. Section 21.A.3. of our Contract provides those on Voluntary Furlough will accrue seniority, maintain the same medical and on line travel benefits as active employees and be returned to the domicile from which she or he began the furlough. A Voluntary Furlough Information Packet, is available on our website, in the domiciles and on SkyNet.

Voluntary Furlough Options

Voluntary furloughs will be offered and awarded in system seniority order. Voluntary furlough once awarded cannot be declined. If an insufficient number of Flight Attendants volunteer, then United will impose involuntary furloughs using inverse system seniority order. Flight Attendants who volunteer, but are junior to the most junior voluntary award, will not be awarded a Voluntary Furlough and will be placed on involuntary furlough status.

Duration Start Date End Date Allotment
6 months 10-31-2008 5-1-2009 300
9 months 10-31-2008 7-31-2009 300
12 months 10-31-2008 10-30-2009 300
18 months 10-31-2008 5-1-2010 300
21 months 10-31-2008 7-31-2010 350

Eligibility

All active Flight Attendants are eligible to bid for the Voluntary Furlough. Flight Attendants with an inflight seniority date of January 16, 2006 or junior will become eligible for award as more senior Flight Attendants are awarded the Voluntary Furlough.

Flight Attendants currently on a special leave are eligible to bid for the furlough. Similarly, Flight Attendants on medical leave are also eligible for voluntary furlough provided they have medical clearance that documents a return to work date effective before the furlough start date. This documentation must be provided to Company medical for clearance and approval prior to the bid period closing on September 22nd. If you are ineligible to bid for voluntary furlough due to issues concerning your fingerprinting, a United representative will contact you.

Voluntary Furlough Bidding & Award

Flight Attendants who are active, as well as those on a special leave of absence, can bid for the furlough via the Unimatic VOLUN screen or follow the prompts in FLT-LINE. Refer to the Furlough Information Packet for more detailed bidding information.

September 8 Voluntary furlough bid period opens at 0800 Central Time.
September 22 Voluntary furlough bid closes at 0800 Central Time.
September 24 Voluntary furlough awarded by 1700 Central Time.
October 31 Voluntary furlough commences.

Items to Consider

In recent months we have experienced low line of flying averages, an abundance of 30-day and daily ANP and special leaves. All of these Contractual schedule options have contributed to a more flexible schedule environment. We can expect that once the Voluntary Furlough begins line averages will return to historically high levels up to the 84 hour maximum and discretionary time off will become harder to obtain.

Flight Attendants on voluntary furlough will maintain medical and dental benefits according to the individual or family insurance elections. In order to maintain these benefits Flight Attendants will need to make arrangements for premium payments since payroll deduction will not be an option during the furlough.

Flight Attendants are eligible to retire from voluntary furlough. Time spent on voluntary furlough are included in your years of “service” to determine your retirement benefits such as medical, travel passes and retirement age eligibility.

Voluntary furloughed Flight Attendants are not allowed to attend training during the course of the furlough due to government regulations requiring Flight Attendants to hand in their ID badge. Flight Attendants may be required to complete varied emergency and service training programs when returning from different furlough durations. Details about return to work requirements are included in the Voluntary Furlough packet.

Involuntary Furloughs

Our priority is to advocate for every way to limit or avoid involuntary furloughs. In the event of insufficient voluntary furloughs, the Partnership Program will be used and awarded in locations where there is a surplus and the program is cost effective. AFA is advising all Flight Attendants of the Voluntary Furlough and Partnership Programs through every available AFA communication vehicle, including a postcard to all Members.

If management finds it necessary to involuntarily furlough Flight Attendants, the furlough period will begin October 31, 2008. The recall date will be based on operational need. Section 21.G. of the Agreement governs recall procedures from involuntary furlough.

We encourage all Flight Attendants who are able to bid for the Voluntary Furlough in an effort to avoid involuntary furloughs.

Partnership Program

The Partnership Flying Program was negotiated by AFA in an effort to further reduce the need for involuntary furloughs. If United does not have enough volunteers for furlough once the bid is complete, the company may offer cost-neutral partnership flying in bases with an overage of Flight Attendants. Voluntary Furlough requests will be awarded prior to Partnership Program requests.

Summary of the Partnership Program:

  • Partners must be based at the same domicile.
  • Partnerships will be awarded based on the seniority of the senior partner.
  • Line awards will be based on the seniority of the junior partner.
  • Participants must possess the same aircraft qualifications. If a specific visa is required (i.e. PRC), both partners must have the visa to be awarded the line.
  • Purser and non-purser qualified Flight Attendants can partner, however, they cannot bid a purser line.
  • Language qualified Flight Attendants can partner with a non-language or another language, however, they cannot bid a language line. Partnerships may be formed between Flight Attendants with the same language qualification.
  • Domestic and IST qualified Flight Attendants may partner, however they must bid a domestic line.
  • Partners will be compensated at their own rate of pay. Sick leave and vacation will accrue at one half of the contractual rates.
  • If a bid for Voluntary Furlough is awarded, a partnership bid for the same Flight Attendant will not be considered.

Partnership Program Bidding & Award – If Needed

September 8 Partnership Program bid period opens at 0800 Central Time.
September 26 Partnership Program bid closes at 0800 Central Time.
September 29 Partnership Program awarded by 1700 Central Time.
October 31 Partnership Program begins.

Refer to the Partnership Program for Flight Attendants package for complete details about the program including bidding information.

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