United today announced its decision to begin a new furlough with revised return dates and a need for 2,150 Flight Attendants in total on furlough status effective August 31, 2009. As defined in Section 21.A.4. of the Agreement, the Company is required to conduct a rebid of the Voluntary Furlough. If there are insufficient volunteers for furlough, Flight Attendants may bid on Partnership Flying prior to the company imposing an involuntary furlough. Without any Voluntary Furlough awards, this number would affect Flight Attendants junior to and including system seniority number 13,480 with a SW classification seniority date of June 10, 2000 based on the June 19, 2009 system seniority list. If desired, all Flight Attendants, regardless of seniority, should bid for the Voluntary Furlough by July 17, 2009 at 0800 Central Time.

Flight Attendants currently on Voluntary Furlough will be recalled to work. All Flight Attendants currently on Voluntary Furlough must respond to the recall notice within 14 days of receipt per Section 21.F. and “ACCEPT recall from voluntary furlough as United Airlines Flight Attendant.” In addition to advising United of the intention to return to work she/he must submit a bid in order to be awarded one of the new furlough periods.  

The company is sending letters to the homes of all Flight Attendants on Voluntary Furlough, Occupational Leave, Medical Leave and Special Leave to advise them of the new furlough, the Voluntary Furlough and Partnership Program bid and the recall from furlough for those Flight Attendants who do not bid or are not awarded a new furlough. 

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.

Voluntary Furlough Options

Section 21.A. of our Contract requires 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 may be placed on involuntary furlough status if there are not enough volunteers for the furlough.

Eligibility

All active Flight Attendants, including those currently on Voluntary Furlough, are eligible to bid for the new Voluntary Furlough. Flight Attendants with an inflight seniority date of June 10, 2000 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 July 17, 2009. If you are ineligible to be awarded a Voluntary Furlough due to fingerprinting issues, 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.

Items to Consider

• Management has stated line averages after the start of the furlough will increase to the 84 hour maximum and extended periods of discretionary time off such as 30-day ANP and Special Leaves may not be available.  Overall, schedule flexibility and discretionary time off will be minimized.
• 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 is 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 continues to encourage those who are able to bid for the Voluntary Furlough in an effort to avoid involuntary furloughs.

If management finds it necessary to involuntarily furlough Flight Attendants, the furlough period will begin August 31, 2009.  The recall date will be based on operational need.  Section 21.G. of our Contract governs recall procedures from involuntary furlough.

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.  If offered, the duration of the Partnership would be in increments of six months. 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.
• 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

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