cyclogenesis

^^

tom911

How can you have Team United while the flight attendants are working under very different contracts? Last I read, UA management expects a new, unified contract in July, 2015. Still a while to go.

Not there yet (at least for US-AA-- not sure where HP fits in --- does the AA FA union negotiate for them?), though they are on a much faster timetable than UA ever was. They do have a binding arbitration clause for unresolved issues.

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=...&id=e7cc7f808e

united4

There would be a lot of irony here if it was mostly ex-CO FA's who took the buy out. Personally I hope the real UA FA's stick it to management and make Jeff's life that much harder. Time to stop playing games. It's quite sickening that they would furlough UA FA's, while hiring ones on the ex-CO contract, only to now want to offer buyouts to at least 1000 each.

Where are these new hire FA's being trained?

channa

Which is exactly why these buyouts are so high. I'm not sure exactly what FAs bring home, but recall they don't get paid off of 40-hour weeks like those of us in office jobs. Since they get paid by the number of hours worked, even if the wage is high, the earnings may be low because of the low number of hours worked compared to traditional full-time jobs.

So $100K for someone in that situation is very likely a LOT of money. It's very likely a multiple of their annual income.

It's very difficult to stick to your guns and make Jeff's life miserable when that kind of cash is at stake.

You'll also note that they said this is a one-time offer, and there will be no offer when the contracts are ratified. So, the next time there's a chance at another deal may be 4+ years down the road, and who knows if it will materialize and/or be as generous.

This is going to push a lot of people to snag it -- anyone who was on the fence, close to the fence, looking at the fence, or even just thinking about the fence.

DenverBrian

It's $100K gross, not net; net is probably closer to $60K after taxes, I'd guess.

bhrubin

The union wants what is best for its members--and this offer is pretty good, after all. The union also to some extent wants the airline to do well, since that also means its membership is in better position for increased pay and benefits.

United's biggest issue since the merger is the fact that so many of its union contracts have not been merged, not allowing it to realize the predicted merger savings and uniformity essential across its network. Mechanics and FAs for UA metal are not able to work on CO metal and vice-versa, and that causes headaches and bleeds money that is better invested. Those different union contracts also have caused some of the delays across the UA network, as many UA friends have shared.

I hope this action allows UA to move forward and enable it to get its merged unions on the same contracts, allowing UA to proceed as truly one airline. Also, getting rid of the more senior FAs who haven't quite adapted to the new aviation reality will hopefully improve UA's service even more. (CO's addition definitely improved FA service, in my opinion...so newer blood again will only be a further improvement IMO.)

kettle1

I guess the senior sUA FA's have not adapted to providing crap service, so they can get some new hires in to provide the new level of service - a lot worse than 10-20 years ago. This kind of "think" comes from lawyers and number crunchers. There are many good and talented FA's - young and old. There are also some that should take the "package" or continue working for "The friendly skies".

Just get it together and work as "one" airline. Thank you.

BB2220

Where does it say that they want to get rid of all sUA employees??
Can we please get over this sUA vs sCO negative mob mentality nonsense. We give the unions and management grief here for keeping it around, when people here do it more.
Most of the replacements will be furloughed FA's. The majority from the UA side, so let's quit with this Jeff is the devil stuff and grow up

bhrubin

Thank you. I couldn't agree more.

PDX973

not bad if you were planning to leave anyway

united4

Well I mean, it could be due to the fact they've furloughed UA FA's due to Jeff's actions of retiring 757-222s well before their sell by date, while not replacing these planes 1:1, therefore creating an excess number of FAs. Self-fulfilling prophecy. Laying off hard working FA's saying you have too much, yet hiring others on the "Continental" side when you yourself came from Continental and have in various instances shown a bias doesn't come off as looking good, does it?

So, if that doesn't make him the devil, what does? And until management rolls over and let's someone competent run the show that actually treats the unified work force equally and stops with the division, the rift will continue.

United flight attendants can get the name of the airline correct. Can't say the same for many of the bitter ex-Continental FA's I've dealt with.

channa

They're not going to write that. They've made disparaging comments about sUA staff, they've made offers that look like sCO contracts, and the crossovers are one-way only (sUA working under sCO rules).

Their intentions are very clear.

And make no mistake, if Jeff could get rid of every single sUA FA today, and their related contract, he would do so in a heartbeat.


FAs they furloughed in the first place, all while hiring new hires on the CO side.

Maybe they're tired of paying health benefits for the furloughed sUA FAs while they're not working. I wonder what that's costing them? $10K a year? $15K a year per furloughed employee?

Tsun

There's 15 year of seniority requirement for eligibility, and I'm pretty sure Delta won't be too eager to hire 40+ yo FAs

bearkatt

this is money well spent by jeff. better than money spent on stock buybacks. for the FA's who were already thinking of retiring, a godsend. something to get them over the hump on making that big decision. the much lower paid fa's who will come off layoff status are cheering this too. this will pay for itself in just a few years. everybody happy.

Bear96

. . . And that is the maximum amount, only for those with at least 25 years of service.