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Critical Coverage Pay Increased to Time-and-a-Half

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Source: Archived Content

Date: Aug 06, 2001

Our union, the Association of Flight Attendants, today announced that it has ratified a side letter of Agreement with United Airlines concerning extra Critical Coverage pay.  From now on, if Critical Coverage is declared at your domicile and you are forced to fly a trip, you will be paid time and half.  You will also receive time and a half pay if you decide to pick up a trip within the Critical Coverage period.

Friday's DEAR-AFA tape has the remainder of the details:

This will have a series of positive effects. It will make critical coverage more expensive to the company, thus they will be less prone to thinking of it as just some scheduling tool. With line holders picking up trips, it will be more likely that Critical Coverage will be reduced, and possibly even cancelled. 

However, under this side letter of agreement, if you pick up a trip during the allotted time period and the coverage is cancelled, you still get the time and a half pay. This approach provides a mutual benefit to both the union members and the company. United can dispatch the trips, and flight attendants can reap a financial reward. Anyone who was around for last summers declarations of Critical Coverage in May and then August realizes what a dictatorial disruption this has been in the past. Right now, United is cutting flying and offering more time off, so we probably won't be seeing Critical Coverage anytime soon. But this is the airline industry, and that could change in a heartbeat. This side letter of agreement will be placed in your flight attendant mailbox.

This is also promising news for the new 'redesign' philosophy that's trying to occur within UAL Onboard Service.  Recognizing that Critical Coverage creates far more strain on our personal lives (read: utterly wreaks havoc) than normal operations, and not just offering BS atypical lip service, but actually paying us time and a half for this demand, is a nice step forward on United's part.  That, and also some well done negotiating efforts on the part of the AFA Master Executive Council.

Either way, there's something nice about knowing you will be compensated extra for having to make that Critical Coverage sacrifice.  This has been long overdue.

Good job United/AFA, keep it up! 

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