Supervisor praises rise in disciplinary actions vs flight attendants

(Crain's Chicago Business) — A United Airlines supervisor’s e-mail congratulating fellow supervisors on a marked increase this year in disciplinary write-ups of Chicago-based flight attendants has sparked a labor-relations uproar after the e-mail inadvertently was sent to the flight attendants themselves.

Greg Davidowitch, the head of United’s flight attendants’ union, is calling the e-mail evidence of an orchestrated campaign by management to intimidate flight attendants, who like other United employees have suffered through two years’ worth of salary and benefit concessions as the airline has worked to emerge from bankruptcy. He says the union’s lawyers are reviewing possible legal action.

The e-mail in question was written Dec. 14 and noted a big increase in letters of charge—disciplinary notices leading to administrative hearings that can result in termination or less drastic penalties. “This morning, we issued the 400th LOC and yet, we have two more weeks before the year is over,” the e-mail said. “In 2004, we only reached 251 and this latest ‘milestone’ truly reflects everyone’s focus and hard work. Just wanted to let you know!”

That led Mr. Davidowitch on Dec. 16 to send a letter to [AFA] members, saying, “We have confirmation after years of denial by management that United Airlines measures the performance of flight attendant supervisors by the number of disciplinary letters of charge they issue. … The image of managers and supervisors ‘high-fiving’ each other over every new letter of charge is despicable.”

He says the e-mail is evidence of a disciplinary quota system. “Anyone disciplined may now reasonably suspect they are the victim of the supervisor’s drive to meet disciplinary target numbers,” he writes.

He adds in an interview: “People are angry at the sacrifices they’ve had to make in order to be treated in this manner.”

A United spokeswoman says the numbers in the e-mail are accurate, but she denies they reflect any orchestrated attempt to intimidate workers.

“We do not have, nor would we allow, disciplinary quotas,” she says.

“The e-mail itself was clearly inappropriate,” she says, adding that unspecified action has been taken against the person who wrote it. “But the conclusion (the union is) drawing is equally unjustified.”

She declines to say whether disciplinary citations against flight attendants have increased for United as a whole rather than just the Chicago group. But she does say the disciplinary-letter increase in Chicago appears to be due largely to an uptick in employees’ failure to supply justification for extended leaves of absence.