From: ourcontract.org

November 25, 2015 

This update is the first in a series to show you the current status of proposals between AFA and United Airlines management.

The bulk of our Contracts deal with Scheduling, and all these provisions, whether they address Hours of Service, Legalities, Bidding, Trading or Reserve, to name a few, are critical to our work and work lives.  For well over a year, we have told you about the work being done by the Scheduling Subcommittee.  The subcommittee was made up of Flight Attendants from all three subsidiaries, JNC members and Company representatives, and they went through the scheduling provisions and identified interests, developed options and in some cases arrived at jointly agreed to recommendations on what our future Contract should look like.  Since July the JNC has taken that work; completed open areas and refined all of it into proposals we believe address Flight Attendant concerns and interests.  It is important to understand the proposals outlined below are not our starting point.  These proposals are the result of over a year of discussion, compromise and negotiations between the parties in the NMB’s Facilitated Problem Solving process.

The fact of the matter is while the CAL and CMI Contracts are very similar, they are both distinctly different from the UAL Contract.  This was not a matter of choosing one Contract over another, or one section over another.  It has taken a lot of effort by everyone on the JNC to find a way to blend our Contracts into one, recognizing that merger negotiations throughout the industry are based on the contracts included in the merger.  The bullet points that follow demonstrate the current status of negotiations and will allow you to compare our proposals with United management’s current positions.

• Minimum Pay and Credit
• Scheduling
• Reserve

All of us on the JNC caution you against making snap judgments about what you read.  These are proposals, and we are showing them to you because Flight Attendants have asked for more detailed information about what is happening at the bargaining table.  There will be aspects of our proposals that look familiar to some, and other parts that will look vastly different from what you might currently know.  This is the nature of a negotiation that seeks to merge separate Contracts into a new joint one.  We’ll say it again:  This process has never been about choosing one Contract over another.  It has always been about bringing parts of three different Contracts together to create a new successor Contract for the fully merged airline.

As a general rule the Scheduling provisions attempt to blend features of all Contracts. We have incorporated many provisions from the UAL Contract on RIGS and duty limitations. We have built Trip Trading and Reassignment language around current CAL Contract provisions, combined with UAL protections on the assignment of flying.

Merger negotiations are different from regular negotiations where each party provides a list of desired changes. This process requires us to combine current contracts, which most certainly means change for everyone. However, the Company must respect the interests of Flight Attendants and work with us to reach agreement on a combined contract based on protections in place today. This is how successful merger negotiations work.

Some have already begun to say they could “never vote” for this or that, and at the end of the day that might be true.  However, when the time comes to vote on accepting a Tentative Agreement or not, all of us will be voting on a complete Contract, and these proposals certainly do not show any of us what a final Contract will look like. At the same time, membership engagement is critical. The JNC and the joint MECs need you to stand with us.  Management needs to see your determination and hear your outrage at the glacial pace of negotiations.  Your demands for an industry leading joint Contract are not outrageous or unwarranted; in fact they are critical to our success.  We can only move forward with your involvement because it is our collective voices that will create the change at the negotiating table and show management it needs to meet our interests.

The charts that follow may be specific to scheduling and pay protections, and future updates will focus on other Contract sections and provisions, however the JNC understands that the entire Contract must represent an overall economic step forward for all Flight Attendants. We are not going to pay for this merger. Flight Attendants need to benefit from this merger, just like every other United Airlines employee. Every day we go to work we contribute to the profits of our airline, and we expect to share in the profits as well. That has always been the goal of these negotiations, and it is long past time that we have an agreement.

Stay informed and engaged. Our solidarity will lead to our success. Stronger together, better together.

In Solidarity,

AFA Joint Negotiating Committee for United Flight Attendants