Source: Our Contract

The JNC completed another mediation session in Chicago.

Over the last three days the JNC and a large contingent of Company personnel discussed and bargained over Flight Attendant positions requiring special qualifications, scheduling language addressing a single base operation, seniority issues regarding Flight Attendants in management or non-flying positions, and the insurance and retirement provisions of a joint Contract.

Flight Attendants who have special qualifications are those who are language qualified and those who will fill the Flight Service Leader (FSL) position.  Flight Service Leader will be the new title for those Flight Attendants who are currently ISMs or Pursers to certain mostly international destinations.  United wants to greatly increase the number of LQ positions on our flights, and the JNC is opposed to this proposal.  Throughout these negotiations, United has said they want to develop a brand new leadership positon on our flights, but so far – they have not described anything that looks or feels any different than what ISMs and Pursers do today, other than a new name.

We have traded numerous drafts of Contract language addressing Flight Attendant scheduling, and made some modifications to already agreed to language that addresses having a single base operation.  For the most part all of the smaller details of the scheduling sections have been completed and we are left with the larger core issues, like United’s desire to alter the reassignment rules and duty day maximums, to name just two.

At the beginning of the week, we devoted a lot of time to reviewing United’s proposal on Flight Attendant benefits. Clearly insurance and retirement benefits are very important to all Flight Attendants. Over the course of these negotiations, the JNC has spent a lot of time trying to blend provisions of our Contracts into a joint one.  Our work on benefits is quite different in that United would like all Flight Attendants to be covered by a benefit package that was originally developed by the Company and the pilots. United has determined that this pilot centric benefit package will be the benefit package for all United employees and they would like to simply impose it on us.  While the provisions of this benefit package may suit the United pilots well, it was not developed with the diverse and varied needs of our membership in mind.  When it comes to important benefits like medical and dental insurance, 401(k) plans, pension plans, disability and life insurance; the JNC does not share the Company’s view that “one size fits all.”

We have now been in mediation for six months, and after completing our work this week, all sections of a future joint Contract have now been passed between the parties.  We have done some good work towards resolving as many small issues as possible, and what is left are provisions dealing with core Contract issues that are important to both Flight Attendants and United, and of course the Economic issues – like what compensation will be. 

The JNC anticipates bargaining will move from talking about small isolated issues to discussions about the Contract as a complete package, and we are preparing a complete comprehensive Contract proposal to present to United the week of April 18.