From Dear AFA:

Furlough Rebid Information

Flight Attendants currently on Voluntary Furlough are being recalled to work.  Please keep in mind that they must respond to the recall notice within 14 days of receipt per Section 21.F. of our Contract.  Furthermore, they must “ACCEPT recall from voluntary furlough.”  This is in addition to bidding for a new furlough if desired.  In order to receive confirmation that United has received your response, email voluntaryfurlough@united.com.  If for some reason you have not received your recall notice and associated paperwork to return to work, a call to the Furlough Call Center is in order.  They can be reached at 1-800-FLT-LINE option 7, then option 8.

As of today, 785 Flight Attendants have bid for the Voluntary Furlough.  Voluntary Furlough is offered and awarded in system seniority order, in lengths of 10, 20, 22 or 30 months.  Bidding opened June 23^rd and will remain open through July 17^th, 0800 Central Time.  All furloughs start on August 31, 2009.  If desired, all Flight Attendants, regardless of seniority, should bid for the Voluntary Furlough.  Even though you may be junior to the June 10, 2000 class, at the time of award there may have been sufficient movement of the line based upon Flight Attendants senior to that date bidding for the Voluntary Furlough.  This essentially moves the line down making your Voluntary Furlough award possible.  For more information on the numbers of volunteers submitted, visit the Furlough Information section on our website at www.unitedafa.org.

For those of you wondering if United will contest unemployment for Voluntary Furloughs, the answer is no.  As always, we do recommend checking with your local unemployment office for your specific unemployment benefits.  In addition, if you are 65 years of age or if you will turn 65 during the course of your Voluntary Furlough, you may chose to receive your PBGC benefit and retain your employment at United Airlines.  As long as you have a PBGC protected benefit, taking the Voluntary Furlough will have no impact on your ability to collect your PBGC benefit, maintain your employment and all of the benefits of Voluntary Furlough.

Several people have inquired about training requirements while out on Voluntary Furlough.  Last Tuesday we addressed many of those questions.  One additional one that has been raised pertains to those people who are currently on Voluntary Furlough, scheduled to attend training in July and are awarded 30 day ANP for August as well as the new Voluntary Furlough.  If you find yourself in this particular situation, you do not need to attend training in July.  We will be updating the Furlough Information section on our website at www.unitedafa.org with more furlough information and questions and answers as they arise.

The benefits of taking advantage of a Voluntary Furlough include seniority accrual and retention of medical, dental, vision and travel benefits.  Remember that management has stated that line averages will increase to the 84 hour maximum and extended periods of discretionary time off, such as 30-day ANP and Special Leaves, may not be as readily available.  Schedule flexibility and discretionary time off will be minimized.

As we have always done in prior furloughs, we are working to eliminate the potential for any Flight Attendant to be involuntarily furloughed.  We encourage everyone who can afford to volunteer for the furlough to take advantage of the opportunity to help reduce the number of Flight Attendants who potentially face an involuntary furlough.

The Voluntary Furlough may offer good opportunities for certain Members of our community, but we need to recognize the primary reason for it – to mitigate job loss. As with every challenge we face, we will confront this together and take care of each other. Let us work together to protect the jobs of our most junior Members.