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United announced yesterday that S-UA flight attendants, subject to the involuntary furlough in April 2014, will be eligible to apply for new-hire positions with S-CO and retain their prior seniority credit for purposes of pay rate and vacation accrual beginning with their first day of employment (April 1, 2014) under the S-CO AFA collective bargaining agreement.

This seniority agreement was signed on January 22 and you can read the full text of the agreement right here.

In addition, Sam Risoli, Senior Vice President, Inflight Services, sent an email (I assume to all employees but I am not sure – as I am only going by the one I received in my inbox) where he also stated:

S-UA flight attendants who are subject to involuntary furlough will be given an opportunity to express an interest in accepting employment with the S-CO flight attendant work group. Individuals must be in good standing at S-UA; be ready, willing and able to perform flight attendant duties as of April 1, 2014; and successfully complete any remaining aircraft qualification training. In addition, there will be a transitional orientation program and any applicable requalification training. These flight attendants will be paid the greater of the guarantee/flight pay earned under the S-CO collective agreement or an amount equivalent to the furlough pay due under the S-UA AFA collective agreement. 
 
S-UA flight attendants subject to involuntary furlough will retain recall rights and entitlements at S-UA, whether they choose to work at S-CO or remain on furlough. We will provide additional information soon.

This is one of the most unprecedented and surprise announcements I have ever seen at United.

In reading the above, there is no doubt that this alternative to unemployment for our flying partners (who were going to be involuntarily furloughed on April 1.) is a wonderful thing. As I said, it is unprecedented and I have never seen United offer anything like this, in such a manner, during the past 17 years I have been with United. This is a big deal.

Concerns About This Agreement

I think there is a lot more going on behind the scenes. While it is extremely difficult not to be anything but thrilled and happy for our flying partners who were going to be involuntarily furloughed, I do have some concerns based on some of the public communication I saw between yesterday and today.

For all I know, some of the questions below have already been addressed in subsequent communications to the furloughed flight attendants. Nevertheless, here is my own personal list of concerns:

Languge Used In Risoli Letter

I like Sam Risoli. I spoke with him several times when we had some conversations about reserve preferencing automation back in Washington DC a few years ago. He is a very likable guy that has a huge amount of responsibility to deal with. I think United is lucky to have him.