United and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) are pleased to announce that we have reached a settlement to AFA’s grievance related to the allocation of B787 aircraft.
United investigated AFA’s grievance and discovered that the B787 aircraft delivered in July 2015, tail number 956, was erroneously assigned to be flown by subsidiary Continental Flight Attendants. Under the terms of the settlement, this aircraft will be reassigned to be flown by subsidiary United Flight Attendants effective at the schedule change during the June flying month. In addition, in recognition of the erroneous assignment of the aircraft, United will make a payment of damages, to be distributed to subsidiary United Flight Attendants. We expect the individual payments to be reflected on their May 16thpaychecks.
“The aircraft order book and resultant allocation of aircraft is complex, and in this case, we made a mistake. We are committed to correcting our error as quickly as possible. ” said Doug McKeen, Senior Vice President of Labor Relations. “We are glad that we were able to work together with AFA to successfully resolve this issue.”
“AFA and the company worked expeditiously to correct the mistake in the assignment of the 787 aircraft. We believe the agreement that we’ve reached will compensate Flight Attendants for the impact of the error on the entire system,” said Ken Diaz, AFA United MEC President. This resolution is necessary in order to move forward in building a new United Airlines based on a foundation of trust and transparency.”
In the spirit of working together to ensure that future additions to the United fleet are properly designated, United will be meeting monthly with representatives of the Flight Attendant groups to discuss upcoming changes to the fleet.
United/AFA Boeing 787 Settlement Q&A
MEC 1-16 Settlement
Background
- In August 2015, United AFA raised concerns over the allocation of new aircraft deliveries
- MEC Grievance 1-16 was filed to ensure new deliveries of aircraft are allocated in accordance with the Expedited Mediation Protocol and Related Agreements
- The Grievance is not about taking away flying from any other subsidiary – it is to ensure aircraft were being delivered to and flown by the correct subsidiary
- The United MEC approached AFA General Counsel to request outside assistance in tracking and identifying the aircraft orders as well as legal assistance to pursue resolution of the dispute.
- As a result of our Grievance, the Company confirmed a 787-9 that began service in August 2015, as well as 2 more 787-9s which are to be delivered in June 2016, are from a s-UA order.
Settlement – Aircraft in Service Dates
- To resolve the Grievance and provide relief, United AFA leadership and United management have reached a Settlement.
- The Settlement provides the one 787-9 now on the property will begin operating with pre-merger UA Flight Attendants in June 2016, and the two remaining 787-9s delivered in mid to late July will also be operating with pre-merger UA Flight Attendants upon commencement of service (expected in August).
Settlement – Payment & Distribution of Damages
- The Settlement provides the establishment of the “Flight Attendant Settlement Fund” and includes Three Million Dollars, representing all lost wages, back pay, benefits and other damages. The Company will pay pre-merger UA Flight Attendants who worked any period of time between August 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 and who are on the System Seniority List as of March 31, 2016.
- As part of the May 16, 2016 pay advice, the fund will be dispersed to pre-merger UA Flight Attendants as qualifying wages for the purposes of 401(k) and Profit Sharing. The fund will be divided among eligible Flight Attendants in proportion to the amount of their earnings over the period from August 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 as a percentage of the total wages paid during that same time period.
Other Benefits of the Settlement
- To ensure all future aircraft deliveries are in accordance with the Expedited Mediation Protocol and Related Agreements, the Company has agreed to monthly meetings between Management and each subsidiary’s Union Leadership to review upcoming deliveries.
- This Settlement reinforces the strength of our Contract, our Scope language and the Expedited Mediation Protocol and Related Agreements.
- This Settlement ensures future aircraft deliveries are compliant and assigned to the appropriate subsidiary.
- This Settlement provides the 787-9 currently on the property is assigned to pre-merger UA Flight Attendants as soon as is possible (June 2016) while minimizing the disruption to the operation and cancellations which would have a negative impact on our Customers.
- Once the 787-9 currently on the property is assigned to pre-merger UA in June, we expect it to be assigned domestic flying. When the additional 2 787-9s begin service this summer, we expect these aircraft to be assigned international flying. The Company will decide the routes to which these aircraft will be assigned.
