JULY PAY COMPARISON CAL VS UA CONTRACTS

UAL CONTRACT
ACTUAL		99 hrs     1 min		( 99.02 x 43.73)		$4,330.14	5.A.1 page 25
TUS		4 hrs   50 min		(   4.83 x 43.73)		$211.22	8.A,B page 50,
DHCR		12 hrs  48 min		( 12.80 x 43.73)		$559.74	8.N.1,2 page 53 11.A page 93
FTCR HOLDING		3 hrs  17 min		(   3.28  x 21.87)		$71.73	8.H page 51
FTCR SICK		14 hrs 58 min		(14.97  x 43.73)		$654.64	19.A page 148
PER DIEM		302 hrs 54 min		(302.90 x  1.73)		$524.01	6.A.1 page 36
NITE		5 hrs  34 min		(    5.57  x    .25)		$1.39	5.I page 30
TOTAL						$6,352.87
CAL CONTRACT
ACTUAL		99 hrs   1 min		( 99.02 x 52.53)		$5,201.52	4. A page 4-1
TUS		3 hrs 30 min		(   3.50 x 52.53)		$183.86	4.O page 4-12,
DHCR		12 hrs 48 min		( 12.80 x 52.53)		$672.38	4.S,T page 4-14 4.D page 4-4
FTCR HOLDING		1 hr   59 min		(   1.98 x 15.00)		$29.70	4.N page 4-12
FTCR SICK		14 hrs 58 min		( 14.97 x 52.53)		$786.37	9.F page 9-3
PER DIEM		302 hrs 54 min		(302.90 x  1.95)		$590.66	7.1.a page 7-2
STARLIGHT		5 hrs 34 min		(     5.57 x    .50)		$2.78	4.D page 4-4
TOTAL						$7,467.27

Another $1,114 in lost earnings for the July 2012 pay period, thanks to the CWA-AFA’s B-scale UAL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), brings this flight attendants total lost earnings, DIRECTLY attributable to the UAL MEC and international officers’ policy decisions, since July 2011 to $20,576.  This is in comparison to the CAL CBA for EXACTLY the same type of flying, with no additional days off sacrificed or extra segments flown within published trip pairings.

With the opening of the Continental parallel bases in five hub cities next month, we invite our CAL peers to study CWA-AFA bulletin boards throughout the system for a clear illustration of how their CBA is being depicted as inferior and lacking the “protections” enjoyed by UAL flight attendants. Though the CWA labels EVERY contract they negotiate “industry-leading” the UAL MEC evidently does not feel this applies to the IAM negotiated CAL contract, despite the CAL MEC’s web site touting the “industry leading” attributes of its current collective bargaining agreement.

It is the trip and duty RIGs (ratio in guarantee) that are now being marketed by CWA-AFA management as the line in the sand, since the vaunted two-for-one rest requirement associated with exceeding eight hours of flight time in a twenty-four hour period was bargained away without a whimper under Jack Kande’s expert guidance in the last contract negotiations debacle.  So for illustrative purposes, what did the duty RIG “protections “ provide in exchange for the more than $1,100 in lost compensation for July 2012?

Since both CBA’s provide pay protection for either the greater of published flight time, or total actual time gained due to schedule irregularities, the UAL CBA generated one hour twenty minutes extra RIG pay, for a total of $58.60 at UAL CBA wages.    Holding time paid in excess of ten minutes per segment at half-pay resulted in three hours and seventeen minutes of pay or $71.73.  Contrast that with the CAL CBA’s pay of $15.00 per hour for each minute prorated in excess of thirty minutes for a total of $29.70.

Refer to the pay comparison charts above, and you will see that the RIG guarantees generated an additional $69.39 in pay “protection” in exchange for the $1,114 in total compensation available from the CAL CBA. 

By way of excuse, the UAL MEC has gone to great lengths to characterize the upcoming joint negotiations as not so much labeling one contract as superior over the other, but rather a chance to work together with the CAL and CMI MECs to fashion a new contract altogether that draws upon the best elements of all three to produce a joint contract.  This is justification on the part of the UAL MEC for needlessly protracted “negotiations” that will do nothing in the long run but produce a final joint contract that will very much resemble the current CAL CBA, and in the interim, cost UAL flight attendants their jobs.

With the pilots having reached an agreement in principle, subject to final contract language and ratification, a joint ALPA contract will pave the way for aircraft to be moved freely between subsidiaries as the Company deems necessary.  As long as the CWA-AFA continues to hamstring flight attendants while they pursue a silly agenda of continued employment for the UAL MEC, s-United attendants will lose flying at an accelerated rate.

The IAM has reached agreement with the Company to expedite negotiations for the more than thirty-five thousand employees they represent with the stated goal of achieving joint contracts for the mechanics, ramp and fleet service workers and customer service agents by mid-November.  The CW-AFA has done nothing for the flight attendant work force since winning the representation vote but position s-United flight attendants for disaster.  It is only the international and UAL MEC officers that envision a protracted negotiations period as evidenced by the 2016 amendable date of the recently ratified extension to the 1996 -2010 contract.

Without a joint contract modeled on the current CAL CBA and integrated seniority list NOW, not four years down the road, s-United attendants stand to lose far more than the thousand dollars a month shortfall the UAL MEC has decided is acceptable.  The utter disregard for the former United attendants is again made manifest by the UAL MEC’s steadfast refusal to look past their own egos and allow the CAL CBA to stand as the joint contract and then work on improvements to THAT contract in advance of its December 2014 amendable date.

Everything else is smoke and mirrors designed to distract s-United attendants from the very real job loss that is coming.

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