The IAM has been receiving many questions from United Flight Attendants. Below we answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
1. What type of insurance options will be available if the IAM is elected?
Your medical options would not change as a result of the IAM being elected. The IAM will represent over 55,000 United Airlines employees (75% of the company) following representation elections. We will have the unique leverage to negotiate additional health insurance options and secure lower rates that will be passed on to our members.
2. How many hours a month do I need to fly under the Continental contract in order to maintain my medical insurance?
Answer Updated 6/11/2011: As long as you do not drop your flight time to zero, you will maintain your company insurance benefits.
3. I am worried that I am going to be furloughed since the New United will have too many Flight Attendants.
The new United will need more active Flight Attendants, not fewer. With higher crewstaffing levels and additional aircraft deliveries scheduled, Continental has indicated that it needs an additional 900 Flight Attendants by mid-2012.
As the combined company continues to take delivery of new aircraft and add international routes, and United Flight Attendants gain the scheduling flexibility that Continental Flight Attendants have, we anticipate further growth in the Flight Attendant ranks.
There are currently no Continental or Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants on furlough.
4. Does the IAM have a voluntary furlough program in its contract?
Yes. The Continental-IAM agreement requires that voluntary furloughs, called COLA, for Company Offered Leave of Absence, must be offered if the Company is overstaffed and needs to reduce the number of active Flight Attendants. A COLA is similar to voluntary furloughs at United. These leaves of absence allow Flight Attendants to continue receiving the same medical benefits and system-wide travel benefits as active employees. Continental Flight Attendants retain and continue to accrue seniority for all purposes while on COLA.
Involuntary furloughs are prohibited by the IAM contract. Unlike at United, if Continental does not get enough Flight Attendants to volunteer for COLA, they cannot force a Flight Attendant onto furlough status. At United, involuntary furloughed Flight Attendants stop accruing seniority.
All Continental COLA/voluntary furlough Flight Attendants have been recalled to work as of June 1, 2011.
5. I am interested in coming to work at Continental as part of cross-hiring. How would that work?There is no proposal in place at this time. The IAM has advised the Company that any proposal which provides for cross-over hiring must include the following:
1. That employment would be offered on a purely voluntary basis.
2. No Flight Attendant’s seniority, at any of three airlines, would be modified as a result of cross-over hiring to give them an advantage or disadvantage when the three seniority lists are merged. Seniority will still be merged using a Flight Attendant’s current date of hire (as used for bidding purposes) on their pre-merger seniority list.
Any agreement that modifies or changes the current IAM-Continental contract will be subject to membership ratification
6. I am interested in cross-over hiring, but I only want to work at Continental until my furlough ends.
The IAM’s position is that anyone who avails themselves to a cross-over hiring program will not lose any of their rights as a United Flight Attendant, including the right to return to work at United on his or her current return to work date.
7. I lost my pension during the bankruptcy. Can the IAM get a pension for United Flight Attendants?Yes, the IAM believes that all Flight Attendants at the new United should have a pension plan. Negotiating retirement security for its members has always been a priority for the IAM. Your pre-bankruptcy pension plan is now in the hands of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and that specific plan cannot be restored. Continental Flight Attendants participate in a company-sponsored pension plan and have a back-up plan, the IAM National Pension Plan, negotiated as part of their contract.
Only the IAM can offer its members various options to choose from to ensure they have a financially secure retirement. Once the IAM becomes your union, all Flight Attendants will be able to vote between all available options to determine what the combined group prefers, be it a 401(k) plan only, participation in the IAM National Pension Plan, Continental’s current plan, or remaining with their current retirement options.
There are no CWA-AFA Flight Attendants currently earning pension benefits at any carrier. The IAM made sure our members at United Airlines, US Airways, Northwest Airlines and Aloha Airlines who lost their company-sponsored pensions in bankruptcy had a replacement plan in place before those carriers exited bankruptcy.
Our Continental Flight Attendants have an automatic back-up pension plan, and United Airlines IAM members and Continental Micronesia Flight Attendants already participate in the IAM National Pension Plan.
The IAM is the ONLY union to successfully negotiate a guaranteed, government-insured pension plan for airline employees in decades. We are the only option Flight Attendants have for a secure retirement.
