In This MEC E-Line Issue
10/28/09
TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT
This morning US Airways announced plans to change the way the
Company does business. Unfortunately the change will be painful
for US Airways employees.
The Company has decided in today's economic environment, it must
retrench, and deploy assets into the core of the system.
According to the Company, the core is the four major hubs - PHL,
CLT, DCA and PHX. The Company believes the airline is once again
a hub and spoke airline and will redirect efforts to maximize
revenue based on a hub and spoke model.
As a result of the new Company plan, the BOS, LGA, and LAS crew
domiciles will close in 2010. According to the Company, those
domiciles have a cost factor and operational deficiencies that
mandate their closure. As a result, Flight Attendant and Pilots
will be uprooted from their homes and working domiciles.
Obviously, domicile closures result in tremendous hardships for
our members in all domiciles. The AFA will work strenuously to
mitigate the effects associated with the new Company plan.
In accordance with contractual and Transition Agreement
provisions, the AFA was provided with financial details to
justify the domicile closures. In order to justify the domicile
closures AFA economic analysts will review the Company's data
line by line- dollar for dollar. If the analysis leads the AFA
to believe otherwise we will take all the steps necessary to
prevent the domicile closures.
The Company plan will result in a loss of almost 1000 jobs
system wide. The job losses include a reduction of 130 East
Flight Attendants and 20 West Flight Attendants. With respect to
Flight Attendants, the Company intends to follow both Collective
Bargaining Agreements provisions regarding a "reduction in
force". Those provisions do not start with an involuntary
furlough. The contractual provisions outline a Voluntary
Furlough and Voluntary Separation prior to an Involuntary
Furlough. In addition, the Union will insist on a buy-out option
for Flight Attendants. More details will follow regarding
potential furlough programs.
In summary, the Company's new plan includes the following:
-- Closure of the LGA and LAS domiciles effective 1/31/2010
-- Closure of the BOS domicile effective 5/2/2010
-- Reduction in BOS Caribbean flying effective with the domicile
closure
-- Reduction of Transatlantic operations from the PHL domicile-
the elimination of service to Milan, Stockholm and Shannon. The
Company had previously announced the elimination of service from
PHL to Birmingham and London Gatwick
-- Convert PHL-LRH from 757 to A330-200 equipment
-- Convert ZRH and BRU service from seasonal to year round
service
-- Continue to operate the US Airways Shuttle
-- Maintain the remaining E-190 fleet to support off-peak
Shuttle flying and additional LGA and BOS service to other non
shuttle destinations
-- Return the China route authority to the government
The Company's plan will lead to displacements and base
realignments. The Company informed the Union of potential
changes, however specific numbers are not available at this
time.
The AFA remains committed to providing a viable workplace for
our members and as such will scrutinize all of the Company's
decisions in the finest detail.
Thank you,
Mike Flores, President
The US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA-CWA
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AFA US Airways Website