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On 8/25/2002 4:43:48 PM
In PHL,Dave repeatedly stated that No U money used for approved F/A vol furlough when asked by fleet/ramp employee. ......[snip]
While I was too junior to benefit from the F/A voluntary furlough program (I got an Involuntary Furlough), I have paid close attention to it. It's not entirely accurate to describe it as a No Cost item, though it is a pretty Low Cost item. The F/A voluntary furlough has only two cost items (other than administrative costs of some unknown amount). F/A's on the voluntary furlough continue health bene's for up to 2 years (the Vol. Furloughs can be 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 or 36 months long and can be extended 90 days prior to end of a vol. furlough). The company also agreed not to challenge unemployment claims filed by F/A's on Vol. Furloughs.
The costs, however are probably balanced out by the number of higher seniority (higher pay scale) F?A's who took the Vol. Furloughs (though I don't have any stats on that).
Originally, 2118 F/A's did take Vol. Furloughs. Another 914 were Involuntarily Furloughed (including the probationary F/A's who were originally terminated and later reinstated on the Recall List). 50 Invol Furloughs have been called back to LGA, though the company had to go through 125 Invol Furloughees to get enough takers for the LGA recall. As for the Vol. Furloughs, the majority of the 1000+ who took the original 6 mo. VF extended. Does anyone know how many are coming back at the end of the 12 month? I suspect a fair number have extended at the end of this one as well.
I know this is more than you were asking about but thought the additional info might be interesting and useful.
Good luck, CWA and IAM members!
-Airlineorphan