From: UAL MEC Communications
To: ualmec-furloughs
Sent: Sat, Aug 20, 2011 11:18 am
Subject: Update on Job Opportunities at Continental

To all furloughees,

With the posting of the Continental System Bid on 14 July 2011, which indicated that there would be up to 200 unfilled vacancies, the wheels were set in motion to provide job opportunities to United Furloughees at Continental under the terms of Section 7-B of the Merger Transition and Process Letter of Agreement. Initial “courtesy” calls started going out last Friday, 12 August 2011, from WHQFO Furlough Coordinators, Ted McCaughan and Andy Chen to gauge interest in these opportunities and to provide information on the process. Actual offers were mailed this week to the 100 most senior pilots on the furlough list.

The company plans to fill 178 positions at subsidiary CAL (Scal) under their current plan. The unfilled vacancies are as follows:

EWR 756 FO 33
EWR 737 FO 38
GUM 737 FO 8
IAH 737 FO 99

Classes are planned to start on 4 October 2011 with a new class starting every other week after that. The 2011 classes will have 12 pilots each and starting with the first class in 2012 the classes will then have 16 pilots each until the 178 vacancies are filled or further vacancies are created from another vacancy bid at sCAL. The first class will consist of all 8 GUM 737 slots and 4 domestic slots. The remaining classes will have a mixture of IAH and EWR slots, which will be awarded based on class seniority.

GUM
As was announced via e-mail by Ted McCaughan, WHQFO Furlough Coordinator, last Friday the company began making calls and establishing a GUM volunteer list or “opt in” list to fill vacancies in GUM. These 8 initial GUM vacancies to be filled under the terms of the Merger Transition and Process Agreement will be filled using this volunteer process. The success and efficiency of this method will determine whether or not future GUM vacancies will be filled in this manner. Letters explaining the GUM volunteer process will be sent out to the top 400 furloughees initially, if the initial 8 slots in GUM are not filled more letters will be sent out. Those of you that receive this invitation that would be interested in accepting a position with sCAL flying out of GUM please read the company provided information carefully, and familiarize yourself with the CAL GUM LOA as well as provisions that apply to reserves in the CAL CBA which is available on the UAL MEC website on the “Jobs” page of the Furlough pull down in order to make an informed decision.

The Company’s Process

Furloughed pilots will receive an official offer via FedEx or certified mail at their address on file with United Airlines. The offer will have a “reply by” date and information on how to reply, the process, and forms for responding, the active and passive process of bypassing and active process of coming off bypass, etc. The options will be to accept, decline (bypass), or in the case of a pilot on active military orders, defer. If a pilot does not reply by the “reply by” date they will be considered as decline (bypass). Pilots accepting an offer will be assigned to classes in seniority order and initial domestic assignments offered in each class will be awarded by class seniority.

Furloughed pilots will also receive a mailing for the GUM volunteer list. This mailing will also have a “reply by” date and will include information about the process to volunteer, GUM flying and operations, and how GUM slots will be awarded to the pilots who volunteer. Failure to respond by the “reply by” date on this letter will not be considered as a declined offer (and therefore will not be considered a bypass), however, a pilot who volunteers and is then offered a class date for a GUM position and subsequently declines that class offer will be viewed as having quit from sCAL and will not be offered any other positions at sCAL under this agreement.

FAQs

As many of you now know we have provided an FAQ concerning the jobs at sCAL on the MEC website under the “Furlough” pull down on the “Jobs” page. Please take a moment to reference this information. I will update the answers as needed and will be adding future questions or stand-alone FAQs as necessary.

Persistent questions:

Will accepting or declining a job offer at sCAL affect my ISL position?
Answer: No. Accepting or declining a job offer at sCAL will not change or affect your position on the ISL. For the SLI process you are a United pilot.

The Merger Transition and Process Agreement has language that indicates that the United pay rate can be terminated on January 1, 2012. Can my United pay rate revert to first year pay at sCAL?
Answer: No. The language in Section 13-D Effect of Termination which applies to the termination of being paid at your United pay rate would only apply if there were a complete termination of the agreement. This could only be done by agreement between the parties - the company and ALPA (both the UAL MEC and the CAL MEC). The intention of this language was to address the possibility of furloughed pilots hired at the other airline and the merger not closing, which is moot since the merger closed last fall.

Where am I on the Furlough List?
Answer: I am happy to look up your position on the list for you. For those that want to figure it out on their own, the junior man on property is seniority number 6442, however in your calculations you must take into consideration that there are 209 pilots senior to the junior man on property that are on furlough status (voluntarily).

New question:

What happens if I decline an offer in this first round?
Answer: If you decline an offer or simply do not respond by the “reply by” date you will have used up your one bypass and will now be on the bypass list. Instructions on how to come off of bypass to accept a future offer will be included in the mailing from the company. If you come off of bypass and decline a second offer you will not be offered any other positions under this agreement. Similarly if you accept the initial offer and then back out of the class date you will not be offered further opportunities at sCAL under this agreement.

What happens if I do not volunteer for a GUM position in this first round?
Answer: If you do not volunteer for a GUM position, but have accepted a regular offer you may have to wait until a later class if the class you normally would have filled has GUM slots (which may be filled by volunteers junior to you). Conversely, if you are a more junior pilot on the list it may be some time before a domestic offer is presented to you, depending on how many GUM letters the company sends out, and volunteering for a GUM position may allow you to go to sCAL much sooner.

While the company plans to fill 178 positions, this number is not guaranteed. It is possible that they could need more pilots and thus offer more opportunities at a later date, and conversely we have been told it is not unprecedented for them to stop short of their planned number. Therefore, there is a risk in bypassing or in not accepting a GUM position. Please consider these risks in making your decision.

I know and understand that many of you are very anxious to know what the rate of acceptance and bypass is for these job opportunities. As the process goes forward and we are provided further information from the company we will communicate this to you as soon as possible. Until then, if you are at all interested in flying on the sCAL side under this agreement, please avail yourself of the FAQs and CAL CBA. You may also contact me by e-mail or phone with any questions or concerns that you may have about these job opportunities and/or the company’s hiring process.

Fraternally,

UAL MEC Furlough Coordinator