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PRO STATEMENT
On Monday, Nov. 12th, by a vote of 12-3, the UAL MEC accepted the Tentative United Pilot Agreement and sent it to the pilot group for membership ratification.
The MEC endorsement of this TA was the result of your MEC working diligently on your behalf. By voting Yes on this TA, as we recommend, you will put us on the path to merging into one MEC with one voice; a necessary step in the pursuit of all of our future goals.
Upon membership ratification of this agreement, the clock will be allowed to continue toward obtaining one seniority list and combining into one MEC. These are extremely important milestones that must be concluded before any of us can fully realize our career potential at this airline.
United MEC policy allows the minority voters to request that Pro and Con statements be sent to the pilot group. This letter constitutes the Pro Statement, and reflects the position of the majority of the MEC. After your thorough consideration, we believe you will come to the same conclusion as the 12 status reps that voted in favor of this TA.
We have heard your voice through LEC meetings, personal encounters and surveys. Scope, Pay and Retro were your big ticket items. We also heard you state loud and clear that you were tired of not getting paid when the company flies you into days off or adjusts your schedules with or without your permission. This TA addresses those conditions and has made additional gains, but we accept the fact that no contract is perfect.
Never before have the pilots of two large and viable carriers with distinct cultures and contracts sought to combine while at the same time negotiating with a new management for a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement under the auspices of the National Mediation Board.

SCOPE
Perhaps the most important gains found in the TA lie in the area of Scope. We firmly believe that the JNC accomplished the primary objective of Scope by
protecting and growing quality jobs at the mainline while reducing the overall UAX footprint, which in the end will reduce the amount of outsourced jobs. International Scope now requires metal in the market and has eliminated the possibility of Joint Ventures such as Aer Lingus. Some of the harshest critics at the MEC agree this is Industry Leading.
Highlights of Scope are the tying of a max percentage of UAX block hours to mainline single aisle block hours. If the company wants to expand its fleet of 70/76 seat aircraft beyond a certain fleet size, it must correspondingly purchase Small Narrowbody Aircraft specifically designated by type in the TA while reducing the percentage of UAX block hours. If fully exercised, this provision means that 700-800 more mainline pilots getting paid rates agreed upon in the TA will fly these aircraft. Even if the company chooses not to increase 76 seat aircraft in order to avoid taking delivery of new mainline aircraft, a hard cap remains in place and a block hour limit, more stringent than current contract, attaches immediately. Furthermore, limiting leg length, reducing the percentage of Hub to Hub flying, and requiring that UAX flights either enter or leave a hub or a named market ensures that UAX becomes a true feeder operation instead of our competition.

PAY
The JNC also achieved its goal with Section 3, Pay. Although we trail Delta pay tables initially, one must factor in other improvements such as benefits, Scope and work rules.
Analysis conducted by the ALPA Economic & Financial Advisors shows that our total contract value either meets or exceeds Delta’s every year beginning in 2014 and, in the end, delivers industry-leading compensation overall.
When additional comparisons are made to Delta including our higher B/C fund contributions, higher percentage of pre-tax earnings contributed to the profit sharing pool for 2013, industry leading Minimum 5 Hours (avg.) per calendar day duty rig (the most powerful gain in work rules), industry leading vacation accrual rate, higher line guarantee and more opportunities for Premium/Add pay; you can see why we barely trail initially, and a short year later, pass Delta in overall contract value.
A quick analysis of the pay rates and B/C fund contributions contained within this agreement reveals that on average (80 hours) our pilots will enjoy pay and B/C fund increases averaging from $40,000/yr. to $71,000/yr. over the next four years. Most pilots will exceed these averages when you factor in duty rigs, premium pay and add pay.
Many pilots, like some on the CAL side, are only viewing Section 3 in terms of pay rates. When taking a narrow view instead of looking at all of the factors affecting compensation, it is easy to see why some feel they are not receiving their fair share of the pie. Direct compensation is just one slice of the pie, and work rules will add substantial quality of life and real compensatory value to your lives. A comparison of trips flown today with those flown under the proposed duty rigs and minimum pay rules will vet out this analysis. Work rules create real and tangible value and for the first time in decades we all can enjoy Industry Leading work rules that add this value.

RETRO PAY
“100% Retro Pay” and “Just one more day of Retro Pay” were the demands of both pilot groups. This item alone was one of the toughest fought items of the negotiations. Your JNC fought long and hard over Retro Pay with a company that did not want to give the pilots anything, and to this day refuses to call it Retro Pay. Despite the semantics war of Lump Sum vs. Retro Pay we will deliver the $400 Million amount in a fashion consistent with Retro Pay definitions. While we did not achieve 100% retro pay, it nevertheless is a milestone event in airline contract negotiations. The $400 million sum attained is 4 times more than any carrier has ever achieved outside of a bankruptcy process.

WORK RULES
Work rules in this contract represent your desires for getting paid when the company flies you into days off or adjusts your schedule, with or without your permission. Take, for example, being flown into a day off. Not only will you get Add Pay (which is always paid even if not reaching min guarantee), you also get Min 5 Hours for the extra day, and you get your day off restored. These and other rules do not now automatically give the company permission to manipulate your
schedule for cash. In many of these instances, they do this today for free. Our new work rule section also makes us Part 117 compliant a year before the rules must officially be followed by the industry. The bottom line is most of our current work rules were retained in the TA and some provisions have been improved.
Highlights of our work rules, which are industry leading, begin with a 5 hours per calendar day duty rig now the minimum standard. That means no more 3-day, 10-hour trips and no more 12-day-off, 70-hour lines. We now receive international override and international per diem for flights to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, and all other Global flights. During the contract period we will be regaining trip rigs of 1 to 3.5. We will also gain protection for segment-by-segment flight overages. No longer will credit gained for a flight that exceeded schedule be lost on a subsequent leg that was under schedule. This feature alone is projected to add 2 hours per month to every pilot’s credit time. This equates to a 2% or greater hourly pay raise. Features such as Golden Days, min/max credit ranges in LPA to prevent positive and negative forcing of schedules, and better ability to trip trade and pick up flying when desired also improve this section. The requirement to be in a downtown hotel with a greater than 14-hour layover is a huge improvement sought by many of our pilots. We also retain the right to “walk”.

R&I / SAFETY
Other gains, with regard to Retirement and Insurance and to Safety, have been institutionalized into the contract for the first time. The Retirement and Insurance section contains several improvements for the United Pilots. In addition to maintaining our industry leading 16% employer contribution to our B/C funds, we now get the option to fund a Roth IRA. We can voluntarily convert unused vacation and place its value tax deferred into our PRAP or RHA VEBA. In the case of the VEBA, it remains untaxed at withdrawal. The new Long Term Disability plan provides a broader safety net for pilots who are experiencing unexpected life and career altering illnesses and injuries. Gone, for example, is the onerous qualifying period for PDI that potentially sent a pilot to the brink of financial collapse before obtaining the PDI benefit. Your status going forward is simply determined by your ability to maintain an Airmen’s Medical Certificate. Additionally, paid benefits are now tax free, there are fewer offsets, and the barriers to enter/exit and re-enter the plan are significantly reduced.
In addition to Safety programs being institutionalized in our contract, we made gains to protect pilots. We have increased FOQA protections that include any data transmitted for the purpose of recording or collecting data, or data recorded or collected by use of a Data Recorder, CVR or any other recording device on an aircraft or flight simulator that monitors pilot, aircraft component, or aircraft performance. Information so restricted shall also include tapes, transcripts, reports, papers, memos, statements, studies, charts, graphs, or any other description, analysis or compilation of data/information collected by any such equipment or Gatekeeper interview. We will work with ALPA National and the NTSB to ensure this becomes an international standard also.

VACATION
The vacation section is a big improvement for the vast majority of pilots as well. Most pilots get more days of vacation worth significantly more money in credit value. Vacation pays better for all pilots (most pilots will no longer take a pay cut to take a week of vacation), and there is no more involuntarily assigned vacation. Vacation splits are reduced to 7 days, thereby increasing the number of splits (e.g. 42 days equals 6 splits). There is also the ability to slide vacation +/- 3 days without having to get company concurrence. You can designate four Golden Days Off each vacation year (5-E-9), and a defined Life Event policy in the contract (20-Q-9) will afford you the opportunity to spend more quality time with your family. Another added benefit in the contract is covered in 20-Q-14 (Emergency Drops). You are now allowed 2 four-day paid emergency drops per family member throughout your career (no vacation or sick leave required). And although our vacation trip drop policy was changed from a calendar-days-dropped system, removing the financial disincentive to the company means that more pilots will actually get the time off they need with a vacation drop (rather than having to drop without pay) vs. having a good deal on the books that is not available to the majority of the pilots.
We see other areas of the contract that deserve to be expanded upon, but this letter would become a novel. Gains were made in Training pay, periods 5 days or over now pay for all calendar days. A pilot in training for 30 days will receive 90 hours of pay vice line guarantee. Instructors have also received gains in pay and
flexibility, while limiting an I/E’s ability to continue to instruct with a loss of medical. The moving expense section has also improved. We could go on.
Given the significant value of this TA, your MEC felt it was appropriate that the membership be given a voice and final say through the ratification process. We urge you to attend an informational briefing or one of the scheduled Town Halls.
Our collective interests will always be served by a thoughtful and complete analysis of the facts; and we encourage you now to do so.
It is now up to you to evaluate and understand the dynamics that have delivered us to our present position. This has not been a pleasant experience for you or your MEC. There is genuine concern regarding the upcoming possible trigger date delineated in the T&PA, as discussed in a recent MEC update. With each passing month this has dragged on, pilot expectations have increased, and lines in the sand have been drawn more boldly.

Crystal ball speculation by line pilots on future events are being extrapolated with supposed 100% certainty on what may occur; without truly understanding the landscape, and fiscal environment of our future. Your MEC did consider various factors during their risk vs. reward analysis. In the past several months and during the days leading up to our vote, we were briefed by Chairman Hoglander and Ms. Puchala of the NMB and other senior political advisors in D.C. several times with regard to possible alternative paths; the latest during our contract education in Phoenix Arizona last month. Again, we weighed the risk vs. the reward and none of the scenarios played out in our favor.
It is now your turn to consider the risk vs. the reward of accepting this contract or of turning it down with the intent of getting further gains.

The majority of the UAL MEC, with all factors considered, have agreed that this TA in totality represents a substantial improvement to the careers of all UAL pilots, while successfully obtaining the big ticket items you asked us to achieve. It is for these reasons we believe you should vote yes on this contract. In addition to the completion of a JCBA, we can then move one step closer to closing the chasm between our two pilot groups. When that day comes, we will all be one pilot group with one voice. Then we will have the maximum leverage going forward. A yes vote will move the entire merger process further towards completion and towards allowing all pilots to actively start participating in bids within their existing domiciles.

You have been asked to comprehend a very large and complicated contract in a short amount of time. Your MEC knows that this document can be overwhelming and we stand by to assist you in your understanding. We believe that once you learn the details, you will reach the same conclusion as the 12 members who endorsed this document.
Respectfully Submitted,


Mark Arellano
Chairman, C-93
John Barton
S/T, C-57
Bill Benson
Chairman, C-57
Tom Brinton
Vice Chairman, C-93
Rick Cameron
Vice Chairman, C-11
Chris Clay
S/T, C-93
Mike DeSantis
Chairman, C-52
Bob Fox
Chairman, C-11
Dan Hahn
Chairman, C-34
Rob Hebinck
Vice Chairman, C-33
Mike Holman
S/T, C-34
Ben Jennings
S/T, C-11
Ben Landon
Vice Chairman, C-34
Steve Lynch
Chairman, C-12
Chris McCullough
S/T, C-52
Oly Olson
Vice Chairman, C-57
Rob Slovitsky
Vice Chairman, C-52
R.J. Wolf
S/T, C-33
Vince Zagarella
Chairman, C-33