Originally Posted by
Sunvox
My understanding based on one crew is that it's not just a Vol Fur but a cross over offer as well. Meaning they can leave or work for L-CAL but if they choose cross over they go to the bottom. In addition I am lead to believe this is the second cross over and the first group is already off reserve. Given that we have FAs with 25 years doing A/B reserve rotation I think this is scandalous but par for the course.
The flight attendant issue is a complex one because their contract, work rules and pay are so different. As a former CAL guy I can say that the end result needs to be somewhere between what each side has now. The way our flight attendants stack trips back to back on min rest is not safe but, the era of three days of shopping for cat accessories in China is gone as well.
As far as reserve goes, the United FAs themselves put in place the system that has 25 year employees sitting rolling reserve. The CAL system is like our pilot reserve, it's bid by straight seniority. If you unlucky enough to be junior for a LONG time, you will sit reserve for a LONG time, it's not some CAL conspiracy.
My guess is United knows the CAL FAs will take more productivity for more money so they are building up the CAL side. Soon the numbers will be such that the CAL FAs can outvote the UAL FAs. Ask the NWA FAs how that worked out for them at Delta. They lost their union. It's probably in their best interest to give in a few contract areas and get their contract done sooner rather than later.