AlettaOcean

July 11, 2022

Captain Michael Hamilton Chairman, UAL-MEC
Air Line Pilots Association
9550 West Higgins Road, Suite 1000 Rosemont, IL 60018

Captain Hamilton:

United and ALPA share a goal of making United the biggest and the best airline in the history of aviation. United is working to set itself apart from the industry – and we are focused on doing the right thing.

Our history of working together is also why it wasn’t a surprise that we became the first airline to reach a Tentative Agreement for an industry-leading new pilot contract. But no agreement is perfect, and in the past few weeks, we’ve heard constructive feedback that there are key areas where the TA we negotiated together clearly missed the mark. For example, we have heard concerns about the modifications the TA makes to the schedule check time required for day one of a reserve block, the changes to the untriggered reassignment order for lineholders, changes to certain training elements, including the temporary utilization of retired United Pilots as instructors if not enough active pilots apply for these positions, and a few others.

We assume you have heard similar feedback. While the company and ALPA worked hard together to develop this TA with a number of great enhancements, it’s also apparent that we may all have misjudged how these, and other aspects of the TA would resonate with our pilots.

We believe we can work together quickly with ALPA to make adjustments to address issues that are of concern to United pilots – and we continue to be committed to maintaining the overall economic package we have achieved together in the TA, even in the face of an increasingly negative outlook for the economy and the extraordinarily high fuel price environment we are now facing.

We respect ALPA’s process, and if further discussions and resulting modifications require a restart of the ALPA review and ratification process, we have no objection.

Please let me know if you would like to engage on this; if so, we are committed to doing so promptly.

At the end of the day, we are both focused on finalizing an industry-leading agreement that recognizes and rewards ALPA’s contributions and accelerates us toward future shared success.

Sincerely,

Bryan Quigley
Senior Vice President, Flight Operations

BobbyLeeSwagger

"...and we continue to be committed to maintaining the overall economic package..."

So no real improvements? Just more accounting moves?

AlettaOcean

Management whistles, and their dog Hamilton comes running.

Who’s calling the shots here?

Quigley letter 7/11.

Two days later on 7/13:

AlettaOcean

Cost neutral.

awax

.....but this is our best last and final offer

BobbyLeeSwagger

Can we just vote no, now? Or do we have to wait?

awax

According the Council 34 email sent today the voting won't close, so your no vote is still good?

Finessed

“the biggest and the best airline in the history of aviation”

A phenomenal utilization of words to complete a coherent sentence.

awax

I'm a critic of the TA and now the process, but the goal of being the "biggest and the best" is a worthy goal. Having a management team that wants this is a breathe of fresh air that I hope isn't lost on most line pilots.

But here's the thing - Being the biggest and the best means different things to different people, obviously. It's a matter of perspective and a REAL industry leading contract will certainly change mine.

WHACKMASTER

Two things: the level of cooperation between your union and the company really exudes through in this email (and I don’t mean in a good way) as does the company’s desperation to seal a deal.

From the outside looking in, it’s time to recall the ever living $7it out of the folks that brought you this abomination of a TA and start to really utilize the leverage you (we as in all of us) have to secure some drastic gains to our profession.