Below are answers to some of the questions that were asked during our various informational meetings throughout the Base in recent weeks. They are in no particular order.

We were asked if the effective date for those that decided to Retire in Lieu of Furlough would be October 1st. The answer is yes it would. And, yes, you would receive furlough pay.

We have also been asked many times if it is required that you check one of the three red asterisked choices at the bottom of Options 1 and 2 RIF Options pages. The short answer is 'NO'. Don't check any of those boxes unless you are looking for a specific outcome. Here are a couple of examples where it would make sense to make one of these choices.

Maurice McDonald has been elected Back Shops Chief Steward. His term will begin on Monday, September 28, 2020.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the vote and election process. Congratulations to Maurice and thank you to John Laurin for his service as a chief steward.

As you are aware from last week, the company planned to drastically overhaul the structure of the Base, which would have eliminated many jobs. We immediately reached out to our political allies, both local and federal, to express our concern that the actions of the company were violating the Collective Bargaining Agreement in a time of crisis. A meeting was held with Speaker Pelosi's office last week for this purpose.

The company reached out to us yesterday to inform us of their plan to fundamentally change the bid area structure of the SFO Maintenance Center. As soon as the plan was revealed to us, we engaged IBT Legal as well as outside counsel. While the legal review continues, Locals 986 and 856 under the leadership of Principal Officers Chris Griswold and Peter Finn respectively wasted no time in engaging politicians from the area, including attending a meeting with Speaker Pelosi's office this afternoon.

Our industry remains in crisis. The damage being caused by the coronavirus has not abated, and in many parts of the country the pandemic has only worsened. Air service remains crippled, with a majority of flights grounded for the foreseeable future.

The IBT Airline Division has been working since the day Congress passed the CARES Act to make sure that the federal government will continue to provide strong and lasting relief to our members. The most important part of this effort is to ensure that the hard-fought wins and tens of billions of dollars which Congress extended to the industry and its workers this spring are not allowed to expire at the end of September without additional funds being made available to ensure our members are kept on payroll.

Many members have asked me and other IBT representatives whether the IBT-United Collective Bargaining Agreement (Agreement) continues to apply during the pandemic. The simple answer is: IT DOES. Many have said they heard that United will invoke “force majeure” provisions in the Agreement and have asked what that allows the Company to do in an emergency. I have discussed this with our legal team and have some answers to your questions.

On behalf of the undersigned labor organizations representing aviation employees, we urge you to include a clean extension of the airline Payroll Support Program (PSP) in the next phase of COVID-19 relief legislation.

The PSP is the principal component of the airline worker relief provisions in the CARES Act. This extremely successful program, which provides aid exclusively for employee payroll, has ensured that nearly one million airline employees remain employed with their health insurance during this crisis while also preserving collective bargaining rights and prohibiting furloughs.

The company informed us they are instituting a mandatory mask policy. While following the recommendations of the CDC is wise and we are not opposed to a mask policy in theory, the disciplinary aspect of the company's policy is beyond draconian.

The following information is based on some of the questions and feedback we have been getting from you all as we visited various work areas throughout the Base. Although we anticipate more questions to arise as we get to more areas, we thought it prudent to get out as much information as we can as quickly as possible, based on the time sensitive nature of the RIF Options process.

We were asked today why someone making their selections was not able to prioritize a selection to exercise FRD seniority to go to a non-home Bid Area (a BID Area you are currently not working) in the System over a selection to exercise FRD seniority to go to a home Bid Area (current Bid Area) in the System.

By now, most of you have probably seen the email by SVP TechOps Tom Doxey regarding the furlough notices. Because of the possibly complex trickle effects of the JFK station closure in terms of potential Article 6 bumping from some very senior employees, the Company is sending Furlough/Displacement notices to potentially 90% of IBT members, despite only sending out far fewer WARN notices. As Airline Division Representative Vinny Graziano stated in the Special Update sent out yesterday, the IBT Legal Department is reviewing the situation to determine whether or not there has been a violation of the WARN Act. Despite this, we want to make it clear that receiving a furlough/displacement notice does not mean you will be furloughed or displaced. But it is essential that you follow the instructions to choose all of your available options if you get a furlough/displacement notice because the impact to the system has the potential to be significant.

United notified the IBT that the number of furlough notices will be significantly higher than the number of WARN notices sent. The number could be as high as 90% of all of our United members receiving furlough notices. Right now, our legal department is reviewing the situation to determine whether there is a violation of the Act.

In the meantime, there are questions as to how this increase can happen. If you remember during ratification, we explained that we wanted to make the furlough process as difficult as possible on the company in order to deter them from using Article 6. What we are seeing now is the result of that language. As an example, there is one small station closing that has several members with very high seniority. When exercising their options, they could potentially affect hundreds of other members as the bumping ripples through the system. As members bump from Bid Areas and stations or points the ripple effect is magnified further. In other words, it is difficult and costly for the company to furlough you under the provisions of the CBA. It is important to remember, however, that not everyone receiving a furlough notice will be furloughed – it is an indication that they may be furloughed or displaced. Many people receiving furlough notices will not be furloughed or displaced.

There are many questions regarding the WARN Notices that were recently sent out by the company. First, please understand that receipt of a WARN notice does not mean that you will be furloughed, or even impacted by movement because of a furlough.

That being said, we believe that everyone should start to familiarize themselves with relevant contract language.

The following is provided to help our members better understand the Collective Bargaining Agreement language in Article 6 (Reduction in Force), LOA 19 (Exercise of RIF Options) and other pertinent CBA language.

The company approached me about using UPS instead of the USPS to deliver Reduction in Force notices. The reason for the change from what they've used in the past is that right now the USPS is having difficulty delivering mail in a timely fashion.

"To say that the economy has experienced upheaval since the coronavirus began would be quite an understatement, but the good news is that since our last update the aviation industry is beginning to show signs of recovery.

The airline industry is seeing demand return at a slow but steady pace. Between June 24–30, the Transportation Security Administration screened an average of 579,549 passengers a day, which represents 23 percent of the average passenger volume for the same period in 2019. Airlines have responded to the uptick in demand by adding more flights, operating just shy of 10,000 flights per day, which is roughly 40 percent of the level of demand prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please see the letter below from the Airline Division regarding AD Voluntary Relief Update.

Nominations for the 2020-2023 Teamsters SFO 856/986 Grievance Committee term were accepted at the SFO Base IBT office on June 11, 2020. Below are the results. (Areas in which the chief steward ran unopposed will not receive ballots.)

The company presented a Voluntary Separation Package yesterday to you the members. The Teamsters were advised during the company's discussion process that a package would be forth coming. We made suggestions to enhance the package, but those suggestions were not included in the final version. To be clear, this was not a negotiation and the package was not agreed to by the IBT.