LOA 16 - Expanded Scope Provisions
Our Scope language is what protects our jobs and our flying. It is essential to our future. When United management said they wanted to weaken our scope we made clear that would never happen. Instead, we took the opportunity to significantly improve our job security.
In this TA, we were able to not only protect our existing scope language but add a very important provision incorporating pilot provisions that are strongest in the industry. We secured new language that ensures United Flight Attendants will fly on any flight operated by Pilots on the United seniority list. This language closes a number of loopholes management could exploit and binds us to the strongest scope provisions in the industry.
The United pilot scope language, with over a dozen pages of dense contract language detailing how much United Express regional flying can be done, puts limitations on code and revenue sharing agreements, and contains detailed language on international flying. The language limits the company's ability to farm out flying to regional, code-sharing, or foreign carriers.
This provision in the TA closes off scenarios where the Company could farm out our flying on other carriers under the United brand. Under the existing agreement, there is nothing that prevents United from using United Pilots but the cabin crew of other carriers. Examples would be damp leasing of aircraft (United planes and flight crew but not the cabin crew), certain revenue sharing operations or even an expanded non-wholly owned operation. In all of the situations, because the work is not actually performed by United, our scope would not prevent using Flight Attendants other than on our seniority list.
The language we secured in the TA firmly binds us to the pilot agreement and guarantees we are protected by their scope provisions in addition to the protections contained in our scope language. The rule is simple: if it is a flight requiring Flight Attendants and there is a United Pilot operating the flight, we work the flight.
Our current scope language provides that United Flight Attendants fly all flights by United Airlines or airlines that it owns. This limits the ability of United to own and operate a wholly owned subsidiary. It does not, however, limit how much regional flying United can do under contract with regional carriers. As is typical in the industry, those provisions are found in the pilot agreements.
Our scope language obviously does not prevent regional flying as they simply fly the United Express through capacity purchase agreements with carriers such as Skywest and Republic. Other carriers such as Delta and American utilize a mix of wholly and non-wholly owned flying. The limitations on United Express flying are found in the pilot agreement which specify the number of aircraft, the number of seats on the aircraft, the percentage of overall flying, and flying between hubs.
The TA provides that United will be able to have a wholly owned carrier for United Express but this will not expand regional flying as that is limited by the pilot agreement, and if ratified, our contract as well. The TA explicitly states that all pilot protections and limitations regarding United Express Flying shall apply to United Flight Attendants.
We are proud to have achieved this strengthened and expanded job security, especially as our industry evolves with globalization and weathers uncertain times. We rejected management proposals to eliminate our existing scope provisions and instead won the best Flight Attendant scope language in the industry.