MEC Communications Committee
We continue to receive questions and reports from Flight Attendants who, while scheduled to deadhead, have been needlessly reassigned to working status creating staffing situation that is well above the ESG. The following is a clarification of the circumstances under which management is permitted to reassign a deadheading Flight Attendant to working status.
More than one year ago, on January 1, 2019, AFA published the outcome of an Implementation Mediation. United and AFA agreed to clarify the JCBA terms regarding the rescheduling of deadheading Flight Attendants to working status on the flight they were scheduled to deadhead as follows:
1.United may reschedule deadheading Flight Attendants to work the flight in order to:
a.) Maintain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required number of Inflight Crew, including any required augmentation, and
b.) Reschedule Flight Attendants up to United’s Established Staffing Guidelines (“ESG”) to prevent understaffing.
2. Nothing in this settlement limits United’s right to supplement additional staffing above the ESG through the creation of additional open positions.
Paragraph 2 Example: – Supplemental staffing. In a situation where the company were to determine that additional staffing above the ESG is warranted for any flight, the company may not reschedule a Flight Attendant from deadhead to working status. They may, however, create additional pairings that are to be placed in open time and made available for trade or pick up. In the event those positions are not filled by trades or pick up, the company may not reassign a Flight Attendant from deadhead to working status to fill the position that is above the ESG.
Flight Attendants are encouraged to fill out a Local Council Worksheet should they be reassigned from deadhead to working status on flights not meeting the criteria outlined in the Implementation Mediation.
For additional information, please refer to our January 1, 2019 E-lines for a more in-depth description of the process.