Inflight team,
Over the last few months, United and AFA have continued to work diligently to come up with creative solutions to reduce the number of potential involuntary furloughs effective October 1.
Today, we’re pleased to announce that after considerable discussion, we’ve come up with an Involuntary Furlough Mitigation Program (IVFMP) for flight attendants. This program is intended exclusively to mitigate the originally communicated potential number of involuntary furloughs to jobs and keep people connected to their benefits.
While we hope Congress will make head-way on an extension of the Payroll Support Program, we needed to create an alternative solution in the event that doesn’t happen. IVFMP provides flight attendants with another option to prevent a possible involuntary furlough.
Participation in this new program is available to all flight attendants who are senior to the most junior 5,500 flight attendants on the system seniority list who would otherwise have been subject to an involuntary furlough. This program provides a large number of flight attendants with the ability to remain active, with active employee benefits during one of the most difficult periods in the history of our industry. It also allows us to respond to opportunities more rapidly as demand returns.
We will provide additional details about the IVFMP and upcoming deadlines in our respective communication channels later today.
Thank you for your continued patience while we work to create these options.
Sincerely,
John Slater and Ken Diaz