Resource Utilization Letter

Brothers and Sisters,

Over the weekend, the Company and the IBT agreed to a resource utilization letter of interpretation. The letter protects the scope language in each of the three stand-alone CBA’s, and nothing in the letter shall be used to diminish the language. Lastly, the letter ends on December 31, 2012 unless the parties mutually agree to continue it. The letter of interpretation is designed to facilitate both sides' mutual desire to reach a joint CBA as soon as possible, and as such, provides that the interpretation cannot be used in any scope arbitration if the letter expires before the parties have reached a joint CBA. Below you will find bullet points from the letter.

• The Company will not interchange employees (“interchange of employees” shall mean migration of employees from coverage under one collective bargaining agreement to coverage under another) from their respective Subsidiary collective bargaining agreements and will maintain separate maintenance operations pursuant to commitments contained in those agreements, pending final integration of the workforces, execution of an amalgamated collective bargaining agreement and integration of seniority lists. Subject to the limitations set forth herein, however, mechanics and related employees may be allocated work and utilized to perform work, as directed by the Company and according to the needs of the service, in accordance with their respective collective bargaining agreements, without regard to previously-existing Subsidiary-specific distinctions among aircraft certification, or identifications or designations of facilities and equipment.
• The Company will not assign or direct mechanics and related employees covered under different Subsidiary collective bargaining agreements to work together in a single intermingled work group or crew (for example, a crew or work group composed of two sub-UAL technicians and two sub-CAL technicians).  Moreover, except in the case of an emergency that is recognized as such by both the Company and the IBT, once an assignment (aircraft maintenance or otherwise) has been made to one mechanics and related work group or another, that work group will perform and complete the assignment to the exclusion of the other maintenance and related work groups.

·         Subject only to the “no-interchange” proscriptions (a decree that prohibits something) set forth herein, all of the Company’s maintenance controllers shall continue to perform their regular and customary work for the Company, and all maintenance and related employees covered under the Subsidiary agreements with the IBT will interact with and take direction from  the Company’s maintenance controllers irrespective of previously-existing Subsidiary-specific distinctions among aircraft certification, or identifications or designations of facilities and equipment.

• The allocation of work and utilization of manpower as provided under this Letter to accommodate the redeployment of Company aircraft, facilities and equipment will not result in any involuntary relocations, involuntary reduction-in-force, or reduction in the status or pay of active Mechanics and Related Employees throughout the new United system for the duration of this Letter.
• The terms and obligations set forth in paragraph 2 of this Letter shall not apply under the following:  an ongoing labor dispute; grounding or repossession of a substantial number of the Company's aircraft by a government agency or a court order; loss or destruction of the Company's aircraft; involuntary reduction in flying operations due either to governmental action(s)/requirement(s) or to a decrease in available fuel supply or other critical materials for the Company's operation; revocation of the Company's operating certificate(s); war emergency; a terrorist act; or a substantial delay in the delivery of aircraft scheduled for delivery -- provided that the exception(s) (as defined above) relied upon by the Company to avoid the terms and obligations set forth in paragraph 2 of this Letter has (have) a material and substantial impact on the Company.
• Any and all disputes involving the interpretation or implementation of this Letter will be resolved on an expedited basis.  In all such disputes, the IBT and the Company shall each designate an equal number of representatives to sit as a dispute resolution committee; that committee will be charged with the responsibility to promptly investigate and to attempt to resolve the dispute in a mutually acceptable fashion within five working days from the date the dispute arises.  Any disputes that remain unresolved will then, at the option of either party, be submitted to expedited arbitration in accordance with the parties’ expedited arbitration procedures under the scope provisions of the collective bargaining agreements.
• This Letter will remain in effect until December 31, 2012, and will continue in effect thereafter subject to such amendments and modifications as may be agreed to in conference at the request of either party.  Either party may serve notice of its desire for such conference upon the other party no earlier than October 31, 2012.
• Neither this Letter nor any of its terms shall constitute a substantive modification or waiver of any of the scope provisions contained in the current and future collective bargaining agreements covering the mechanics and related employees, including the separate maintenance operations provisions contained therein, nor shall it constitute or be treated as a permanent or precedent-setting interpretation of any of those scope provisions.  Except with respect to disputes arising under paragraph 4 of this Letter while it is in effect, this Letter and its terms shall not be entered into any arbitration or courtroom or agency proceeding (including RLA Section 6 mediation) for any purpose.

Since this letter just came out on Monday evening, there hasn’t been much discussion among the Business agents and other Union officials, but I will have some discussion of this agreement on the Chief Steward conference call today. I will notify you as more information or clarification of items becomes available. If you have specific questions about this letter, please contact me either by email, phone, or in person.

In Solidarity,

Mike Moats