Sisters and Brothers,
Today, the Company began contacting Flight Attendants who took COLAs prior to ERJ furloughs being announced, to cancel their leaves effective March 1, 2018 due to operational needs. The Union believes that this is a violation of the right to recall for those who are currently furloughed (including those who participated in the CRJ preferential hiring program). There are obviously ERJ vacancies since they are canceling COLAs and the furloughs should be recalled to those vacancies per Section 12.G. of the ERJ CBA.
When the Company was discussing their decision to cancel the COLAs, the Union was adamantly opposed to involuntarily canceling any leaves of absence prior to recalling all furloughed ERJ flight attendants. Based on our conversations with the Company, this is being done due to the short staffing on the CRJ operation and the Company intending to keep the ERJ Flight Attendants that participated in the preferential hiring program working on the CRJ side of the operation at this time. To alleviate this concern, the Union proposed that the Company offer retention bonuses and/or offering 150-200% to alleviate the staffing issues in the CRJ operation. Yet the Company chose to violate the ERJ CBA and cancel COLAs before recalling all furloughs instead.
The Union is in the process of filing an Et Al (group) grievance on behalf of the affected members. The Union believes that this is a violation of Section 12.A. and 12.G. I will be reaching out to each person involved in this grievance individually to discuss the remedy to this grievance. We will keep you advised as this grievance progresses.
Fraternally,
Sara Gonzales
General Chair
