Voluntary furloughs????

[quickcallqueen]

I know that our new agreement that just ratified has a section that states that voluntary furloughs will be offered before involuntary furloughs are to take place. And with the voluntary furloughs, there will be a 24 month term pass.
I know that the contract states that senior flight attendants who are not going to be furloughed will be eligible to take the voluntarys. I hope that they will let anyone regardless of seniorty take a voluntary. Sure, if they furlough 1200 or 1800 fas' then I can end up furloughed again. But, hopefully the company will let those of us who are considered junior take a voluntary even though we don't make the cutoff.
I am seriously considering taking a 24 month voluntary. I will give myself a "24 month career break". I really love being a flight attendant, but I think that I can do better if I was a home. It will be less of a financial hardship for me, and I won't have to pay rent in two cites anymore because I commute to and from LGA. The 50 of us that were recalled last month were sent to LGA. I was rather disapponted that there were no transfers to be granted for October. I was just hoping to get back to PHL.

[jetstewus]

keep in mind that if someone is on a "voluntary furlough" and someone senior to them is "involuntarily furloughed" that person will be taken off voluntary and placed on involuntary.

I've talked to some f/a's who think they can avoid being laid off by taking the voluntary but it doesn't work that way.

Someone senior will not be forced onto furlough if someone junior to them is voluntarily out.

I hope that there will be enough people who decide to take a break that everyone will get to stay...I think the situation especially sucks for those of you who just got called back...but I don't see the "stability" getting much better anytime soon.

Good luck.

[quickcallqueen]

I know that it is a wait and see situation.
I do understand that the voluntary furloughs will go in seniority order. If more senior f/as' take it , then of course junior f/as' won't get to take advantage of them, but the good news is that if there are enough "takers", then hopefully no junior flight attendant will get involuntarily furloughed.
I know that there are some who took the voluntary last year and will be coming back in December if they do not take an extension. I know of some who are two months senior to me, and they could get furloughed this next time around.
I read one of the eline updates from AFA. I know that our union is having discussions with management of offering (VSIP)Voluntary Separation Incentive Package to flight attendants.
I know that our union negotiating committee has been trying like heck to get an "early out" for senior flight attendants to retire early.

[quickcallqueen]

I know that AFA has been in discussions with management about finalizing a deal in regards to offfering VSIP, hopefully that will be out soon. And then they will supposedly offer the voluntary furloughs shortly after that .
If I find out more, then I will pass the information on .

[quickcallqueen]

Pretty soon all the details with the Voluntary Furloughs will be out there for all of us to disseminate. Guess that means that they will be offering it soon.

[quickcallqueen]

Apparently union and management have not come to an agreement on the VF2. Hopefully, they iron out all the details and we find out what is going to be offered soon.
I know that anyone who takes a "voluntary furlough " will get a 24 month term pass and be able to file for unemployment. Just maybe the major sticking point is the health coverage, hopefully a good deal will be offered.
Many inflight supervisors are guessing that these voluntarys will go pretty senior; of course, that is speculative at this point. Sure, in the perfect world if there are enough takers on the voluntarys, then no junior f/a gets involuntarily furloughed.
From what I read, a senior flight attendant who is not affected by the furloughs will definitely be able to take a voluntary. I asked my base manager in LGA:"What if you are junior and not going to make the cutoff ?" She said that I could go ahead and try for it, they may or may not get to my seniority. I guess it is worth a try. I am hoping to try to go out on a 24 month.

[quickcallqueen]

I know that we still have not seen a final deal on the VF2. Hopefully, pretty soon there will be something offered for us.
We already know for a fact that a 24 month term pass and being able to file for unemployment compensation without the company challenging the claim are part of the deal. I am making an educated guess that the major sticking point between union and management is the health coverage. Hopefully our AFA committee will succed at get a better deal than what was initially offered.

[quickcallqueen]

The voluntary furloughs are going to be offered. Of course, the deal that was offered last year was better because those that took it last year had two years of health coverage.
VF2 only will provide 120 days of health coverage. I truly wish we could of got more health coverage; I wish we could of got 6 months to a year at least. But it could be worse. Four months is better than the 60 days I got when I was involuntarily furloughed last year. Since I was recalled in July, I have been taking advantage of my health coverage while I still have it.
Despite the fact that only 120 days of medical coverage is going to be provided, I still intend on submitting my request for a 24 month voluntary furlough.

[quickcallqueen]

Well, 903 flight attendants got voluntary furlough. The really good news is that no one gets involuntarily furloughed. So, those who want to still be flight attendants will still actually have a job. I am happy for everyone who wants to still have a job as a flight attendant. It is good news.
I know that from what I read, the last person to get voluntary furlough was someone in PIT with a Sep'99 seniority date. My roomie has a April'00 seniority date, she put in for a voluntary furlough of 6 months and did not get it . I have a August '00 seniority date. If she did not get it, then I can make the foregone conclusion that I did not get a voluntary furlough, and I put in for a 24 month.
At least I have November off, I took VPLOA for the month of November.