United Airlines recalls furloughed employees

Human Resources

Company Continues Discussions with Unions Regarding Long-Term Transformational Issues

CHICAGO, Jan. 10 2003/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UAL Corp. (NYSE: UAL), the parent company of United Airlines, today received a ruling from the bankruptcy court that will allow the company to implement interim wage reductions of approximately $70 million a month beginning January 2003 for all of its union groups. Today's ruling will keep the company on track to meet debtor-in- possession financing covenants and will provide more time for collaborative discussions between the company and its unions regarding the long-term transformation necessary to emerge successfully from Chapter 11.

As previously announced, United's pilots, flight attendants, dispatchers and meteorologists ratified wage reduction proposals earlier this week that will now go into effect. The court's order imposes wage reductions on the company's employees represented by the International Association of Machinists, which did not agree to the wage reduction proposals. The wage reductions will remain in effect until the earlier of a final agreement on modifications to the collective bargaining agreements or May 1, 2003, subject to further proceedings before Judge Wedoff.

"Now that we have received court approval to take the immediate steps necessary to stabilize our cost structure, we can devote our attention to working with our unions on the longer-term imperatives currently facing the company. From the outset of this process, it has been United's objective to make the necessary changes in a collaborative way. We thank our unions and employees for making the immediate sacrifices necessary for us to be able to continue discussions on the long-term changes needed to re-shape United into a strong and vibrant competitor," said Glenn F. Tilton, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

The wages of United's management and salaried employees were reduced effective Dec. 16, 2002, and additional cost-saving measures will be implemented later this month. Court approval is not required for reductions affecting these employees.

United Airlines recalls furloughed employees

February 21, 2002 - United Airlines announced that it will be recalling 1200 of the 2700 flight atttendants furloughed last fall. This is due the airline's increased April schedule. This will bring the total number of flight attendants recalled since January 31 upto 2000. The April schedule includes an extra 127 flights.

"Slowly people are returning to air travel," said Larry De Shon, United's senior vice president - Onboard Service. "And while we still have a long road ahead of us, United is very happy to recall more than a thousand of our flight attendants."

January 4 2002 - United Airlines (NYSE: UAL) announced that it will close five domestic reservations offices and furlough 899 of its reservations employees.due to reduced reservations activity as a result of its smaller flight schedule and downturn in the U.S. economy.

The offices are in the California cities of El Segundo, Burbank, Moreno Valley and Suisun City and in Rockford, Illinois. Closures take effect on February 28, 2002.

Administrative, clerical, reservations sales and service and management employees will be affected:

- 101 in Rockford
- 124 in Suisun City
- 156 in Burbank
- 160 in Moreno Valley
- 358 in El Segundo.

"United has already reduced its overall workforce by about 19,000 employees out of 100,000, but very few of United's reductions have occurred in reservations," said Joseph F. Laughlin, vice president-reservations. "During November and December the reservations offices were busy handling lengthy calls from customers on security issues and re-accommodating passengers on new flights after United went through a major schedule revision. That work is largely completed, and the current lower level of reservations telephone activity prompts today's announcement."

Laughlin also said that United regreted the necessity of making this decision because of the impact it will have on its employees, their families and their communities. "Our goal is to be as helpful as we can be during this extremely difficult process for everyone," he said, "and we will offer severance pay to all eligible impacted employees. Some will be eligible to relocate to other United offices based on their seniority."

United's Human Resource Division has activated a web site for all current and former United employees to assist them with career transitions. The site consists of a comprehensive career planning resource to help people:

- assess their skills
- perform a job search
- develop a resume
- prepare for interviews

The site also has links to other career resources.

Customers will be served by United's remaining 4,500 reservations employees in 12 reservations offices, including those in Chicago, Ill. and San Francisco and Long Beach, Calif. Others are in Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Seattle, Sterling, Va.; and Bloomington, Fort Wayne, South Bend and Indianapolis, Ind. Customers will be unaware of the transition.

Californian staff have been hard hit but the state remains a priority for United Airlines with more than 23,000 employees, major maintenance facilities in San Francisco and Oakland and two large domestic hubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

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