Potential t-shirt slogan for United Airlines pilots: “The CEO of Boeing stepped down, and all I got was this lousy furlough.”
These delays were caused by attempts to resolve serious issues with safety and aircraft reliability at Boeing. CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024; chairman of the board Larry Kellner is also resigning; and the CEO of the commercial airplane unit, Stan Deal, is already gone. While United isn’t responsible for any of this, it does impact their business.
In other words, you can do everything right, but a problem at a vendor company can mess up your revenue and workforce needs. United is responding with a voluntary furlough program. Is this a great way to handle labor issues?
To keep reading, click here: United Just Asked Pilots to Take Unpaid Leave. It’s Actually a Very Smart Move
When I first saw this article but didn’t read it through I was not happy to see the mention of taking unpaid time off, until I got to the section that states that the request is voluntary, which means the pilots get to choose when they will work and will be more willing to work out time off, as I have heard that their biggest complaint is the turnaround time they get is not enough for proper rest. Maybe this will lead to better scheduling and less strain on the pilots to get enough rest between turnarounds.