United Furloughing About 100 Philly International Airport Workers

PHILADELPHIA — United Airlines this month filed a notice that it will furlough nearly 100 workers at the Philadelphia International Airport, despite getting $5 billion in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the airline filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice in July that it will furlough 95 workers at the airport.

The layoffs will take effect Oct. 1 and last six months, according to the notice.

Layoffs are expected to be temporary due to the nature of the coronavirus pandemic.

Additionally, United plans to layoff more than 60 workers at the Pittsburgh International Airport at the same time.

Patch reported earlier this week that United Airlines spokespeople said nearly 36,000 of its frontline employees will be notified about potential furloughs.

"Importantly, not everyone who receives a WARN notice will be furloughed," United spokespeople said. "We expect to offset these numbers through increased participation in new and existing voluntary programs as well as continued discussions with our union partners about creative ways to help reduce furloughs."

United Airlines provided the following breakdown of potential layoffs:

• Airport Operations - 11,082
• Catering Operations - 808
• Contact Centers - 983
• Flight Operations - 2,250
• In-flight Services - 15,100
• Network Operations Center - 222
• Technical Operations - 5,457

"While demand has trended slightly upward from its April low, our July scheduled capacity is expected to be down 75 percent compared to last year and we expect August scheduled capacity to be down 65 percent compared to last year," company spokespeople said.

Given the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the country, it's "increasingly likely that travel demand will not return to normal until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine," United spokespeople stated.

"The reality is that United simply cannot continue at our current payroll level past October 1 in an environment where travel demand is so depressed," spokespeople said.

$5 BILLION IN CARES ACT FUNDS

United Airlines received roughly $5 billion in emergency aid from the federal government through the payroll support program of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The CARES Act provides $58 billion in grant and loan assistance for airlines to offset the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry. But the legislation also restricts the use of the bailout funds, including a ban on using the funds for stock buybacks. The act also required airlines to maintain their staffing levels for a certain period of time.

However, the potential layoffs at United Airlines comply with the restrictions of the CARES Act because they wouldn't become effective until Oct. 1, a spokesperson told Patch.

Wednesday's announcement may not come as a complete surprise to some elected officials and labor unions, who have expressed worry that despite the massive federal bailout, United and other leading airlines will still be laying off large numbers of workers.

In June, labor union Unite Here charged that United slashed hours for nearly 2,500 of its catering workers by as much as 25 percent, including employees in Newark, Houston, Denver, Honolulu and Cleveland.

"We're sick of giant corporations like United getting big handouts, only to game the system and leave workers behind," International President D. Taylor said.

United Airlines has emphasized that its frontline workers aren't the only ones feeling the financial pain; its management and administrative teams have also been seeing a reduction in hours.

"We are living through the most disruptive financial crisis in the history of commercial aviation," company spokespeople said Wednesday. "And since the early days of this global pandemic, we've taken bold steps to try and stay a step ahead of COVID-19's devastating impact on travel demand."
United spokespeople said the company has been "aggressively cutting costs" since late February. Money-saving steps included:

• "Suspended our share repurchase program in February and terminated it in April"
• "Reduced planned full-year adjusted capital expenditures by approximately $2.5 billion"
• "Eliminated CEO and president base salaries through the end of 2020 and temporarily reduced officer salaries"
• "Suspended raises and implemented a schedule reduction for management and administrative employees"
• "Slashed our domestic and international schedules"
• "Instituted a hiring freeze for nonessential workers"
• "Slashed spending on vendors and outside contractors"
• "Offered voluntary unpaid leaves of absence for U.S.-based employees -- with more than 20,000 employees now participating"

With reporting by Eric Keifer