Weeks after rehiring thousands of employees who were furloughed after Oct. 1, 2020, United is warning some 14,000 workers that their jobs are at risk when the second round of federal aid expires on March 30, 2021.
It was the same stipulation that airlines agreed to last year when the first round of stimulus, the CARES Act, was enacted and included a provision that employees could not be fired or have their pay cut. That ended after six months and on Oct. 1 airlines began laying off employees. United and American responded by cutting 30,000 workers combined.
This time, the stimulus package approved in December gave airlines a three-month window.
“Despite ongoing efforts to distribute vaccines, customer demand has not changed much since we recalled those employees,” the airline said in a staff note Friday, which was seen by CNBC. “When the recalls began, United said most recalled employees would return to their previous status as a result of the fall furloughs around April 1.”
Companies are legally required to inform employees if their jobs are in jeopardy often two months in advance, although it does not necessarily mean these workers will ultimately lose their job.
Hawaiian Airlines also sent furlough notices to staff and said that it could cut up to 900 jobs when aid runs out.
Newly elected President Joe Biden is working on yet a third stimulus relief bill but it has not yet been presented to Congress. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents crews at United, Hawaiian and others, and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, American Airlines flight attendants’ union, both wrote to Biden and congressional leaders urging them to provide a third round of federal payroll aid for airlines that would maintain jobs until Sept. 30.
“Without immediate action on this, essential workers will again be pushed into incredible uncertainty with job loss and cost-cutting on the job that airlines will initiate in the coming days,” wrote AFA President Sara Nelson and APFA President Julie Hedrick.
