It might not be an unsolicited pay raise like Delta, but United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz shared similar sentiment to his counterpart at Delta in his 2019 Labor Day note to employees.
Thanks to several friends at United for passing along this note from Munoz.
It’s official: 2019 was the busiest summer travel season in history. As we get ready for the Labor Day holiday weekend and prepare to welcome millions of United customers aboard our aircraft, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the incredible effort you’ve displayed over these past few months.
We’ve overcome a lot of headwinds, from weather to geopolitical issues affecting our business, as well as IRROPs and complications due to the 737 MAX grounding. Through it all, you’ve demonstrated the best of what we call the “New Spirit of United,” consistently delivering for our customers and one another, and putting our core4 standards into action.
Over the past few months, we’ve launched or announced exciting new routes and we continue to grow our network strength, flying when and where customers most want. We’ve invested in our product and rolled out compelling innovations that are benefitting our customers and earning their loyalty.
I’m talking about game-changers like ConnectionSaver, which not only puts you in the best position to serve our customers, it also serves as a dramatic statement about what caring means at United. Our partnership with CLEAR further de-stresses the flying experience and is rewarding our loyal MileagePlus customers with free or discounted memberships.
During this same period, we set ourselves apart from competitors, leading the industry as the most environmentally conscious airline and grabbing headlines with our historic “Flight for the Planet.” And we made a commitment to the world, and to ourselves, by setting a target date for achieving true gender equality at United. We further symbolized our determination to champion women in aviation by operating a 787 Dreamliner crewed entirely by our female colleagues to the world’s largest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Backstage 2019 has returned from summer hiatus as we continue to bring all 26,000 of our flight attendants to Chicago in order to align ourselves around a common vision of becoming the most caring airline in the industry. The experience has been so successful that we are expanding those efforts to include all our customer service representatives for what we’re calling Backstage 2020. I look forward to sharing more on that with you soon.
Throughout the summer we’ve shown we can consistently up our game even when the headwinds are blowing against us. So, just imagine how high we can fly in the future. The sky is truly the limit for us, and that is thanks to your incredible teamwork and effort.
These next three days will be busy and will require our very best efforts. But, I am confident we will continue to deliver the same superior performance that has made 2019 an outstanding chapter for United.
Gratefully,
Oscar
As I discussed earlier in comparing American and Delta, we can see a vision in this letter. There are not just general aspirations, but specific policies that have been implemented or will be implemented that map out a path for success. As we saw with the David Dao incident, one rogue employee can quickly discount all the platitudes of “Fly the Friendly Skies”. But having a clearly-outlined vision is fundamental to reaching success.
CONCLUSION
Even as United cannot boast of the same financial success or profit sharing of Delta, I’ve noticed a marked improvement in morale this year. That’s a testament to a greater longterm vision expressed by United’s leadership, especially noting the cutbacks that could have led to more turmoil.
> Read More: United Airlines Flight Attendants Protest Staffing Cuts, Warn Of Poor Service Onboard
image: United
The United flight attendants did get a bump in pay beginning this month per their contract terms 🙂
https://unitedafa.org/news/2019/8/30/base-pay-increase-effective-september-bid-month-dos3
Well, of course there’s no raise, nor a surprise bonus.
United is virtually all unionized and it would be a violation of the contract for the company to alter the compensation, for good or for bad, unilaterally.
The amount of increase in compensation and benefits, and the timing thereof is stated in the legally enforceable contract.
Except for the pilots, all other major work groups at Delta are non-union allowing the company to change the terms of their employment unilaterally at any time.
Who are you referring to when you mention one rogue employee?
None of the United staff was involved in the Dao incident.The Chicago Airport Authority officers beat the poor man.
Related to the note about CLEAR memberships: I have 1K status until 31 January 2020 but am not going to requalify. If I register now, how long is the CLEAR membership valid for? Is there an advantage to waiting to register for CLEAR until later this year (or in January of next year) as opposed to registering now?
UA employees did in fact get a contract raise this month so this info is not entirely accurate.
I was talking about a non-negoiated raise, though I’m happy you received one.