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Tilton Decision Letter

June 17, 2005

Mr. Glenn F. Tilton, Chairman
President and Chief Executive Officer
United Airlines
1200 East Algonquin Road
Elk Grove Township , Illinois 60007

Dear* Mr. Tilton:

On June 3, 2005 you were issued Letter of Charge WHQ 101-05, which was sent to your address of record via Federal Express. This Letter of Charge required you to be at a hearing conducted by Greg Davidowitch, President of the Master Executive Council of the Association of Flight Attendants of United Airlines, or his designee in the AFA Conference room on Monday June 10, 2005 at 9:00 am, and indicated your failure to attend the hearing or to make personal contact with myself or Greg Davidowitch would be considered your voluntary resignation from United Airlines. As of June 16, 2005 I have not received a response as to your inability to attend the hearing. The Letter of Charge stated:

Specifically you are charged with failure to fulfill your responsibilities as CEO and as a United Airlines employee (Articles of Conduct, Series 15) as evidenced by the following:

Article 5

In that you are in possession of major sections “stolen” from the United – AFA Collective Bargaining Agreement (“Agreement”), and the wages, benefits and work rules that those provisions represented, not to mention our faith, our trust and our confidence in your ability to lead this airline, you therefore are found to have violated Article 5:

Unauthorized possession or removal, or attempted possession or removal, of any company property or property of employees or customers.

Article 6

In that you have spent nearly the past 30 months in a relentless “fight” with Flight Attendants over pay cuts and other changes to the terms of our Agreement you therefore are found to have violated Article 6:

Fighting or provoking a fight while on company property or while on company business away from company property.

Article 7

In that you have engaged in a deliberate effort to reduce pay and benefits to levels not seen in many years and in the process destroyed the morale of the tens of thousands of dedicated employees who built the company into one of the world’s greatest airlines you therefore are found to have violated Article 7:

Deliberate destruction or damage of company property or the property of others while on company premises, or for which the company bears responsibility.

Article 9

In that you have created the false perception that you are not the highest paid, or nearly the highest paid, airline CEO in the airline industry even thought our airline has been mired in bankruptcy during your entire tenure you therefore are found to have violated Article 9:

Falsification of company records or reports, submission of false records or reports to the company.

Article 10

In that you and your executive team have received millions of dollars in bonuses and “success sharing” payments even though the company has continued to lose money and you have failed to come up with a successful plan for the emergence from bankruptcy you therefore are found to have violated Article 10:

Misrepresenting job performance measurements by cheating or acts of deception.

Article 11

In that you have failed to report on the irreparable injuries that have been, and will be done to the lives and families of the thousands of dedicated Flight Attendants who face financial devastation as a result of the loss of pay, benefits and workrules cut by the company through the bankruptcy process you are therefore found to have violated Article 11:

Failure to report an accident involving damage to company property or the property of others, or from which injuries to employees or to others have resulted, or failure to report an incident or situation that could result in injury to persons or damage to property.

Article 12

In that you or your representatives have created the false impression that the level of sacrifice has been equal across all employee groups when in fact you have personally maintained your $4.5 million pension trust even while seeking to terminate the pension plans of all other employee groups you therefore are found to have violated Article 12:

Falsely claiming a company benefit for one’s self or for another to which the claimant is not entitled.

Article 14

In that you have refused to comply with the Union ’s request that you cease and desist from your attempt to terminate the Flight Attendants’ defined benefit pension plan you therefore are found to have violated Article 14:

Insubordination.

Article 19

In that you have used the company computer system in the process of many of the other violations stated herein you therefore are:

Misusing or permitting others to misuse company computer equipment (includes, but is not limited to, computers, terminals, printers, and related support hardware) or misusing, destroying or distorting information data, or instruction codes.

Article 24

In that you have gambled with the future of our airline and our careers by the actions you have taken during the bankruptcy process you therefore are found to have violated Article 24:

Gambling on company property.

Article 25

In that you have neglected, after 30 months in bankruptcy, to come up with a viable business plan and, as a result, have caused immeasurable damage to the Flight Attendants who depend on United Airlines for their livelihood, you therefore are found to have violated Article 25:

Any negligent action resulting in injury to the employee or others, or damage to company property or the property of others.

Article 27

In that you have neglected to bring the company out of bankruptcy by any of the self-imposed deadlines that have been set during that process and thereby have prolonged the negative effects on our public image that are caused by being in bankruptcy you therefore are found to have violated Article 27:

Engaging in conduct, on duty or off, that is or could be detrimental to the company or that could negatively affect the company’s relationship with its customers, travel agents, suppliers, employees, or the public.

Article 30

In that you have refused to cooperate with the Flight Attendants to save our defined benefit pension plan even when the PBGC indicated that our pension plan “can and should be maintained” upon emergence from bankruptcy, you therefore are found to have violated Article 30:

Refusal to cooperate with other employees.

Article 34

In that, through the Section 1113 process, changes you have sought to the pay and benefits of Flight Attendants have had a devastating impact on the personal financial affairs of every Flight Attendant, active or retired, you therefore are found to have violated Article 34:

Involving the company in the employee’s personal financial affairs.

Article 36

In that you have made statements concerning the need for cuts to the Flight Attendant Agreement – cuts that are perceived as vicious by many line Flight Attendants – you therefore are found to have violated Article 36:

Making or publishing false, vicious or malicious statements concerning an employee, a member of management, or the company.

Article 39

In that you or your representatives have harassed Flight Attendants in the exercise of their rights as Union Members you therefore are found to have violated Article 39:

Violation of the company’s policies regarding harassment and/or discrimination.

Article 40

In that you and your executive team have received millions of dollars in bonuses and “success sharing” payments even though the company has continued to lose money and you have failed to come up with a successful plan for the emergence from bankruptcy you therefore are found to have violated Article 40:

In situations where the employee has received wages or monies that are not due the employee, the employee is required to cooperate to the fullest extent possible with the company’s effort in collecting said sums

As advised in the Letter of Charge WHQ 101-05, your failure to attend the hearing, make personal contact with either Greg Davidowitch or myself or provide documentation to substantiate your inability to attend a hearing constitutes an act tantamount to resignation. The Association of Flight Attendants is left with no alternative but to consider your employment terminated effective June 17, 2005. Upon receipt of this letter you are requested to return your Company owned items, including your TSA badge, travel cards, and companion pleasure travel passes. The deadline for returning the items is June 30, 2005 via a safe form of transportation (i.e. Federal Express). I would remind you of the potential consequences from TSA if the government issued badge is not properly returned.

Sincerely,

Maria Torre
United Master Executive Council
Grievance Chairperson

*Remember – This letter is a parody, not an actual decision letter. It contains satire, irony and other literary devices designed to draw attention to the performance failures of members of current management at United Airlines, and to point out that management does not measure up to the same high standards by which Flight Attendants are judged for their job performance. Actual charges, if any, would be filed under the Agreement or the Company’s Code of Business Conduct. Thank you for reading all the way to the end.