Alaska Airlines planned to lay off Boise workers in nationwide cuts. Then this happened
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Alaska Airlines laid off 147 workers at its call center in Boise.
Alaska Airlines had planned to lay off 147 workers at its Boise call center but found a way to keep all of those workers on the job.
“We were able to mitigate any furloughs by offering early retirement or extended voluntary leaves,” Cailee Olson, the airline’s media relations manager, said in an email.
The Seattle carrier furloughed 532 of its employees systemwide on Oct. 1, but that didn’t include anyone from Boise, she said. Alaska plans to recall 219 of its furloughed flight attendants on Nov. 1.
The company over the summer sent out layoff notices to 4,200 employees companywide, letting them know they could potentially be laid off or furloughed.
“Knowing that the CARES Act was going to expire (at the beginning of October), we had a deadline to try to figure out how to save as many employees as we could,” Olson said by phone.
The CARES Act is the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief law Congress passed in March. Its provisions included a payroll-support program for air carriers to help them keep paying employee wages and benefits despite the virus-induced falloff in air travel. Alaska Airlines was expected to receive nearly $1 billion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
Boise workers were offered early retirement or extended leaves in increments of three, six or nine months.
“Through those two efforts, we were able to mitigate furloughs at our Boise office,” she said.
Besides Boise, Alaska Airlines operates two other contact centers, in Phoenix and Kent, Washington. The agents help callers buy tickets, make changes to existing reservations and answer questions.
Systemwide, Alaska said, 720 employees volunteered for early retirements or otherwise left the company. An additional 4,468 took voluntary leave or another furlough-mitigation option.
Four hundred Alaska flight attendants received furlough notices, but 101 of those employees were reassigned to airports with staffing deficits and continued working.
An additional 147 customer service agents, ramp agents and store agents received furlough notices. Most of them went from full-time status to part-time. Twenty-eight workers were let go as of Sept. 30.
The airline also laid off 205 employees who worked in nonunion management positions for Alaska and Horizon Air.
No pilots, maintenance workers or dispatchers lost their jobs, the company said.
Airlines and other carriers have suffered deep losses because of the coronavirus pandemic. Airlines are flying about a third of the number of passengers compared to a year ago.
Despite receiving $992 million in federal aid, the company lost $450 million in the first six months of 2020, the Seattle Times reported.
Alaska has reduced advanced payments to suppliers to cut expenses, along with cutting flight routes and parking planes.
Last week, United and American Airlines said they would furlough a combined 32,000 workers.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump called for billions more in federal aid for airlines. His call came hours after he called off talks with Democrats over a second stimulus package until after the November election.
Airlines had pledged to not cut any jobs until Oct. 1, under terms of the $25 billion federal payroll support provision.
P.F. Chang’s notifies state of layoffs
P.F. Chang’s also recently filed a WARN notice with the state. It said 75 workers would be laid off at the company’s restaurant at 391 S. 8th St. in BoDo on Oct. 1.
However, the company says the notice is actually retroactive, going back to the start of the pandemic back in March. Layoffs that occurred over a six-month period triggered the notification, the company told the Idaho Statesman.
Nationwide, the chain is operating at almost 90% of its pre-pandemic workforce.
“They are not currently laying people off, but actually increasing staff, retraining and hiring,” spokesperson Katie Erwin said by email.
Eight positions, including servers, cooks, hosts and bartenders, are listed for the Boise restaurant on the company’s jobs website.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 1:33 PM.
