Update: United Airlines is now claiming these India job postings were an error.
Look, I’m not usually someone who is particularly against the concept of outsourcing, because I think it’s part of a global economy. But the way that United Airlines is outsourcing right now — at a time when the airline is accepting billions of dollars from taxpayers — is absolutely stunning, in my opinion.
United has been laying off management employees
As we know, all major US airlines are currently cutting their workforces due to reduced demand. Last I heard, United Airlines is cutting about 30% of its management positions.
Keep in mind that the airline isn’t able to lay off any employees through September 30, 2020, given that the airline received billions of dollars in aid through the CARES Act. This was explicitly intended to preserve American jobs — airlines could lay off foreign workers, but couldn’t lay off American workers.
Airlines have benefited from this greatly, and they’re even hoping for an extension of the CARES Act, so that taxpayers foot virtually the entire airline payroll for another six months.
If it doesn’t happen otherwise, President Trump is considering an executive order to avoid mass airline layoffs. After all, he has an agenda of “America First,” and wants to preserve American jobs.
How does United Airlines feel about that?
United is reducing its management headcount by 30%
United is now hiring for these roles in India
As mentioned above, United Airlines is eliminating about 30% of management positions at the company, through a combination of voluntary packages and involuntary furloughs.
Well, there’s some great news on that front. United Airlines is once again hiring for many of the same management positions that have just been vacated. Isn’t that fantastic?!
Well, not so fast… the airline is now hiring for these jobs in India. If you go to United Airlines’ job search page, you’ll see the company is hiring for several management positions in Gurgaon, India. Some of these roles include the following:
- Analyst, Network Planning
- Senior Analyst, Network Planning
- Senior Analyst, Revenue Strategy
- Manager, Revenue Strategy
- Senior Manager, Sales Program
The terms specifically state the following:
“This position is offered on local terms and conditions. Expatriate assignments and sponsorship for employment visas, even on a time-limited visa status, will not be awarded.”
As noted by @xJonNYC:
“It’s becoming evident that United Airlines is taking this opportunity to immediately replace laid off American workers with low-paid new hires in Gurgaon India. Positions that have been eliminated in Chicago often show up on the careers site days or weeks later with the same job title but based in India.”
I wonder how the President/other politicians feel about this?
"It’s becoming evident that United Airlines is taking this opportunity to immediately replace laid off American workers with low-paid new hires in Gurgaon India.
Positions that have been eliminated in Chicago often..— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) August 26, 2020
Bottom line
Like I said, I’m not in general opposed to the concept of US airlines opening up offices abroad and hiring lower paid workers. Actually, I had no clue that United had management positions in India that weren’t IT/contact center related, and I find that really interesting.
What I am opposed to is US airlines taking tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars in order to “save US jobs,” then asking for another six month extension, and all the while laying off US based workers and immediately replacing them with workers in India.
That’s not cool.
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