United Airlines’ announcement this morning of its plan to furlough almost 700 flight attendants has drawn a sharp rebuke from the world’s largest flight attendant union.

“At the very basic level, today’s announcement is a failure by management to recognize protections of our contract,” Greg Davidowitch, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), said in a statement. The AFA represents 55,000 flight attendants, 25,000 of whom work at United.

“Despite our recommendations to pursue options that would mitigate the company’s staffing overage, management declined to do the right thing and make the right choice for our airline’s success,” Davidowitch said.

Chicago-based United Continental – created three years ago with the merger of UAL and Continental Airlines for $3.1 billion – said today that its efforts to reduce staffing among flight attendants through voluntary furloughs and a job-share partnership did not draw enough takers, hence the involuntary layoffs of what United is calling its “most junior members.”

United is under the gun to deliver on its promise to investors last year to trim $2 billion annually in expenses. A company spokesman said the current furlough total of 685 flight attendants may fall. Still, that’s not enough for the AFA.

The union noted in a separate letter to members that it appreciated the previous decisions by its flight attendants to accept the buyout offer or to participate in the cross-over program to work at Continental.

“In this same spirit, we call on management to do the right thing,” the letter said.

United was looking to eliminate 1,950 positions and accepted 1,113 voluntary-leave bids, Davidowitch said, leaving 837 positions.

“Successful airlines do not lay off workers, they work with the union for solutions,” Davidowitch said. “….They will try and create clever terms to justify their choice, and most certainly drop the blame on the union, but what it comes down to is simply the promise of United’s merger not being realized.”

Still, the union noted that UAL’s plan for the furloughs of 685 flight attendants doesn’t begin until April 1.

“It’s not too late to turn this thing around,” he said. “Management can still choose to do the right thing.”

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