CWA, IBT Urge US Airways to Restore Customer Service

john john

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CWA, IBT Urge US Airways to Restore Customer Service
Following a meltdown in US Airways' computer reservations system that resulted in long customer lines and other problems at Charlotte, Buffalo, Philadelphia and other airports in early March, CWA and the Teamsters urged US Airways' CEO to restore customer service staffing to levels necessary to relieve an overworked and overburdened workforce.
"We are writing to express the serious concerns and frustrations coming from customer service agents," wrote CWA President Larry Cohen and IBT President James P. Hoffa in a joint letter to US Airways Chairman and CEO Douglas Parker. "The effects of continued short staffing have been wearing enough on US Airways agents," they told Parker, "but the recent computer reservations system switchover has made the situation intolerable for customers and agents." CWA and IBT jointly represent the airline's 8,000 agents.
Within hours of the airline's March 4 switchover to another reservations system, the system imploded, creating interminable delays in the eastern U.S., as agents struggled to access customers' reservations and ticketing records. In addition, nearly three quarters of the airline's entire network of self-service "kiosks" were also shut down.
The agents, whose total workforce at the combined US Airways-America West has fallen from 14,000 to 8,000, worked through their shifts without going to the bathroom, taking breaks, or even getting water. Local managers required agents to continue working into overtime despite being exhausted at the end of their regular shifts.
"I have never seen our people so upset," said Janice Garris, president of CWA Local 3641 and a former US Airways customer service agent. "We had senior people who were so stressed out because they were unable to help their customers. Many agents were literally in tears," she said. Garris said that the agents received three days of training, but were trained "in theory" using manuals and a mock-up of the system, not the actual program.
Some managers actually blamed agents for the breakdown and delays, something Cohen and Hoffa told Parker was unacceptable. "The switchover. . . caused an enormous amount of turmoil at airports across the system," they said, noting, "This resulted in agents who take pride in their professionalism and ability to service customers being unable to do so, yet in many cases they were being blamed by local managers for the meltdown."
The union presidents said understaffing and mandatory overtime are routine at many airports. In Charlotte, for example, there are 38-40 vacancies on a daily basis in airport customer service, with similar short staffing at Philadelphia and other locations, they wrote. The union presidents reminded Parker that union representatives had "raised the issue with management for more than a year, with no results."
 
I spoke with a former co-worker yesterday and they said it has been absolute hell. They said in their 26 years of service that they had never seen it as bad as this past weekend. Nobody knows where the crews are. Endless lines. 25 sick calls yesterday because everyone is so stressed out and people are quitting. They talked about how bad Shares suc*s, it takes so many sooo many entries.

I feel for all you guys out there. While I have not regretted my decison to take the early out in '05, it makes me feel even better about it now!

Hang tough folks! Hopefully the CWA/IBT can put pressure on the sandcastle to bring about some change.
 
Staffing East to West levels to compensate for SHARES will further dilute the illusory cost savings from having an in-house system. The events of the past two weeks have already put a major dent in those 'savings'.

The people who made the decision to switch to SHARES would have to admit a mistake has been made in not considering the extra staffing required by the new system.

And that ain't gonna happen.
 
Qik over Shares...It's a pig. When is Doug going to wake up. Someone needs to be held accountable for this disaster.
 
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http://www.afausairways.org/Eline/mar18_07.htm

COMPANY PERFORMANCE OR LACK THEREOF

"Give us a chance" - Doug Parker
"We need to do better" - Scott Kirby

As you have no doubt experienced, read or seen the Company is not performing well. The combination of the reservation system cutover and the weather have put the Company in a position of not being able to do what is supposed to do- provide timely service to the passengers who choose to "fly with US". There are no excuses as the root cause of this is primarily driven by management. The combined airline is now much larger than management or its' systems can support. There is absolutely no reason two weeks after the new reservation system cutover the airline continues to meltdown at the drop of a snowflake. True, weather does play a factor, but in the twenty five years I have been here I have never seen such a poorly managed operation. Bad weather was not invented yesterday and neither were mergers. Even in our darkest days nothing came close to what we are seeing today.

While they may be "working around the clock to fix" the problems, management is not facing the customers. Frontline employees system-wide are unable to do their jobs because they either have not been provided the training or provided the necessary tools. In the end the losers are our customers and our frontline employees.

Anticipating problems is one of the things capable mangers are paid to do. We have been let down and the blame falls directly at the feet of our senior management. I hope the last two weeks have provided a wake-up call to all those responsible. There is a difference between running a low cost airline and a cheap airline. Staffing levels, system choices and integration can't be run on the cheap. If this continues, all of the sacrifices made by all employees will have been for nothing. While paying all employees $100 for their efforts is a noble gesture, the problems continue, the contract violations persist and the goodwill of those who pay our salaries erodes by the minute.

I don't know why any of this really surprises me as our management continues to demonstrate an uncanny ability to make poor decisions. The list seems to have no end.
· Catering and Galley pack outs remain inconsistent.
· Cleaners and caterers are not stocking supplies in the proper locations.
· Cleaners don't know that Flight Attendants are not allowed to open aircraft doors.
· Row 9 exit row seats on the reconfigured A319 aircraft do not recline and are so close to row 8 tray tables are rendered useless.
· The A320 has been reconfigured twice and is still lacking in space for passengers and crew baggage.
· The A330 reconfiguration that added seats to the Coach cabin has reduced seat pitch on flights that are in excess of 11 hours. In addition some of the PSUs do not align with the rows making reading lights useless.
· The 321 will be reconfigured without valet closets.
· The ETC is useless.
· There are not enough employees in the benefits and employee travel office to meet the needs of an airline this size.
· Passengers have minimum connect times of 25-30 minutes in our major hubs and are constantly missing flights.
· Passenger manifests are either non-existent or impossible to decipher.
Some of these things will be fixed and some will not. The bottom line is we have given you a chance and you have failed to deliver.

ETC...

***note*** The Association of Flight Attendants has filed a grievance regarding the violation of both "clear and unambiguous" contract language and past practice that provides for non-revenue travel based on date of hire. The Association does not agree that any policy otherwise implemented is valid. The following comments reflect what we have to do-not what we should be doing with respect to non-revenue travel.

Some have said the ETC and airport check-in procedures are a joke. Sadly, it is not a joke. It is a nightmare. The imposed violation of the status quo requires either web listing and check-in or airport listing and check-in. Neither system works with any semblance of efficiency. It is as if the Company does not want employees to be able to use contractual benefits. While the Association does not agree that a non-revenue system should be governed by time of check-in, we do, for the time being, have a system in place that requires listing and check-in prior to travel. The Company's established policy is a twelve (12) hour web check-in or a four (4) hour airport check-in. Neither works with any consistency.
 
Qik over Shares...It's a pig. When is Doug going to wake up. Someone needs to be held accountable for this disaster.
Maybe that's what he needs to sleep, so someone else can run the Company. Whoever would replace him, could it possibly get any worse?
 

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