Problems In Phl?

[LGA Fleet Service]

Fire every local Philly dork who is working for US on the ramp and hire some young, fresh, go-getter attitude workers from CLT or whereever, and get them working in PHL.

Young fresh go getters from CLT or "Wherever"? Whats the incentive to come to PHL? $8.00 an hour? They can get that in CLT or "Wherever"...

 

[El Gato]

Young fresh go getters from CLT or "Wherever"? Whats the incentive to come to PHL? $8.00 an hour? They can get that in CLT or "Wherever"...

$8.00/hr may not seem like much, and in truth it should be adjusted upwards a bit.....let's call it at $11.00/hr. The good people are out there. Believe me, because I was one of them once, and for only $6.00/hr to boot. It's not always about pay. It's also about motivation and loyalty as well. To you and I, nonrev travel may be old hat as we are both jaded, but to some young 19 year old kid from Darby ro Bryn Mawr it is like gold in the hand.

 

[PITbull]

EL,

Non rev is not so appealing when you can purchase "space positive tickets from $29-$49 to FA or LAX for $189.

Plus, 19-20 year olds do not have the committment and loyalty to anything at that age. Where have you been?

Loyalty doesn't put food on the table and pay the bills at $8-11 per hour...get real and no one buys what your selling on here.

 

[bofie]

I have heard that there are "factions", better thought of as gangs, among the baggage handlers at PHL. My source says that they wear either red or blue to signify their alliance.

Is this an "urban myth"?

 

[mweiss]

PITbull, I think you forgot what it was like to be that age. They're out there.

 

[ktflyhome]

Why go out on the ramp and work for $8-$10 an hour in all kinds of weather, when you can stay inside the terminal (if you want to be around the aviation industry) and work at TGIF's or one of the other restaurants making over $10 an hour in salary plus tips??? When you're that young, you are thinking more of the money, not the benefits. Plus you are warm in the winter, cool in the summer. I bet some of those young girls at Jet Rock bring in big tips on a daily basis.

 

[mbmbbost]

EL,

Non rev is not so appealing when you can purchase "space positive tickets from $29-$49 to FA or LAX for $189.

Plus, 19-20 year olds do not have the committment and loyalty to anything at that age. Where have you been?

Loyalty doesn't put food on the table and pay the bills at $8-11 per hour...get real and no one buys what your selling on here.

Not every positive thought needs to be diminished. I just happened to talk with two US employees this weekend, both had been with US (or Piedmont, or Allegheny) since they were 19 or 20 (20+ years). I'm sure they weren't making much money at that age either. One said she non-revs every weekend. And I know the other does frequently too, not to mention his family. It must be appealing to these people...
Seems to me there ought to be many jobs at US appropriate for a 19 or 20 year old kid starting out for $8 an hour. They needn't make a career at that particular position. I'd feel vulnerable if I were doing a job for $20/hour when I knew there was someone else that would and could do it for half that amount. Loyalty is only worth so much.

 

[Rob]

Plus, 19-20 year olds do not have the committment and loyalty to anything at that age. Where have you been?

Can't agree. I recently had the chance to get to know some US Army guys just out of basic training - amazingly mature and focused young men. Since it was a tank regiment there weren't any women; but I'm sure the women would have been just as good. From my old civilian point of view, the Army is full of terrific young people.

 

[BoeingBoy]

My 2 cents.....

Yes, there are those 19-20 year olds out there who will happily do many of the jobs here at $9-10 per hour. Single, no cares, happy to live paycheck to paycheck. That said:

1) what do you do with the 45-50 year olds doing that job here now? Furloughs seem to be coming, so there's no empty positions for those youngsters to fill. So the answer seems to be reduce the wages of these older career employees to $11-13 per hour (after all, there's people out there that will do it for less). That brings us to ...

2) now you have to tell those 19-20 year old prospective employees that they can have a wonderful career in aviation - nonreving to exotic locales, etc - and in 20-25 years they'll be making a whopping $13 an hour. And by the way, since you're the new kid on the block, you'll be working Christmas day, New Years Eve, etc. in the heat, the cold, the rain, the snow. That pool of prospective employees starts to get a little smaller.

3) then their friend tells them that WN, B6, etc are hiring - and while the starting pay might be the same, in 10 years they'll be making 3X as much. Besides, those other airlines are growing - might have to work New Years this year, but not next. And you should see what goes on at the company sponsored annual party, man, far out. That pool of prospective employees gets smaller still.

Jim

 

[mweiss]

Hence why the VirginUSA purchase would make more sense.

 

[networking]

Yes, those 19, 20 year olds might work for 8.00/hour.....for a few months. Heck BABYSITTERS are getting that these days. When that kid gets tired of working every weekend, holiday, and night he will quit to go on to other jobs. USAirways will be dealing with employee turnover like never before. In the long run its bound to be more expensive.

 

[mweiss]

Are babysitters getting the same number of hours?

 

[D M G]

I have heard that there are "factions", better thought of as gangs, among the baggage handlers at PHL. My source says that they wear either red or blue to signify their alliance.

Is this an "urban myth"?

There was a group of young agents (18-22 years old) that worked in one of the units, and they all wore red shirts (including the females). They didn't get along with another group of young agents that worked in another unit. The other group all wore the blue and white striped shirts, as most of the ramp does in PHL. There were a couple of fights between individuals of the two units, but nothing major. They thought they were something, but in reality they were a joke.

 

[Harry Callahan]

Fire every local Philly dork who is working for US on the ramp and hire some young, fresh, go-getter attitude workers from CLT or whereever, and get them working in PHL.

Young fresh go getters from CLT or "Wherever"? Whats the incentive to come to PHL? $8.00 an hour? They can get that in CLT or "Wherever"...

I know of no young fresh go getters from CLT(well one who is 21 going to college) the adv. age is 40's & 50"s for fleet service........

 

[D M G]

The good people are out there. Believe me, because I was one of them once, and for only $6.00/hr to boot. It's not always about pay. It's also about motivation and loyalty as well. To you and I, nonrev travel may be old hat as we are both jaded, but to some young 19 year old kid from Darby ro Bryn Mawr it is like gold in the hand.

The fact that you mention kids from Darby and Bryn Mawr in the same sentence shows that you have no clue as to the area. Kids from Bryn Mawr wouldn't be caught dead climbing in the belly of an aircraft, let alone having their BMW parked in the employee lot.

If good people were out there then Usairways wouldn't need to have open interview sessions every week to fill the shortages. The fact is that the labor pool in PHL sucks when talking about the younger age groups. Their work ethic doesn't come close to the level of their attitudes.

Bottom line in PHL is, and always has been, give the ramp the equipment and manpower to do the job properly and it will get done. Years and years of staffing and equipment shortages will take its toll on anybodies attitude.