This topic will never be a discussion, only perpetual vent. A decade ago, when contracts were at their peak, labor still bemoaned mgmt as inept. Nothing has changed. Try and attract college educated talent, by telling them to expect no increase in earnings, regardless if you excell in your position. Your pay will be shared equally by all, regardless if you work long hours, perform beyond expectation or the effort and cost you put into college. You'll work without a contract, seniority does not exist, and no protection from a job loss at any given time. However, you can expect an increase when and only if eveyone else gets one, and the rank and file unions will decide this.
Bonuses Inflame Air Unions
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Bankruptcy...now merger..I am sure with either CH 7 or a merger and redundantcy in managers positions, they are running for the hills. The urgency will more likely be to get te merger deal done fast. The America West people will have their hands full managing two airlines.
ELP_WN_Psgr
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Not really.
It's probably your mgmt that needs the Dale Carnegie training worse than you, to wit:
My point was that you were telling folks what they didn't want to hear and, (IMHO) they didn't want to hear it for good reason.
AT any rate I'm sorry the reference to Dale Carnegie didn't register with you.
I'm afraid the lesson that management in CCY seemed to absorb from all their high-priced college courses was "it's okay to screw your workforce 364 days a year as long as you ask them how their family is come Christmastime."
The problem with retaining this group isn't about envy. It's about paying bonuses to retain talent. The problem with that is there is no talent to retain in the executive suite. Lakefield has said it himself he's doing Bronner a favor by running US Airways and Bronner is returning his friendship to the tune of more than $1.2 million dollars. They've blamed the Christmas meltdown on the employees when in fact it was proven by the govco report that the blame rests squarely on managements feet. Did they apologize? Did they try to make ammends? Have they done anything to improve morale? NO, NOTHING, NADA, ZIP. Honorable men would've apologized and done the right thing and resign. The Comair guy did. The JAL guy did and in his case it was just allegations. Did Al Crellin resign? What about Jerry? Brucie?? Nope, not one of them did the right thing but why should anyone expect them too. It's an honor thing and between all of them they couldn't scrape up enough honor to pin a ribbon on a graduating kindergartener. The fact is the retention bonuses should be paid to people that are worth keeping. If that was being done then fine but it's not. They say it's going to be spread over 1900 people but there is no way that will happen. Last time the lowest management folks, you know the ones that run the airline and have to enforce the stupid decisions coming from the likes of Al Crellin, got zero dollars in retention money. The people that might actually deserve it won't get it and the ones that are mismanaging the whole situation will walk with millions. That's the problem. No one would care if they paid this money to those that were worth retaining but none of them are and therein lies the problem.
So if the current management has no talent, how much more would USAir have to pay executives with real talent? Double or triple the amounts these guys are getting. Be thankful they aren't real talented. If they were, their bonuses would be huge and you'd be making even less money.
ELP_WN_Psgr
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Sometimes talent can be had for cheap. Real talent can be right underneath your nose and people ignore it or fail to recognize it is there.
Real talent is less a function of numerous degrees from prestigious institutions of higher learning and more a function of creativity, willingness to fail, lack of aversion to risk, and dedication.
There are probably folks stuck in mid-level management at CCY who know the head honchos are dumb, but unable to do anything about it.
How long has everyone....and I do mean EVERYONE known that the pricing model...Blofares and Gofares....was broken beyond repair? A long time. Has anyone done anything about it? No - of course they haven't. That would entail risk of failure. Instead, we got as chorus of "we have to fix the cost side before we can fix the revenue side, and the cost side will be fixed by us eviscerating our labor costs."
Has anything changed? Nope, not a lick. Walk up fares are still insane and advance purchase fares are priced below WNs. People still go over and fly them anyway.
A big step in the right direction might be to fire everyone up at the top and bring in Light_Years as VP/Inflight Service, Boeing_Boy as VP/Flight Operations, and sfb as President/CEO. However, I would recommend you avoid moving 320 into management.
robbedagain
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it seems like they are already being paid too dam much while at the same their is absolutely nothing more that can be taken out of the employees. 30 cities which is 600 or so employees out the door, just ot keep the catering, no pension exceptmgmt keeps theirs. it appears to me that america west is able to maintain a low cost carrier and may be theyre doing fine but at least they havent asked for 3 or 4 rounds of concessions nor paycuts nor beneies. i think this could have applied at usair but then again i am only counting to my last day 15 working days!FWAAA said:
PSA1979
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jack mama said:
Maybe all those that put in their time at this company and all the other companies that the employees are on a seniority system. Which, you and every other union member knew about when you got hired. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the seniority system.
What is not fair is all those junior people out of work, and management gets more money to do the lousey job they are doing.
How about a reverse bonus system. Every time Crellin or Paladini or hey even Lakefield makes a bad choice and costs US money, one furloughed employee comes back to work and their salary is taken directly from the person making the bad decision!
JAMAKE1
Veteran
ELP_WN_Psgr said:
El Paso...THAT was funny!!! 😀
FWAAA said:
When a group is writing their own checks they can put any amounts in that they want. It has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with who has the most ink in their pen. They've been writing their own ticket for years and this is just another example of it. If the current group were on the street you'd see their true value and it'd be a whole lot less than $55 million.
Tim Nelson
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PITbull said:
I don't believe the union reps have ever been silent. My point was that what the union reps say and what they 'do' in totality have been contradictory. But this is nothing new.
As a side, corporate america is beating the living heck out of workers in every industry, not just flight attendants and other workers at US AIRWAYS. GM, Ford isn't far off. The AFLCIO and most independent unions have resorted to business unionism and have lost their teeth. And they 'take' the negotiations paradigm management offers as a given. My speculation is because protecting dues is what is sacred. And worker apathy has always delivered its reward.
regards,
700UW said:
QUOTE
New contracts for the company's top 25 executives, at a cost of up to $18 million. Some of the details of the payments would actually be less generous than their current employment contracts allow. For instance, the company's nine executive and senior vice presidents -- who earn up to $317,000 a year -- would take only twice their annual salary in severance, as opposed to triple their annual salaries now guaranteed under their contracts.
SpinDoc replies:
700: Agreed that now is not such a good time
to hand out bonuses to VP level management;
however, how would you propose the company
retain the management team that knows
US processes best, and need to remain until
a merger is fully completed?
I fully agree that the management in place
right now has brought the company to where
it is through incompetent and inept decision
making. But the fact remans, the operation
must continue and the day to day needs of
US Airways have to to continue to be
met until it is absorbed into AWA.
I don't like it any more than any of the
union rank and file. My point was that
the MAIN reason they set aside the
$55 million (the largest percentage of
that) is to provide severance to lower
level management who will also be on the
street when AWA takes over.
The unions negotiated their own terms
and severance deals. So don't get upset
when low level management also has the
opportunity to receive severance.
JAMAKE1
Veteran
SpinDoc said:
Well said. I wholeheartedly agree, Spindoc.
You know, if the unions allow management to get away with this then management deserves 100% of the $55 million.
To me, when management succesfully pulls something like this, I see our unions as the ones who have failed to get us an extra $55 million that has obviously been sitting there for the taking. The only person I see having the balls to stand up to these guys is Teddy Xidas (Teddy, BTW, will you marry me?! 🙂 ) and if I were an AFA member I'd be proud of her reaction to this situation! The CWAs handling of this and other recent issues has been completelty :down:
All of the unions on this property have slapped their junior members in the face and all of them need a good cleaning of house.
Management (esp. Jerry Glass) has succeeded in their efforts to break down the workforce--they've made us turn against each other, pay poverty wages and managed to ground us up and sell the company like a grocer that puts a new expiration sticker on a pack of expired beef. They have been sucessful in reducing costs and breaking the strength of our unions.
To me, when management succesfully pulls something like this, I see our unions as the ones who have failed to get us an extra $55 million that has obviously been sitting there for the taking. The only person I see having the balls to stand up to these guys is Teddy Xidas (Teddy, BTW, will you marry me?! 🙂 ) and if I were an AFA member I'd be proud of her reaction to this situation! The CWAs handling of this and other recent issues has been completelty :down:
All of the unions on this property have slapped their junior members in the face and all of them need a good cleaning of house.
Management (esp. Jerry Glass) has succeeded in their efforts to break down the workforce--they've made us turn against each other, pay poverty wages and managed to ground us up and sell the company like a grocer that puts a new expiration sticker on a pack of expired beef. They have been sucessful in reducing costs and breaking the strength of our unions.
