T
Traveler
Guest
"The subsequent media coverage has tried to connect dots, leading to rumors,
speculations and assumptions. And let's not kid ourselves -- it is sometimes in
the interest of our competitors to seize upon opportunities to whisper things
that further those rumors," said Siegel, who had remained publicly silent about
the plans.†--Washington Post, Saturday, January 10, 2004
Dave Siegel once used the same paranoid finger pointing with the Pension Legislation for USAirways’ Pilots. He communicated, in a statement to the Pilots, that Pension Legislation, designed to restore the Pilot’s Defined Benefit Plan, which had been previously terminated, was something akin to a subversive plot by the Airline’s competition to assure USAirways’ demise.
A finger pointing here. A finger pointing there. Here a finger. There a finger. Everywhere a finger, finger. It’s the employee’s fault. It’s the Union’s fault. It’s the Government’s fault, It’s the PBGC’s fault, it’s the Airport Authority’s fault, it’s the court’s fault. Now it’s a subversive plot by the Competition. Of course... the Competition wouldn’t have a fighting chance against Management’s strategic initiatives in a fair, aboveboard, competitive, toe-to-toe battle for market share. Thus those competitors must resort to underhanded tactics, designed to ruin the Airline’s Goodwill, force future ticket bookings away from USAirways and drop the Airlines credit rating deeper into Junk, from B to B-, overnight, thereby threatening GE commitment as source funding for Billions of Dollars in Regional Jets acquisitions.
In contrast, what’s our competition’s leadership approach to public relations and Corporate Plans for the communities they serve? Is it more forthright and upbeat?
Southwest reveals it’s plans for all the word to see, nearly Six month’s before it celebrates its first arrival in Philadelphia. JetBlue launches Press Releases, outlining its plans for aircraft acquisitions and market expansion. No super secret, withholding of Corporate strategies by these fellows. Markets respond favorably, Cities praise the initiatives, critics hail the moves, Professional endorsements, Official Athletic Sponsorships, Official Airline of this, Official Airline of that. Everything falls into their laps months before the Airline even begins service because they generate excitement about detailed plans and strategies which they brilliantly share with everyone. Competitors, Investors, Analysts and Communities alike!
Let’s be very clear. The LCCs such as Southwest and JetBlue are not going to be surprised by any of the USAirways Executive Team secret initiatives or strategies. The only thing this team is achieving with concealed and secret plans is confusion and uncertainty among an uneasy traveling public, the financial community and the employees.
-USAirways employees operate in a leadership vacuum. -No definable corporate goals or objectives. -Except for photo-ops with Regional Jet Manufactures, Employees see very little or no new Initiatives. -Employees become increasingly concerned about their sacrifices, totaling in the Billions of Dollars. -The Executives, reliving the Bliss of Bankruptcy Wrangling summarily violate employee contracts, with the numbers of grievances growing into the Hundreds. -The Airline reveals, it must revise it’s business Plan. -The Employees are confused because they’ve seen no discernable original Plan. One by one, the separate employee groups express – “no confidence†in the Management team. Management communiqués, increasingly focus on gloom. Employee groups call for Senior Executive resignations. -Industry observers familiar with the Executive Team’s recipe for extracting concessions calculate the probability of Bankruptcy. –The company announces to the World that it will disclose it’s Plan to no one. -With no idea of a comprehensive strategy, the Press is surprised by Management’s move to sell vital assets, divisions and Airline Hubs.
How can you expect the World not to connect the dots? How can you point fingers when you take such apparent drastic initiatives with out prefacing these initiatives days in advance as part of an exciting logical strategy for success? How can you not anticipate the negative press while Management consistently manages Employee expectations with gloom? You keep the Plan a complete secret, initiate austere measures, then expect the world to bestow praise on a team which blunders through another public relations calamity?
This is a typical response of this Executive team. Has anyone ever heard them take responsibility. Have they ever stated, “We were just a bit off the mark on that one.†Never. This Management has never yet admitted a strategic miscalculation. The finger is always pointing outward. The Press is wrong here for making such outrageous “leaps to conclusionsâ€. And the Airline’s Competition, typically outsmarted by this Executive Team, has had to resort to underhanded prodding of the Press to cast USAirways in the most unfavorable light.
As Ambassadors of Goodwill and effective Public Relations, this executive team is bringing embarrassment and discredit upon the Airline and its employees. Remarkably, the Employees are generating high marks for the Airline in national surveys despite struggling with the limited tools and initiatives Management has crafted since Bankruptcy.
This Bulldog Executive Team throws down a handful of dots. Dot – It’s not that our Plan isn’t working but rather, Labor is the culprit of Airline doom. Dot – Management expresses surprise and confusion by Competitor’s initiatives. Dot – Labor expresses “no confidence†in Management. Dot – Management shares dismal projections with doubtful conclusions accompanied by no Plan. Dot – Management scrambles to revise the Plan. Dot – Management devises a Plan but abruptly retracts the mysterious plan. Dot – Management places critical assets on the Block with no warning or explanation of this strategy as a part of a comprehensive Plan.
Then Management Points fingers at the World for connecting these dots.
What Management did or didn’t do in Philidelphia with the Sport Sponsorships and the Official Airline Status of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia Phillies, is an embarrassment to the largest Airline calling Philadelphia home. This, along with the public relations debacle of effectively communicated Plans and initiatives are telling examples of the lack of a Human face on this Airline. While the employees struggle to cultivate loyalty and goodwill in the community, a Bulldog Management team delivers an arrogant, “What can you do for meâ€, approach to community fellowship. If one could only recognize the obvious abrasiveness between USAirways and the communities it serves along with the eroding loyalty, support and commitment by those communities with USAirways struggle for survival; one might then recognize the nature of the abrasive relationship existing between Labor and this Executive Team behind those doors at USAirways Crystal City Offices.
While the Executive team of USAirways look down, cheekily from their Crystal Throne, the employees continue to live, work and raise their families as supportive citizens of the communities they serve. These employees are part of the thread of life of these communities. These Airline employees, neighbors and citizens are an integral part, with many actively contributing to community’s aspirations for growth and prosperity. The Employees are currently struggling to find a metamorphosis in new leadership worthy of the sacrifices they and their families have made. Their struggle is to find a visionary leader who will make the employees proud to work at the Airline and to live in a Community proud to call USAirways its home. We hope and pray for patience, understanding and support during this difficult metamorphosis.
speculations and assumptions. And let's not kid ourselves -- it is sometimes in
the interest of our competitors to seize upon opportunities to whisper things
that further those rumors," said Siegel, who had remained publicly silent about
the plans.†--Washington Post, Saturday, January 10, 2004
Dave Siegel once used the same paranoid finger pointing with the Pension Legislation for USAirways’ Pilots. He communicated, in a statement to the Pilots, that Pension Legislation, designed to restore the Pilot’s Defined Benefit Plan, which had been previously terminated, was something akin to a subversive plot by the Airline’s competition to assure USAirways’ demise.
A finger pointing here. A finger pointing there. Here a finger. There a finger. Everywhere a finger, finger. It’s the employee’s fault. It’s the Union’s fault. It’s the Government’s fault, It’s the PBGC’s fault, it’s the Airport Authority’s fault, it’s the court’s fault. Now it’s a subversive plot by the Competition. Of course... the Competition wouldn’t have a fighting chance against Management’s strategic initiatives in a fair, aboveboard, competitive, toe-to-toe battle for market share. Thus those competitors must resort to underhanded tactics, designed to ruin the Airline’s Goodwill, force future ticket bookings away from USAirways and drop the Airlines credit rating deeper into Junk, from B to B-, overnight, thereby threatening GE commitment as source funding for Billions of Dollars in Regional Jets acquisitions.
In contrast, what’s our competition’s leadership approach to public relations and Corporate Plans for the communities they serve? Is it more forthright and upbeat?
Southwest reveals it’s plans for all the word to see, nearly Six month’s before it celebrates its first arrival in Philadelphia. JetBlue launches Press Releases, outlining its plans for aircraft acquisitions and market expansion. No super secret, withholding of Corporate strategies by these fellows. Markets respond favorably, Cities praise the initiatives, critics hail the moves, Professional endorsements, Official Athletic Sponsorships, Official Airline of this, Official Airline of that. Everything falls into their laps months before the Airline even begins service because they generate excitement about detailed plans and strategies which they brilliantly share with everyone. Competitors, Investors, Analysts and Communities alike!
Let’s be very clear. The LCCs such as Southwest and JetBlue are not going to be surprised by any of the USAirways Executive Team secret initiatives or strategies. The only thing this team is achieving with concealed and secret plans is confusion and uncertainty among an uneasy traveling public, the financial community and the employees.
-USAirways employees operate in a leadership vacuum. -No definable corporate goals or objectives. -Except for photo-ops with Regional Jet Manufactures, Employees see very little or no new Initiatives. -Employees become increasingly concerned about their sacrifices, totaling in the Billions of Dollars. -The Executives, reliving the Bliss of Bankruptcy Wrangling summarily violate employee contracts, with the numbers of grievances growing into the Hundreds. -The Airline reveals, it must revise it’s business Plan. -The Employees are confused because they’ve seen no discernable original Plan. One by one, the separate employee groups express – “no confidence†in the Management team. Management communiqués, increasingly focus on gloom. Employee groups call for Senior Executive resignations. -Industry observers familiar with the Executive Team’s recipe for extracting concessions calculate the probability of Bankruptcy. –The company announces to the World that it will disclose it’s Plan to no one. -With no idea of a comprehensive strategy, the Press is surprised by Management’s move to sell vital assets, divisions and Airline Hubs.
How can you expect the World not to connect the dots? How can you point fingers when you take such apparent drastic initiatives with out prefacing these initiatives days in advance as part of an exciting logical strategy for success? How can you not anticipate the negative press while Management consistently manages Employee expectations with gloom? You keep the Plan a complete secret, initiate austere measures, then expect the world to bestow praise on a team which blunders through another public relations calamity?
This is a typical response of this Executive team. Has anyone ever heard them take responsibility. Have they ever stated, “We were just a bit off the mark on that one.†Never. This Management has never yet admitted a strategic miscalculation. The finger is always pointing outward. The Press is wrong here for making such outrageous “leaps to conclusionsâ€. And the Airline’s Competition, typically outsmarted by this Executive Team, has had to resort to underhanded prodding of the Press to cast USAirways in the most unfavorable light.
As Ambassadors of Goodwill and effective Public Relations, this executive team is bringing embarrassment and discredit upon the Airline and its employees. Remarkably, the Employees are generating high marks for the Airline in national surveys despite struggling with the limited tools and initiatives Management has crafted since Bankruptcy.
This Bulldog Executive Team throws down a handful of dots. Dot – It’s not that our Plan isn’t working but rather, Labor is the culprit of Airline doom. Dot – Management expresses surprise and confusion by Competitor’s initiatives. Dot – Labor expresses “no confidence†in Management. Dot – Management shares dismal projections with doubtful conclusions accompanied by no Plan. Dot – Management scrambles to revise the Plan. Dot – Management devises a Plan but abruptly retracts the mysterious plan. Dot – Management places critical assets on the Block with no warning or explanation of this strategy as a part of a comprehensive Plan.
Then Management Points fingers at the World for connecting these dots.
What Management did or didn’t do in Philidelphia with the Sport Sponsorships and the Official Airline Status of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia Phillies, is an embarrassment to the largest Airline calling Philadelphia home. This, along with the public relations debacle of effectively communicated Plans and initiatives are telling examples of the lack of a Human face on this Airline. While the employees struggle to cultivate loyalty and goodwill in the community, a Bulldog Management team delivers an arrogant, “What can you do for meâ€, approach to community fellowship. If one could only recognize the obvious abrasiveness between USAirways and the communities it serves along with the eroding loyalty, support and commitment by those communities with USAirways struggle for survival; one might then recognize the nature of the abrasive relationship existing between Labor and this Executive Team behind those doors at USAirways Crystal City Offices.
While the Executive team of USAirways look down, cheekily from their Crystal Throne, the employees continue to live, work and raise their families as supportive citizens of the communities they serve. These employees are part of the thread of life of these communities. These Airline employees, neighbors and citizens are an integral part, with many actively contributing to community’s aspirations for growth and prosperity. The Employees are currently struggling to find a metamorphosis in new leadership worthy of the sacrifices they and their families have made. Their struggle is to find a visionary leader who will make the employees proud to work at the Airline and to live in a Community proud to call USAirways its home. We hope and pray for patience, understanding and support during this difficult metamorphosis.