Crew News 3/22

[Walmartgreeter]

Scott Kirby is a money man, not a people person. I have personally seen him in action. He can orate just fine on the fly if it has to do with finance...but when it gets down to operations or people concerns...he reverts the same "Uh, Uh,..I will get back to you" routine he shows in the video. This management team is running scared. They never had any intention of actually putting the two airlines together, much less fine tuning the ops of a major airline. This is a train crash where the back half of the train has jack-knifed and the lead Engine sees nothing but clear track ahead. He deserves no slack whatsoever. His only mentor is, well....take a look at my avatar. Best. Greeter.

 

[Skycat]

Just finished watching it. A few observations:
Kirby's explanation of the Shares issue was a waste of breath. He repeated much of the spin factor he gave to the media. We are on the inside looking out and I've seen something far different and destructive. (still)
Way too slow getting the mikes out to the speakers. Did not hear 3-4 questions. Two glitches with the labels within the webcast they were repeats with different subject titles.
Our wonderful fearless flight attendants gave Mr Kirby the accountabiity question. LOVED IT.
The squirm factor was fairly minimal because the questions were presented well, although Mr Kirby was probably most uncomfortable not being prepared for his audience.
Speaking of being unprepared.....

Sherry should be ashamed of herself. There is NO excuse not having a clue about staffing models and displacements etc. Go home and stay there.

Thank you to those (at least 3 of them) that brought up "recalls" to Scott. He did not acknowledge the recall question but I'm glad it was brought up.

Mr Kirby promised (after being pushed against the flight attendant wall) to get an answer out on the displacement issue (alternatives?) and about the ETC by the end of this week.
Surprised at not hearing anything about s l o w speed of the merged contract negotiations but right now there are more immediate fish to fry.

---------------------------------------------------------
If you go back to the webcast, to the two labels that seemed the same, they start out the same but have other questions at the end.

 

[UWCactus]

I was at that meeting and I thought that a lot of the CLT based FA's brought up some excellent points and I know that Scott has brought this back to Tempe. I love how the East can bring these things to the forefront, it's what makes them worth the investment.

Scott was not properly briefed as this being a big issue for the day, therefore he was not prepared. Most presidents are not always in touch with specific workgroups as closely as the group would like, but are more focused on the company as a whole. It would have been nice to have him briefed, so I dont' know if the CLT based management could feel the heat from the FA's prior to this or not. I think they will try to find a reasonable solution to the displacements as long as it's not too costly and it's within contractual limits. It's a heck of a lot more expensive to displace.

 

[Walmartgreeter]

"I love how the East can bring these things to the forefront, it's what makes them worth the investment"

Wow. Glad you could clear that up, and sorry poor Kirby was not on board with his job!

"them" worth the investment? I will let this obsene comment pass, for fear of thread creep. You West management types have bigger fish to fry... i.e. running two separate airlines.

Greeter.

 

[Travelpro72]

After watching this video and working my A$$ off this past two weeks I bet that if there were some LEGAL way to walk off his baby would be shut down today. I have NEVER seen flight attendants so frustrated, PO'd and to the breaking point as I have recently. That goes for all of the other frontliners as well. God what you agents have gone through and are STILL going through to a degree. This company better get their $h!t together and quick. As for Sherri, I take back what I said as I don't like to call people names. I do think that she (You) if you really do read these boards need to PLEASE for your and the companies sake get in tune with your East flight attendants. We make up a HUGE portion of your f/a base and are not happy campers here. I don't understand a president being so out of touch with a group. He needs to get in there and figure out just WHO is responsible for this crap. As I type that folks we made the news again here in PHL. If we can't even fix passenger bags being lost for 10 days what makes us think WE are the priority? Honestly, where is all of this headed.

 

[Nothin Less Than Victory]

the contents should be made public if it is as interesting as it is being mentioned. Perhaps then, we the public can provide support to exploit the problem and create good morale for both customer and employee :mf_boff:

 

[cactusflyer]

Yikes...that was ugly! Kudos to the CLT FA's that didn't hold back. We need more of that around this airline. Sherri totally hung Scott out to dry. Oh "that's crew planning". What a complete moron. Inflight IS her department. It's her job to know what's going to impact the FA's and she should have known enough to brief Scott before the meeting. Sherri takes a couple of business "classes" via some two bit correspondence course and is suddenly able to oversee 8,000 FA's. I don't think so and day by day she is clearly demonstrating that fact! These displacements are life altering issues impacting the entire east and she knows nothing about it? If I were Sherri I'd be looking into getting a refund for those "classes" because she certainly didn't learn a damn thing. :down: Back to the barn with your horses Sherri....

CLT folks, let us know what happens this week since Scott said they would get back to you.

 

[EMBFA]

sky high states: I'm LIKING you so much,......this week.
only stating opinions.

LOL!!!

 

[UWCactus]

Yikes...that was ugly! Kudos to the CLT FA's that didn't hold back. We need more of that around this airline. Sherri totally hung Scott out to dry. Oh "that's crew planning". What a complete moron. Inflight IS her department. It's her job to know what's going to impact the FA's and she should have known enough to brief Scott before the meeting. Sherri takes a couple of business "classes" via some two bit correspondence course and is suddenly able to oversee 8,000 FA's. I don't think so and day by day she is clearly demonstrating that fact! These displacements are life altering issues impacting the entire east and she knows nothing about it? If I were Sherri I'd be looking into getting a refund for those "classes" because she certainly didn't learn a damn thing. :down: Back to the barn with your horses Sherri....

CLT folks, let us know what happens this week since Scott said they would get back to you.

I'm trying trying to stick up for anyone, but for the record. David Seymour is over the Crew Planning area, not Sherri Shamblin. It would have been David Seymour that would have briefed Scott prior to this meeting. However, the people in the East that intereact with the employees affected by the displacements, probably should have given everyone a "heads up" that this was a big issue in the East especially on this day. Presidents are generally not so focused on "one work group", there are 35,000 employees and thats why you have different people responsible for different areas. Cut Scott a break on this one, he was blindsided and was probably expecting the SHARES issue to dominate this meeting since it affected so many employees.

Hats off to those employees that really made this well known to management how they feel. I am certain that these guys will take it to heart, the already have, but this session really helps.

 

[wmjb2002]

I'm trying trying to stick up for anyone, but for the record. David Seymour is over the Crew Planning area, not Sherri Shamblin. It would have been David Seymour that would have briefed Scott prior to this meeting. However, the people in the East that intereact with the employees affected by the displacements, probably should have given everyone a "heads up" that this was a big issue in the East especially on this day. Presidents are generally not so focused on "one work group", there are 35,000 employees and thats why you have different people responsible for different areas. Cut Scott a break on this one, he was blindsided and was probably expecting the SHARES issue to dominate this meeting since it affected so many employees.

Hats off to those employees that really made this well known to management how they feel. I am certain that these guys will take it to heart, the already have, but this session really helps.

So I would think that David Seymour and Sherri Shamblin should inform each other and know what the other is doing, as Crew Planning and Inflight seem to be closely interconnected. Do you think she was surprised at crew news session? If she was, then that's sad because it means she doesn't have a pulse on the Flight Attendant work group. Isn't that what Inflight is?

Though Presidents are generally not so focused on "one work group", so you say, I would think if they were conducting crew sessions with one group they would be up to speed on what issues were particularly important to that group at this date and time. Crew sessions have been taking place for a while now. Not to be up-to-date is foolish. He seemed like he wished he had been up-to-speed.
I would think managers should have a flow up as well as flow down for communication. I haven't been to business school but it seems a practical and necessary practice when running a large company.

If the sentiment of displacements is a shock to all the people who decide to use that option then it's no wonder why everyone feels like 'just a number'. I don't believe that the reaction to the displacements is a shock, they either don't care or want people to quit.(or it could be that displacements only affect a small percentage of flight attendants..so what's a few hundred)

Scott said he did care, and he wasn't looking to fire people or have them quit, so his action should be a good one for all those affected. It will be one week tomorrow....so we should hear Scott's good news tomorrow!

 

[aredeeyou22]

Wow, after that very first question where she stood up and yelled "I'm not Crew Planning!", Sheri Shamblin just ran and hid, ha? Unbelievable.

Exactly what are you, Sheri? Just so we know.....

 

[Jetsetter2Ord]

After watching the crew news, I understand the frustration to the East FAs and the displacements and I have empathy for those facing the displacements.

I listened to the one RV say how he was used 14 out of 15 days and only had 51hrs. One fix to that is for you to separate your parings from the pilots. They are holding you back to working more productive and high credit parings. Over on the West, we used to do that, but we went with having our own parings built which resulted higher credit trips, and it allows for a better mix of crew utilization.

I know that some would disagree with me because of the CRM with working with only one flight deck crew. But we have been doing this over on the West for years. I would rather have better trips than be stuck with one set of pilots. Sometimes, that set of pilots you would rather not fly with more than one leg anyway. Other times, you get some awesome pilots and wish you could have flown with them the entire trip.

Wouldnt you prefer to work a 10credit hr turn day? Going coast to coast and back? Or would you prefer to do a 4day trip that resulted in low credit because you are restricted to the pilot contract of not flying over 8hrs of duty?

Now is the opportunity to let your MEC know that you want better crew utilization by builing FA parings differently from Pilot parings.

There are many ways to help make all of our jobs more effective with schedules and such.

I think that the company should initiate a round table session(s) where work groups could get together and voice suggestions to help make things work more efficiently. If that suggestion can net results and or save the company money, reward the employee with a monetary incentive?

In closing, hang in there my fellow crewmembers. I believe that Scott will get you the answers you want and help make the displacement issue one that will result in less stress and allow for everyone to be in a base they want to be working in. I saw lots of passion for our job on the crew news! We just need to get the tools to fix the problems.

 

[aredeeyou22]

I listened to the one RV say how he was used 14 out of 15 days and only had 51hrs. One fix to that is for you to separate your parings from the pilots.

While that may be true, the way to fix that is to pay us appropriately for split trips, which is a large chunk of reserve flying. Coming to the airport each day to do a CLT-RDU-CLT turn for 1:58 pay is no way to make a living. See, a lot of these riduculous concessions were given in the THIRD round of concessions when we were, yet again, in the red. Whether you feel they were needed back then is no longer the issue; the issue now is that we are generating a profit. Time for them to go.

Off topic a bit, but on the East, USAir deducts the full amount of sick time used from our sick bank, but pays us for only 70% of that time. Does that happen out west? Just curious....

 

[SKY HIGH]

Wouldnt you prefer to work a 10credit hr turn day? Going coast to coast and back? Or would you prefer to do a 4day trip that resulted in low credit because you are restricted to the pilot contract of not flying over 8hrs of duty?

sky high states: In theory, that would be awesome. But, what incentive does the company have to build trips by our preferences? What if the company decides to build all one days for the LGA/BOS/DCA bases? 3 Hour "sits" in CLT, PHX? What's the recourse?
Secondly, can you imagine the "Philly factor" with separate crews all trying to get to their departures? One aircraft has a front end crew. Another is missing the F/A's. I smell, disaster.

only stating opinions.

 

[Jetsetter2Ord]

Well our sick policy is not so generous out on the West. We are given a 45hr sick bank at the beginning of the year.

You only get paid for those sick calls if you bring yourself below 75 hrs. So if you work high time flying, example 100hrs...your trip you call in sick for is worth 15 credits, that brings you down to 85 hrs...you do not get paid for that sick call because you are above the 75 hr guarantee. It sucks, but there are ways for us to get paid for that trip if you creatively make adjustments to your line.

You have the option of waiving your credit for that trip and not be utilized from your sick bank. But you need to let crew resources know that at time of your call, otherwise it will be charged to your sick bank.

Now after you call in sick 8 times during the calendar year, you will then receive a letter in your mailbox from your supervisor stating your availibilty.

Our sick policy is literally SICK, we are hoping that in our joint contract that this will change.

This is another reason why so many FAs fly when they are sick. We simply can not afford to call in sick