ByTheBay said:
It seems that the wage cuts have and other changes have only delayed or slowed further deterioration of the busness. It appears structural changes need to be made and growth of the revenue base is paramount. The sucess or better financials of US Airways competitiors(especially the LCC's) seem attributable to the fact they utilize their assets more per day and have lower head counts per ASM. It would seem that US Airways could achieve that without further layoffs by growing into the current headcount(the 60 aircraft) and increase revenue more than cost allowing it to compete. If I were there I would at least want my leadership to listen to the plan and what changes are wanted, including what effect it would have on work, days off, etc. Since it appears US Airways is in the slow spiral back to bankruptcy with no changes it at least would present some kind of option to choose or not choose. As much as it would suck to be furloughed and see productivity enhancements negotiated it has to be bettter than the company shrinking or going away. If US Airways becomes a growing sustainable entity, retirements if nothing else will allow for recalls.
A while back, I did some research comparing the headcount of US Airways against that of Southwest. Here are the statistics.
US AIRWAYS has:
28,381 Employees
279 Aircraft
40,612 revenue seats
145.6 average seat count per A/C
43.3% of fleet is Airbus, supposedly more cost-efficient than Boeing
The above equates to: 102 employees per A/C and 0.7 employees per revenue seat.
SOUTHWEST has:
35,000 Employees (approx.)
381 Aircraft
51,432 revenue seats
135 average seat count per A/C
All Boeing fleet, supposedly less cost-efficient than Airbus
The above equates to 92 employees per A/C and 0.68 employees per revenue seat.
US Airways employees are constantly being told how efficient Southwest is and that is the secret to their success. But our headcount per revenue seat is almost exactly what Southwest's is. There is no doubt that Southwest does lots of things efficiently, but when apples are compared to apples, we are doing it with the same number of people, which tells me that there is more to the puzzle.
Revenue has yet to be addressed by this management. The lopsided hub and spoke system has yet to be seriously addressed by this management. The ineffective route structure has yet to be addressed by this management. PHL congestion has yet to be addressed by this management. But clearly, if Southwest's costs are lower, it's not attributable to labor. Southwests costs are lower because its MANAGEMENT makes wise decisions. They don't serve expensive airports. They don't (yet) have the Philly factor. They plan their fuel purchases around where aircraft will be landing, purchasing at the airports with cheaper prices. The little things they do to save money really save a lot. If something doesn't make sense, they don't do it. If something isn't working, they stop doing it.
If this management wants to start comparing itself to Southwest, it needs to start treating its employees with dignity and respect, which is probably Southwest's single most ingredient in its recipe for success.
When management lies to it employees at every turn, it can no longer be trusted. When that happens, they are no longer effective. That's when it's time to step aside and let someone who is serious at making meaningful and realistic changes to the organization come in. Once upon a time, most employees thought that person was Dave Siegel. That was when he said he would save as many jobs as possible, yet as it turns out has cut as many as possible and is now coming back for more. You would be hard-pressed to find many employees who still think Dave is the answer. Last Monday I was trying to nonrev through PIT. There was no way nonrevs were going anywhere... flights oversold and 20-30 nonrevs listed on almost every single flight. If our flights are that full why aren't we making money? Something's wrong and it ain't the headcount. Seat count has been cut so much that we can't make money. The things that once defined us as a distinctive airline are gone. Our aircraft are so filthy it's shameful. But as far as working smarter and not harder... that begins with management. They don't need our permission to roll the PHL hub... but this management would rather blame employees for inefficiencies stemming from their ineptitude than address the real problems. LABOR has twice given monetary concessions. LABOR has given benefits concessions. LABOR as given workrule concessions. Where does it stop? When does it end?
If this management has a plan, it needs to tell employees what it is. They've had almost two years to come up with one. They've had opportunities to address non-labor cost issues in bankruptcy, something most other carriers did not avail themselves of. And still, we're hearing costs are too high. The real problem is revenue is not high enough, and that's not Labor's doing. They need to figure out how to get money in and how to effectively utilize and dispatch the assets they already have. They need to get our aircraft flying longer and farther because these CLE to PIT hops ain't payin' the bills. That's how to make money... not "shrinking" with the idea of losing less money. It doesn't take a Harvard MBA to figure that out.
