Gil West promoted to EVP and COO

[Glenn Quagmire]

Gil West oversaw the vendors and outsourcing of maintenance for NWA during he tenure there. One of the biggest customers for TIMCO was NWA.

Gil West then went on to serve as Presdient and CEO of TIMCO. No ethical dilemma for him I guess.

 

[WorldTraveler]

thanks... that is a point worth sharing and I agree with you. those are the kind of FACTS that should be shared on here as part of the discussion.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

FWIW, I was offered a position as the SH&E Manager with PEMCO Dothan during the strike. They were a competitor of TIMCO.

They had just been awarded the Southwest Airlines 737 heavy maintenance/modification contract.

I could not bring myself to go to work for them. I considered them to be one of the main causes of the deterioration of Aircraft Mechanic wages. They also had NWA aircraft sitting in the hangar as they were also doing some DC-9's for NWA.

It is a good thing that I didn't take it. They filed for bankruptcy and liquidated all US operations in 2012.

Karma.

 

[Kev3188]

Gil West oversaw the vendors and outsourcing of maintenance for NWA during he tenure there. One of the biggest customers for TIMCO was NWA.

Gil West then went on to serve as Presdient and CEO of TIMCO. No ethical dilemma for him I guess.

 
Sleeping on a huge pile of money tends to do that to a person...

 

[WorldTraveler]

They had just been awarded the Southwest Airlines 737 heavy maintenance/modification contract.

interesting... and yet some swear that WN is the model to which other airlines should aspire.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

All the Delta mechanics want what SWA mechanics have. Top pay while their company outsources a portion of the heavy maintenance.

Gil West.

 

[WorldTraveler]

WN outsources 60% of their maintenance spend; DL is at 40%. Only AA is lower based on last year's numbers and it is far from certain where AA will end up.

UA, often cited as being what DL mechanics want, is also well above DL in outsourcing.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

No mechanic at Delta wants what UA has. They want what SWA, UPS, and FEDEX have.

 

[Kev3188]

UA, often cited as being what DL mechanics want, is also well above DL in outsourcing.

Often cited where?

 

[WorldTraveler]

there is a poster on this forum and an active DL mechanic by his own words who frequently has said he wants the pay UA has.

What DL employees are willing to work for is demonstrated by the paychecks they take home which this week includes profit sharing that leads the industry - at least among legacy carriers. Although I have asked, we have yet to see a value posted for how much WN employees will gain in profit sharing. In terms of total profit sharing, DL employees are far, far in front for a workforce that is about 2X the size of WN's.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

WN mechanics make $10/hr + more than DL mechanics and they get profit sharing. They don't post here because they don't care what Delta has or gets because they eclipsed them long ago. It is really that simple.

And thanks to NWA for giving me a nudge, I have also eclipsed any salary Delta would be paying me.

They also have had profit sharing since 1973. They would also be getting a paid move if they had a RIF.

Here is the 2008 AMFA contract.

http://www.amfanational.org/docs/contracts/swamechs_contract_2008.pdf

Gil West will make sure that will never happen at Delta.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Again, it isn't hard to pay higher salaries if you subcontract out a much higher percentage of the work and keep far less of it inhouse.

I'm not saying any DL mechanic or any other employee should be happy with any level of outsourcing but the simple fact is that WN's business model from the beginning has been built around outsourcing much higher percentages of outsourcing than any US airline.

Given that so many accuse other people here accuse DL of leading the outsourcing of ramp, why isn't WN held to the same standard?

UA and US now outsource comparable amounts of their total maintenance budget and AA has made it clear that it is not going to continue as having the amount of inhouse maintenance that they have had in the past.

I don't know what Gil West will do in his new capacity but he has had responsibility for maintenance and ACS, the two areas of any airline that are most subject to outsourcing, so the notion that he will be outsourcing more is hard to believe given that he could have done it earlier if that was his bent.

DL is bringing more work inhouse because DL people can operate DL jets more efficiently than other carriers can do it contracted to DL.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Again, it isn't hard to pay higher salaries if you subcontract out a much higher percentage of the work and keep far less of it inhouse.

The difference is that SWA gives that money back to their employees in the form of higher salary. Delta does not, nor do any of the other legacy carriers. It is clear that AMFA at SWA did a fine job negotiating, and SWA wants to keep a highly productive work force. They do that through industry leading pay and quality of work life.

When Delta completes the Aeromexico hangar and sends all that work there, will they pass the cost savings along to the mechanics?

 

[WorldTraveler]

hogwash.

DL has 50% less outsourcing than WN employees do. DL employees don't make 50% less than WN employees.

And DL employees have gained 8.2% profit sharing this year. Again, I have yet to see the exact percentage of profit sharing for each WN employee but it shouldn't be hard to calculate.

You seem to believe that the AM/DL JV is about cost reduction. I'm not sure the company ever said that but perhaps they did.

Based on comments from DL mechanics on here, it is probably as much about increasing the quality of outsourcing by being able to own part of the process and to be able to sell an entire suite of maintenance services and make money on it. It has been reported here that DL has had to do airframe overhauls on MRO jets because if they didn't they wouldn't get the contract. DL has said that the Maintenance JV is about AM and DL specializing on the parts of the overhaul process where each can make money and work within their capabilities. DL can't make money doing mainframe overhauls; AM doesn't have the capabilities to do the engine and component overhauls that DL does.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

And DL employees have gained 8.2% profit sharing this year. Again, I have yet to see the exact percentage of profit sharing for each WN employee but it shouldn't be hard to calculate.

SWA Contributed $228 million to the Profitsharing Plan, an increase of $107 million over 2012. That and $10/hr more in real wages written in a contract. Not many SWA mechanics are filling out applications for employment at Delta.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-reports-record-fourth-130000153.html

They have been doing this since 1973. I am sure they are happy to welcome Delta and others to the party.

Feel free to do the math.

Gil West was more than likely brought back for his expertise in managing vendor operations. Look for him to activate and utilize his network going forward as Delta moves more work away from the TOC and MSP/DTW.