How do we fix this mess?

[Boomer]

RV4 & Bob Owens,

Another question for the TWU ATD to answer is how the Simulator Technicians and Tech Services were lumped into the Joint Concession Agreement(and their $310 Million in Concessions Requirement) instead of the Maintenance & Related $310 Million Concessions Requirement since the NMB ruled that both Separate COntract Groups are part of the M&R Class & Craft.

After all, the more heads over which a dollar is spread results is a lower cost per head. More so, since the tech services group is contractually allowed to fill a Title 1 spot on a transfer.

 

[RV4]

Bob Owens,

You and I agree on more than either of us likely thought possible!

 

[Bob Owens]

Well first of all who says we have to come up with $310 million? We should attempt to give the company some financial relief to avoid bankruptcy but where does it say that we have to give them whatever they want? Is $310 reasonable? The figure appears to be arbitrary and not based upon cost comparisions with our competitors. Time to dig out the notes from negotiations and see what price the company put on Cross-utilization, the half hour lunch, deicing, push backs, OSMs etc. Even UAL and USAIR do not have these cost advantages.
Management set out a while ago to find $4 billion in savings without going to labor unless "absolutely necessary". They only "found" a little more than half, 55%. Why should we be expected to do any better? Did they eliminate all but the necessities? Using that figure if we find $170 million we have matched their performance, and hey, we don’t get million dollar salaries, bonuses and stock options. (Does anyone really require millions of dollars per year plus all those other perks? We do without them and they want us to give back!)
We would be fools to allow the company to demand an arbitrary figure like $310 million without the company explaining how that number relates to our competitors costs. Even then, that’s their side of the story. Maybe the company needs to go back and find a little more of the $4 billion somewhere else in the operation. One thing that I notice is that we still stuff all that junk in the seat pockets, American Way, Catalogues, Newspapers, magazines. SWA does not have this. Instead of using all that labor to stuff those seat backs and burn fuel flying it around the country why not just leave the stuff either on the jet bridge or the lobby? If someone wants it they can bring it with him or her. Better yet get rid of it altogether. This would save fuel and labor costs. These things have to be edited, printed, shipped, received, loaded on to each and every airplane, checked every night, replaced entirely every month and disposed of. Are all these handling costs added in against the revenue from advertisers?