IAM FLEET SERVICE

[roosterfish]

one of my friends used to work the ramp for southwest in phl. if i remember correctly there are 3 agents to a gate and a lead. if your gate needs assistance, then the crew from one of your "sister" gates has to help you if they have downtime.
so while it might look like there are 5,6,7 people working a flight; its actually 2 crews from 2 gates working one flight.
...and they have 30 min turnarounds

 

[pjirish317]

Additionally, it doesn't matter to be in terms of difficulty between Southwest 737's and our A319's, if anything the A319's would be easier as it has more headroom in the bins and I stack front or back alone. The A320's are marginally more difficult, but only if there is large amounts of cargo, because otherwise short stacking 80 in the forward and 90 in the aft isn't a big deal alone.

Jester,
Apparently all those alone stacking jobs of 80 or 90 baqs has taken it's toll on you. Maybee you should ask for help. I for one will not get in any bin to stack unless I have help. Commuters being the exception to the rule. I personally know a ramper who has been out for over a year on OJI for a shoulder injury, because they unloaded a 737-400 on their own without any help. Now I know a "reasonable" effort must be made to do your job, so here in my suggestion, take it however you want, if you ever find yourself by yourself to off/onload a flt, stop the belt, put 1 bag on it, climb in/out of the bin, re-start the belt, put said bag in cart/bin, stop the belt and repeat. This is a sure fire way to get help, especially if the pax have to wait over an hour to get their bags. Because 1 bag at a time could take some time, if you are by yourself that is. This IMO is a "reasonable" effort.

 

[The Bagfather]

WN in SAN has about 10 gates..maybe 60 flights. The bag room
is a one hour on one hour off deal. The 30 min turn thing just
means more break time. Say 7 flights on an 8 hr shift...Thats
aprox 3 1/2 hrs.. add another hour or so for prep time and
you have 4 1/2 hr of work on a FT shift. I don't think
in general that they have nearly as many bags as we do.

But its really apples and rocks as somebody allready said. WN
is a predictable finely tuned machine. US is an adventure.
I wonder for instance how many schedual changes WN has
compared to US. I was on WN one time with a connection.
It wasn't more that a 15min connect time. I ran from one gate
to the next and told the gate agent not to worry if my
checked bag didn't make it. He said it definatly would. And
it did. Later I was asking myself how did they do this
and it dawned on me that because this probably happened a lot
and they were prepared for it. Because there is so much
consistency the rampers are ready.

So waxes philosophic the Bagfather

 

[Jester]

WN in SAN has about 10 gates..maybe 60 flights. The bag room is a one hour on one hour off deal. The 30 min turn thing just means more break time. Say 7 flights on an 8 hr shift...Thats aprox 3 1/2 hrs.. add another hour or so for prep time and you have 4 1/2 hr of work on a FT shift. I don't think in general that they have nearly as many bags as we do.

But its really apples and rocks as somebody allready said. WN is a predictable finely tuned machine. US is an adventure. I wonder for instance how many schedual changes WN has
compared to US. I was on WN one time with a connection. It wasn't more that a 15min connect time. I ran from one gate to the next and told the gate agent not to worry if my checked bag didn't make it. He said it definatly would. And it did. Later I was asking myself how did they do this
and it dawned on me that because this probably happened a lot and they were prepared for it. Because there is so much consistency the rampers are ready.

So waxes philosophic the Bagfather

Probably Southwest never gets the Philly bag salad special. Just imagine a t-point runner showing up plane side with not only an accurate count of bags and their destinations, but also the CONX bags separated out within the bins from the local bags! I'll be sure to alert the media if I see that happening on an in-bound Philly East B757 or even an in-bound LAX. 15 minutes is enough time if loaded properly and not insane numbers of connect bags.

They look as if they are getting about as many bags to me, even if their load factor is around 70%, still which would you rather handle? Four turns a day or seven?

So nihilistically speaks Jester.

 

[Hey.. Chill Out]

What did Ron Roth do to stop the company from changing starting
pay from $7.50 to $9.00 with no other pay raise. What did Ron
Roth do to inform PHX that they could continue section 6 under
the TWU contract.
Now what will Ron Roth do to get rid of Canale.

NOTHING. He is loyal to the current IAM crew, just come read his updates in the breakrooms.

Rumor has it that RR is trying to get us under the east bankruptcy contract so at the very least, we get a raise!

80 bags in an airbus is SO EASY. You can stack 40:40. Hell, you can even do like 20:20 and put 40 right by the bin door haha! What a waste of energy to load bags ALLL the way in the back haha! I can load 150 by myself in the back of a 320, and I'm kind of a sexy-heavy guy too.

 

[john john]

O-man,

Now I can see why US Airways went bankrupt twice. I guess it was all part of the work rules which lead to financial ruin.

... I do spend time watching and learning. It is part of a curious mind, especially given my vantage point between flights to see how Southwest handles their ground operations. What makes their operations successful and ours near the bottom? I particularly enjoy when I am flying Southwest and from the view of the gate area where up close I can note how things are done... I mean if that's okay with you on my own time, right?

Gate agents and loaders should be built like sumo wrestlers and not like gymnasts.

So inquires Jester.

Ever union on US property has sat down with management before bankruptcy during bankruptcy and after bankruptcy and said give us southwest contract.Let me clue you in why US is a train wreck it isn’t the contracts it isn’t the frontline employees guess what DUD who is left
And why does a gate agent need to be the size of a WWF wrestler

 

[b737200]

This sounds so much like the old PI/US merger crap, it makes me want to puke.
The only difference between management and fleet is : Management sit's around
trying to figure out how to get more by doing less and you guy's are worried about
making to much, having to many people around an a/c, and hurting the company.
We are only a few of 37,000. Stop the guilt trips and ask for what your due.

Randy " cheap suites " Canale and Doug " the cheeks " Parker want an agreement
so they both can get rich off of the fleet. Anyone ask, how many shares of UA cheap suites own?
We know Parkers loaded with stock.

Stop beating each other down, get ready to send the next cheap t/a back and really
get ready to send cheap suites and the boyz packing this spring. IMO some of you guy's
only have enough balls to slap down a 90 year old door greeter at wallmart. It's time
to make a stand.

BTW; ifyou guy's want, maybe we can get language in the next t/a that says new hires can
only work a maximum of two years but the senior guy's are grand fathered in for the duration
of thier carreer.

 

[b737200]

Oh and I forgot; Wheres Goldenram (ROD)? Canale reel you in after the 18.00 an hour comment.
Haven't seen you around! Just to let you know I received the first check with the
.17 cent an hour raise you brought back from the table last time. Had a great time,
at diiner Sat night at Taco Bell I had extra sour cream on my tacos.
ARE YOU PROUD?

 

[GoldenRam94]

Oh and I forgot; Wheres Goldenram (ROD)? Canale reel you in after the 18.00 an hour comment.
Haven't seen you around! Just to let you know I received the first check with the
.17 cent an hour raise you brought back from the table last time. Had a great time,
at diiner Sat night at Taco Bell I had extra sour cream on my tacos.
ARE YOU PROUD?

Just sitting back and enjoying the conversations. Really nothing to add, we can see that there are some perceptions out there that simply will not fly. I am glad you were able to afford a meal at Taco Bell, maybe you are getting paid too much! $18 per hour seems like a fair wage for the work you provide!

 

[pit_till_death]

O-man,

Two rampers in the forward bin of a B737 as being the standard? Now I can see why US Airways went bankrupt twice. I recall flying them years ago and it looked as if the paychecks were loaded on as COMAT, only to realize that's the degree of ramp overstaffing as it was once done. Not to mention, mechanics reading novels and sleeping on aircraft tugs awaiting push back instructions from the flight deck. I guess it was all part of the work rules which lead to financial ruin.

Yes, you are right... I do spend time watching and learning. It is part of a curious mind, especially given my vantage point between flights to see how Southwest handles their ground operations. What makes their operations successful and ours near the bottom? I particularly enjoy when I am flying Southwest and from the view of the gate area where up close I can note how things are done... I mean if that's okay with you on my own time, right?

Also you act as if I haven't done this job for awhile, nor have had any injuries. I have had a several OJIs from shoulder spasms, back strains, finger jams, 3rd burns from air start units, tendinistis in elbows and wrists, scalp gashes requiring stitches after striking an antenna, and a few eye sprayings of Skydrol... it's all part of the job. Frankly, some people shouldn't be out here if they are prone to more serious injuries performing routine work. Gate agents and loaders should be built like sumo wrestlers and not like gymnasts.

By the way, were you the lead from BWI who was working on Sudoku puzzles between flights while in PHX?

So inquires Jester.

Now I KNOW I would NEVER wish to work with you jester. You're either the clumsiest or the dumbest ramper I've ever heard of!!! Even the laziest rampers that YOU speak of, that fill out those "questionable" oji's don't get injured as much as you. You're a trainwreck!!! Maybe you should work a little "safer"?? Oh yeah, that's right, I almost forgot about the suit and tie. Maybe we're all a little safer now. :unsure:

 

[700UW]

Ok Jester,

Your facts are way off base.

US filed bankruptcy the first time because they lessor and them could not reach terms and they were going to force an involuntary bankruptcy filing on US.

ALPA had all ready agreed to concessions and the rest of the unions were just about there and got offers from US on the Sunday morning before they filed.

The second filing was a combination of factors, one was to get out of paying the IAM M&R Membership $15 Million and bringing back 300 workers because of the airbus arbitration.

Two was no labor group trusted the company anymore and the IAM would not talk to them because the company was proven not to be trusted.

Three was they were setting themselves up for another merger.

Four the only way to get GECAS on board was to get more concessions from everyone and they used the bankrutpcy laws to achieve that.

Five the first POR and Siegel were complete failures.

 

[orioleman]

so says jester,
"Also you act as if I haven't done this job for awhile, nor have had any injuries. I have had a several OJIs from shoulder spasms, back strains, finger jams, 3rd burns from air start units, tendinistis in elbows and wrists, scalp gashes requiring stitches after striking an antenna, and a few eye sprayings of Skydrol... it's all part of the job. Frankly, some people shouldn't be out here if they are prone to more serious injuries performing routine work. Gate agents and loaders should be built like sumo wrestlers and not like gymnasts."

Geez maybe if you worked a little safer you won't have injured yourself so much, Hope I'm not stuck working with you
I might get run over by the a/c your parking, but then again I don't think that will happen since , You smell and speak so
much like management I highly doubt our paths will ever cross thank goodness.

and to answer you question NO that wasn't me sitting around doing sudoku

 

[mike33]

Just sitting back and enjoying the conversations. Really nothing to add, we can see that there are some perceptions out there that simply will not fly. I am glad you were able to afford a meal at Taco Bell, maybe you are getting paid too much! $18 per hour seems like a fair wage for the work you provide!

And $100,000 is a fair wage we provided for You ? ( past tense ) You are truely a figment of ur own imagination. " over opinionated and underinformed "

 

[orioleman]

jester,
"Probably Southwest never gets the Philly bag salad special. Just imagine a t-point runner showing up plane side with not only an accurate count of bags and their destinations, but also the CONX bags separated out within the bins from the local bags! I'll be sure to alert the media if I see that happening on an in-bound Philly East B757 or even an in-bound LAX. 15 minutes is enough time if loaded properly and not insane numbers of connect bags."

Jester you have to be joking, for obvious reason I know you have never offloaded a phx inbd. not only you don't know
commodity codes. BO/BE/BL You don't finalize your DRLF's with where everything is, but then again that would be hard
to know since you just throw the bags in the bin of convienance. and since you like to load 70 bags aft and 70 bags fwd
by yourself that would explain WHY you can't zone load . God forbid you had 100 conx bags and 40 locals ,,what to do

what to do, huh lets just throw have in the back and the rest upfront.


so sayz the O-man

 

[Hey.. Chill Out]

Jester, you are a bigot man. Everything you have said in this thread would indicate that so don't go cry to the moderator. Southwest is awaiting your application.