One happy combined workforce

[bulldog]

Befor I start please this isnt a negative post so if you want to stir up crap post on another topic.

As we have progressed with this merger it seems that we still are very divided as a work force. The mentality of the East vs West can be negative and self destructive.
From what I have read we still have a way to go to intergrate our different corporate cultures into one.

We seem to argue over things that we have no control over such as non rev.

My question to everyone is simple, What can we do as employees to foster a posative team of employees.

Once again please be constructive in your suguestions. We have no control over things like Wages thats between the Union and Management.

 

[EricLv2Fish]

People in general have a natural tendency to resist change. Embrace change. Change is going to happen. Support your co-worker. Forget the past and get a fresh start even with you co-workers you may not like so much. Your going to need each other. Work together as a team to solve problems. Stick together, communicate problems you need help solving. Don't put off your co-worker when he/she needs help. This is my advice to those at the lowest level. About all we have is each other the rest is out of our control.

 

[delldude]

hehehehe..... :blink:

 

[gonzo]

It has taken many years of Blood, Sweat and Tears on the part of both East and West to get to this point. The East has gone through some very tough times. The West is full of uncertainty about their future.

Everyone needs time to adjust. Saying that we should be working as a single team is not a practical statement at this time. The company, DP and friends, should be focusing on the individual integration of all the employees. If DP and friends don't try to accomplish the integration then they are not concerned about the long term survival of US Airways and are in it for the short term "fast buck".

It's tough to be positive when your "leaders" (DP and friends)don't seem to be doing much to improve the attitudes of the workers. Yes, there will be some that will not change, no matter what, but the vast majority are looking for leadership not rhetoric from DP and friends. Nuff said........for now.

PS.
This is a really positive statement: "you want to stir up crap post on another topic."

 

[UWCactus]

I think that right now, we are at a difficult time of the year for a merger to have just occurred. This time of year brings back bad memories of the breakdown at US Airways last season. The company is trying to merge the systems that affect the customer, check-in, reservations, locations, etc,. It's a monumental task and the employees must realize that change is inevitable and we have to ask ourselves what the alternative really was for both carriers? We need to spend the next two months really focused on the customer, the money they bring in, and let the company work through those problems too. Cultural changes, and integration will occur over time, not overnight. If we ask any furloughed pilot, flight attendant, gate agent or others if they'd rather still be working, i'm sure most would say yes. Employees have a greater interest in the survival of this new airline than we believe and we must support each other, help each other, acknowledge each other and try to realize that we all have one thing in common....mortgages, household bills, child care, food on the table, cars to maintain and ultimately a paycheck..no matter how big or small. We cannot sit back and expect management to do everything for us, we have our own responsibilties as employees, for each other and for the customer.

Make it a great holiday for yourselves and our customers and if you are in a customer contact position, try to anticipate customer needs and try to go out of your way to help a few people each day if the opportunity presents itself, the same for another employee.

 

[diogenes]

The latest management training in academia is that change occurs, and organization members need to embrace change.

Let's think about that (so far, academia wants us to regurgitate what they feed us back to them).

Management likes to present change as unchangeable.

Really? Would the outcome at US have been any different if Kellerher had decided to run US in 1999 rather than Siegel? How about if Gore was President rather than Bush?

Change IS a constant, but the shape and form of that change isn't fixed - humans alter the flow of change.

To tell employees to mindlessly embrace change is folly - nobody is going to do that.

Tell folks what changes are in store. If they buy in, they will facilitate the change.

When management DOESN'T tell folks what is coming, folks are naturally going to assume they aren't going to like the change.

Question. Can anybody articulate, in a few paragraphs, what U will look like next year, and five years out? Can anybody tell us how many employees there will be, at what compensation? Of the immediate problems - PHL, labor intergration, financial losses -how are they being addressed?

Until management lays that vision out, there will continue to be turmoil.

"Trust us" doesn't cut it.

 

[john john]

I think that right now, we are at a difficult time of the year for a merger to have just occurred. This time of year brings back bad memories of the breakdown at US Airways last season. The company is trying to merge the systems that affect the customer, check-in, reservations, locations, etc,. It's a monumental task and the employees must realize that change is inevitable and we have to ask ourselves what the alternative really was for both carriers? We need to spend the next two months really focused on the customer, the money they bring in, and let the company work through those problems too. Cultural changes, and integration will occur over time, not overnight. If we ask any furloughed pilot, flight attendant, gate agent or others if they'd rather still be working, i'm sure most would say yes. Employees have a greater interest in the survival of this new airline than we believe and we must support each other, help each other, acknowledge each other and try to realize that we all have one thing in common....mortgages, household bills, child care, food on the table, cars to maintain and ultimately a paycheck..no matter how big or small. We cannot sit back and expect management to do everything for us, we have our own responsibilties as employees, for each other and for the customer.

Make it a great holiday for yourselves and our customers and if you are in a customer contact position, try to anticipate customer needs and try to go out of your way to help a few people each day if the opportunity presents itself, the same for another employee.

Are you saying we will have to work for less paid and benefits and job protection so the airline won't have big problems? And if you don't like it quit. You will be better of than trying to fine another job. Hum..let me see....I have to think about this......all this is very new to me.

I think that right now, we are at a difficult time of the year for a merger to have just occurred. This time of year brings back bad memories of the breakdown at US Airways last season.we have our own responsibilties as employees, for each other and for the customer.

 

[AIRWOMAN]

Here's my $5 worth..........

Each and every individual has the power to drive his or her destiny. So do it!! Expend some of the energy by trying to make things better. Have a part in making things the best that they can be. Who in their right mind, ever got into aviation thinking that they were going to become rich?? And if by some chance you did, I would think that by now, reality has set in. You're not going to be rich when you have a tool box, grease on your hands, work crappy shifts, have crappy days off, freeze your butt off, sweat your butt off, work holidays and/or weekends, cut yourself and bleed (red blood by the way, not blue blood), sit in a cubicle, have your "boss" tell you what to do when he has no clue because he's never been there or done that, work for or along side people that don't have a clue and never will, hand out tools, stock the shelves, load the bags, marshall an airplane, clean the barf off the sidewalls, watch the office/administrative staff leave early on a day before the holiday, watch certain departments leave early on a Friday for their "fun, moral building day".........and yeah, it may stink and it may tick you off and you may "wish" that you weren't there any more but in that "better" place you observe BUT............it's the career you have chosen. It's the career that you LOVE. It's the career that you take pride in. It's the career that is in your blood. It's the career that gives you satisfaction and adds some meaning to your life. It's your choice. No one is making you stay. It is a free country by GOD. And just like this country, LOVE AVIATION OR LEAVE IT. You're not a CEO, not a director, not a manager..........by choice, you're exactly where you chose to be. And if want to be a CEO, a director, manager, then be it. No one is stopping you!!

I have read many posts. It doesn't seem that either union has the best of anything. So again, I pose the question to everyone: If no one is truly happy and satisfied with their current contract, wouldn't this be the time to come together as aviation professionals, members of a new airline and work together and try to get the best from each contract? And even past the contract..........do all this to have a part in making this a success.

 

[EricLv2Fish]

Nice post. People are only powerless to change their destiny if they take no action. Often a "bad" decision is better than no decision. Crap or get off the pot.

 

[l8rd8r]

<Mentality of East v West can be negative and self destrutive>

Ok, first off mentality has nothing to do with it. I'm phl in-flight and I witnessed the management crap done to agents, mechanics and pax last winter. It was reality. Management F***&^ up. If 100% of the agents and F/A's were available to work it still wouldn't have been enough. If all the equiptment worked it still would not have been enough. Do you really think management is acting the same way as last year? They provide the tools and we use them. Even last year without the tools we employees were improvising. I know I spent my Christmas stuck in Phl at a crappy hotel with a group of other employees. We all went to the airport to help out (non pay). Outside of the general negative public that every group has no matter how great things are.The East has been around we delt with it all. YOU underestimate the mentality of the East and thats insulting. The merger gave life to the East once again. We see the changes that are coming around and we know we won't be blamed for any mishaps this holiday cause there won't be any. The public eyes are on management as ours have always been. If you continue to label the East as negative your the cause of the problem. The aviation industry has changed we are big kids we can either accept it or move on, you should too. My advice to all is get over it. We are USAirways. It is what it is. Go to work with your same smiling face and normal attitude and life will go on.

 

[gonzo]

l8rd8r,

There will be time later for the water to be calm. Right now there needs to be some "waves". Everyone will get over it in their own way. Just as you are trying to.

 

[AIRWOMAN]

l8rd8r,

There will be time later for the water to be calm. Right now there needs to be some "waves". Everyone will get over it in their own way. Just as you are trying to.

You gotta ride the waves when there are waves and have FUN doing it. And there is work involved when riding the wave. There's always a way to figure out the BEST way to ride the wave.

 

[UWCactus]

Are you saying we will have to work for less paid and benefits and job protection so the airline won't have big problems? And if you don't like it quit. You will be better of than trying to fine another job. Hum..let me see....I have to think about this......all this is very new to me.

I can't see where you got that assumption from my post. You may need to read it again with a different color of glasses.

 

[AstroLounge]

You gotta ride the waves when there are waves and have FUN doing it. And there is work involved when riding the wave. There's always a way to figure out the BEST way to ride the wave.

Very true but I totally agree that ALL EYES will be on MANAGEMENT during this critical travel period. The fiasco of the PHL Meltdown was not a shocker to ANY of the rank and file workers......the bumbling idiots at the Top were too concerned with THEIR holiday plans and forgot to manage the airline (Typical......under their stellar leadership East went bust twice.....and that my friend IS Top Talent). Hopefully DP can RIGHT this ship!

 

[AIRWOMAN]

Very true but I totally agree that ALL EYES will be on MANAGEMENT during this critical travel period. The fiasco of the PHL Meltdown was not a shocker to ANY of the rank and file workers......the bumbling idiots at the Top were too concerned with THEIR holiday plans and forgot to manage the airline (Typical......under their stellar leadership East went bust twice.....and that my friend IS Top Talent). Hopefully DP can RIGHT this ship!

Me too..........as we all do, I'm sure.