Time to clean house,Dave!

gilbertguy

Senior
Aug 29, 2002
368
0
We keep hearing about the new product....our bright future as a carrier....how Dave is going to lead US to the promise land....yet doesn''t it seem odd that the old guard from the Wolfman'' era is still around....still VP''s on the payroll....still making the calls on how to ''not'' run this airline? Shouldn''t fresh faces be popping up in the halls of Crystal City? Time to air out the linen Dave!!
 
Dave did quite a bit of house cleaning when he came on board, Gilbert.

To those who have been let go, it's understandably hard to see the bigger picture - especially after so many years of piss-poor management and equally poor employee relations.

But this guy is doing everything right at the worst of times in this industry. After painstaking negotiations with unions and creditors, I'm very confident US will emerge from BK in a few months and become the lowest cost carrier of the majors.
 
Furloughing the rank-and-file is not cleaning house......wage/benefits concessions is not cleaning house.....getting rid of 31 VP's running the show into the ground IS cleaning house.....
 
VP is only title these days. I know of a lot of people in jobs in all different sectors that have VP titles. It's not up to me to judge if they earned it. But just because you see 31 VP titles doesn't mean that's wasteful. Give the chance and let him bring the airline back from BK and get profitable. I think most people would agree he's on the right path.
 
I can tell you what I see in all areas of PIT maintenance there have been no management cuts. They actually keep hiring more (through the COB system). The management to worker ratio is higher than ever. We are fatter than ever. To many chiefs and not enough Indians.
 
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On 10/15/2002 1:08:19 PM pitguy wrote:

I can tell you what I see in all areas of PIT maintenance there have been no management cuts. They actually keep hiring more (through the COB system). The management to worker ratio is higher than ever. We are fatter than ever. To many chiefs and not enough Indians.
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This can actually be a bit misleading. There are plenty of positions in the company you may think are management because they are posted through the COB system, however, I think just about every non-union position in the company is. Just because someone is on MSP, does not necessarily mean they are management in the classic sense of the word, directly supervising others. Also, MSP positions were devastated last October, just after the attacks. The company really let go of quite a few people. Many good people in non-union positions here in CLT were cast to the wind.

As for Dave cleaning house, many in senior management are gone from the old ranks. Yes there are still a few around as well. Some are probably really talented, some are not. I know that Dave said in CLT that the house cleaning is not done. Remember though, you cannot throw your entire senior management team to the wind overnight, no matter how inept many in those ranks may be. Give it time, there will be more hitting the street.
 
I think Siegel did some modest housecleaning upon his arrival at US. To expect more bloodletting in the midst of a difficult corporate reorganization is unrealistic. Letting go certain people would slowdown and delay things being accomplished. That is simply something US cannot afford to do while in bankruptcy. It's also tough to attract top talent to a company whose future is still very much in doubt. Too much instability.
 
Just remember..Al C is still Senior Executive Vice President Customer Service.


Customer service as we know it..is a joke. Staffing at most stations is embarrassing. Our best customers are standing in lines, shaking their heads. They'll soon leave.

I wonder how long before true changes are made. I'm hearing January. Dave says that he has a new management team in place. Employees know different, can't fool US, Dave.
 
Dave used the figure of 35% changes in the top 5% of our corporate ranks during the CLT edition of the Roadshows. He went on to say that he expected changes to at least another 10%. Some may say that 45% is 65% too few!! Maybe! Maybe Not?. It's safe to say that you can't toss them all out at once..and still keep the operation going. Sure we all have identified those that we would like to see being escorted to the door...but patience is needed. Right now Dave has a lot on his plate. He's dealing with the courts ,looking at RJ deals , bashing leasing companies for better deals and etc. Once all these things start coming into line..then maybe the focus can shift to progressive House Cleaning? Stay tuned...the details are but a Jump Seat flight away.
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Attn: N628AU

I appreciate your response. I do understand that to truly be a management employee you must actually supervise someone. Please note that in my previous entry that is what I meant when I stated that I feel in PIT maintenance we have to many management. I was not speaking for other areas because I am not as familiar with them. You are correct to state though that allot of people state they are management even though they do not supervise any one and have no hire and fire capabilities. They simply just are non-union. If we are to be as lean and mean as we can I feel this area has some fat to trim and we do not need to add more. Thanks again for your reply.
 
It's been my experience that no matter how good or bad a manager is, many employees will find something to complain about anyway. That's the nature of being in management: you're not always going to be liked, even though you may be doing the best job you can.
 
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On 10/15/2002 7:14:01 PM OldGuyinPA wrote:

Just remember..Al C is still Senior Executive Vice President Customer Service.


Customer service as we know it..is a joke. Staffing at most stations is embarrassing. Our best customers are standing in lines, shaking their heads. They'll soon leave.

I wonder how long before true changes are made. I'm hearing January. Dave says that he has a new management team in place. Employees know different, can't fool US, Dave.
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Maybe housecleaning includes our best customers.....they expect too much from US.....like good customer service.....we need to lower the playing field.....we want to be the best low cost carrier of choice...
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The house-cleaning doesn't just come from the top. It should also include getting rid of employees with lousy attitudes, of which there are many.