Kev3188
Veteran
DGS,Eagle, and now... UGE.
Delightful.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/ual-luggage-idUSL1N10L1GT20150810
Delightful.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/ual-luggage-idUSL1N10L1GT20150810
UAL forms in house ground handling unit.
- Thread starter Kev3188
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Kev3188
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I know. It just flowed better than saying Eagle/Envoy...
eolesen
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This is UA's second time around with a ground handling subsidiary...
http://www.aviationpros.com/news/10437819/united-services-continues-providing-ground-handling-services-for-air-canada
http://www.aviationpros.com/news/10437819/united-services-continues-providing-ground-handling-services-for-air-canada
WorldTraveler
Corn Field
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Kev,
UA was given the freedom by the IAM to outsource years ago. It shouldn't be a surprise that UA is taking advantage of the opportunity. UA has also had a revolving door of ground handling that has frequently caused enormous negative impact to UA's own operation as well as its customer service.
The goal is ALWAYS to have as much work done by the highest paid employees and that usually means mainline employees.
but once the rodeo has started, the goal is to figure out how to make it work as well as possible.
It shouldn't be a surprise that UA is following in the footsteps of other carriers that have managed to make wholly owned ground handling companies work but rather how many more stations UA will outsource from mainline before they are "done"
Kev3188
Veteran
I knew they handle(d) AC in a whole lot of places, but didn't know about the separate subsidiary. Thanks for posting that. I assume that it was still actual UA employees under this plan?eolesen said:
Most of knew this was eventually going to happen last year.
The debacle in DEN last winter confirmed it when Simplicity couldn't do the job due to lack of bodies. People would rather work inside elsewhere in the bitter cold or work for WN (which was hiring). Weed laws didn't help either in finding candidates. Since DGS and Envoy is around, UGS was needed to keep the money "in house" so to speak and not give it to direct competitors. So DEN, and IAD would be the best bets for the new company doing Express work in hubs that are split operated. (Simpletons in DEN -- Swissport at IAD) I wonder if SkyWest will still keep SFO and LAX?
So now, in order to attract bodies, they will give flight benefits like DGS and Envoy. No pay scale was announced, but probably will scaled around the local market conditions. Operationally, we are still lagging due to lack of bodies and low morale. Plus the quality control of the vendors has a lot to do with as well. Now with the new TSA regs, how many qualifying people they can get? They will be spending a lot of money on this venture.
They are starting in AZO (with the new service) and then some of the cities that were recently outsourced. The contract with Envoy is ending and that will be some cities available.
The job for us now is to strengthen the scope and maintain the cities we presently have. Including the cities who voted in the cuts. Keep the Express in the 3 hubs (ORD; IAH; and EWR) which is still protected till 2018. We must at least maintain that and the rest of the cities (23); besides the 7 hubs. There is no competing interests this time around, and the company can't throw money at us, like the retro debacle which led us to this contract. The survivors now know better not to just take the money, and IMHO, in order to stay status quo, I'll bet that we will forgo pay raises (probably will get a small one in mid-scale) in the next contract. This will take leadership from the District, now that Delaney is gone and on the BOD. The idea should be hiring at mainline and offering much better packages so people can exit and let natural attrition take place. That's what happened at old CO. We had hiring periods, but now those people are ready to top out, and we really haven't hired since. So a younger workforce with people on the lower scale can save money. But now that nearly everybody is or will be topped out soon, something has to give. If the packages are good, many will definitely leave. So spend some money on that, instead of this. You are making record profits, so let people who want to leave do so with some dignity, since the pensions were robbed and passed on to the Government. So the District has to get creative on how to go about this. This would probably proceed after on seeing how the Association goes with the AA contract. If I am an optimist, the AA deal should be a better blueprint on how a contract should work. I am hoping those guys get the best deal possible. Then we can take the good in that and apply to our upcoming contract for '16.
That's how I see this. We knew this was coming. And the District knew as well.
Now to attack this problem in the upcoming contract.
We (mainline) still handle AC in some places, but not the number we used to have. Actual Canadian UA employees were outsourced in all stations in Canada since 2013 or '14.
Footnote: IAH also handles NH as well. And I think we also handle them in GUM.
The debacle in DEN last winter confirmed it when Simplicity couldn't do the job due to lack of bodies. People would rather work inside elsewhere in the bitter cold or work for WN (which was hiring). Weed laws didn't help either in finding candidates. Since DGS and Envoy is around, UGS was needed to keep the money "in house" so to speak and not give it to direct competitors. So DEN, and IAD would be the best bets for the new company doing Express work in hubs that are split operated. (Simpletons in DEN -- Swissport at IAD) I wonder if SkyWest will still keep SFO and LAX?
So now, in order to attract bodies, they will give flight benefits like DGS and Envoy. No pay scale was announced, but probably will scaled around the local market conditions. Operationally, we are still lagging due to lack of bodies and low morale. Plus the quality control of the vendors has a lot to do with as well. Now with the new TSA regs, how many qualifying people they can get? They will be spending a lot of money on this venture.
They are starting in AZO (with the new service) and then some of the cities that were recently outsourced. The contract with Envoy is ending and that will be some cities available.
The job for us now is to strengthen the scope and maintain the cities we presently have. Including the cities who voted in the cuts. Keep the Express in the 3 hubs (ORD; IAH; and EWR) which is still protected till 2018. We must at least maintain that and the rest of the cities (23); besides the 7 hubs. There is no competing interests this time around, and the company can't throw money at us, like the retro debacle which led us to this contract. The survivors now know better not to just take the money, and IMHO, in order to stay status quo, I'll bet that we will forgo pay raises (probably will get a small one in mid-scale) in the next contract. This will take leadership from the District, now that Delaney is gone and on the BOD. The idea should be hiring at mainline and offering much better packages so people can exit and let natural attrition take place. That's what happened at old CO. We had hiring periods, but now those people are ready to top out, and we really haven't hired since. So a younger workforce with people on the lower scale can save money. But now that nearly everybody is or will be topped out soon, something has to give. If the packages are good, many will definitely leave. So spend some money on that, instead of this. You are making record profits, so let people who want to leave do so with some dignity, since the pensions were robbed and passed on to the Government. So the District has to get creative on how to go about this. This would probably proceed after on seeing how the Association goes with the AA contract. If I am an optimist, the AA deal should be a better blueprint on how a contract should work. I am hoping those guys get the best deal possible. Then we can take the good in that and apply to our upcoming contract for '16.
That's how I see this. We knew this was coming. And the District knew as well.
Now to attack this problem in the upcoming contract.
Kev3188 said:
We (mainline) still handle AC in some places, but not the number we used to have. Actual Canadian UA employees were outsourced in all stations in Canada since 2013 or '14.
Footnote: IAH also handles NH as well. And I think we also handle them in GUM.
