Work Ethics

[AC AA LA FA]

It seems that when the choices are made to reassign ...ect..the fall out..over the years and months by angry flight attendants is ignored..
If a f/a were to be given some say or input in a situation where they may be away from home on an extended 2-6 day stint..that they would feel like they were treated with some respect..It is here where management has failed. They must make the first move..in instances just like all the ones read above to promote some good will. Even if we wanted to-how is a f/a in this situation to foster a better working environment. It is hard to sign on and feel anything other than sympathy for those out on family leave-refusing re assignment sick calls.because at one time or another the company totlay disregarded them as humans..an ounce of prevention......

 

[operaations]

operaations

You make me laugh, this company has miss spent every ounce of good will that the employees gave it. They used this past situation to completely demoralize the employees, yes we all knew we aere going to take a pay cut, but AA went far beyond. They reduced this to nothing more than corporate greed, the work rule changes across the board will send reverberations for years to come.

When you drop a person to their knees you had better expect them to not respond with much enthausiam in performing their jobs.

I have been at the company for over 17 yrs and I love what I do, but will I extend myself like my mindless idiot simply for the greater good. Get over your holier than thou attitude

Chill Out. I do not act holy than thou. I agreed to my job and all that in entails when I saw the job description. And I perform my job as I am supposed to. I do not use family leave as a way to get out of something I do not feel like doing. I do not call in sick when something interupts with work. I just do my job and I am proud of the job I do. If you think that doing your job and doing it well and not abusing sick time is holier than though than fine call me holier than though

 

[MiAAmi]

Operaations

If you go to work and do your job properly thats great. If something comes up with work you may have to stay an hour or two later. Not 2 or 3 days later. If you have children that causes a major problem. This job is second priority when it comes to my family. And things do come up at the last minute. Your throwing around ethics like you are above it all. We may only be "warm" bodies to you but we do have lives. As far as Family Leave goes thats a Management tool. I know people who have had absences changed to Family Leave with out them even calling their manager. So if you have a problem with Family Leave you should direct your frustrations to the people who change the occurances - AA MANAGEMENT.

 

[Garfield1966]

MiAAmi,

It is part of your job. AA is open 24/7/365. I have not been home for the holidays in close to 20 years because I have never had the sonority in any of my departments to pull vacation then. It’s part of the job I chose. I have never called in sick and I never will. If you have lives, great. Get a job which accommodates your life.

It seems to me that being a FA was never meant to be a career. Over time the work rules have become so lenient, and the pay so attractive that people decided to stay with it. Fast forward to now when times are tough and companies all over the world are clamping down and having to increase productivity and decrease compensation. Now everyone starts complaining. If you folks would stop abusing the sick list the reassignments would decrease, not go away but decrease. As far as I can tell, reassignments are here to stay.

AC AA LA FA

You want respect? From a Company? That’s a good one. Ha ha ha. All I expect from American or any other company I have worked for is a pay check. We are labor. We are a necessary evil. When Corporations can replace us with a robot or a monkey, they will. Efficiency is the name of the game. Getting the job done most effectively with the fewest number of people at the cheapest rate. By the way, effective is defined by the company not you. You will actually have to start earning every penny you make. I am not sure how long you have been with AA but I was here for the last FA strike. When AA started accepting applications to replace you for your crummy, low paying, over worked slave position, the lines were wrapped around the building every day. Granted, they probably would not heave read the rules of the game either but then again, that never stopped a lot of you so ….

Sounds like a lot of people have not figured out that the rules of the game have changed. The economy has tanked. Unemployment has sky rocketed. At the current rate of spending, we are looking at a $6 trillion deficit by 2010-15 (and the way bush is spending money that may seem like pocket change when he get through with us). Do you folks really want to be out of a job? Do you really think you want a desk job for 8 hours a day 5 days a week? I know I sure as He11 don’t. I have been operational for my entire career with AA. No one here is irreplaceable. Wish means you can ask, you cannot demand. By hurting this company you are only hurting your self. Senior management does not give a rats a$$ about you. They are getting their salary. TWA got bought, integrated and now a bunch of their employees are unemployed. Do you think the management is loosing sleep? Crandel, you remember him right? He is now joined up with AmTrak. Carty is not suffering. He has millions and will take some time off and do something else in a few years.

The days of the fat cat are over. The days of having 10 FA’s to do 1 FA’s job is over.

 

[MiAAmi]

DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. Then why worry about ethics at all? A fish rots from the head down so I guess we are all doomed!

 

[operaations]

Operaations

If you go to work and do your job properly thats great. If something comes up with work you may have to stay an hour or two later. Not 2 or 3 days later. If you have children that causes a major problem. This job is second priority when it comes to my family. And things do come up at the last minute. Your throwing around ethics like you are above it all. We may only be "warm" bodies to you but we do have lives. As far as Family Leave goes thats a Management tool. I know people who have had absences changed to Family Leave with out them even calling their manager. So if you have a problem with Family Leave you should direct your frustrations to the people who change the occurances - AA MANAGEMENT

I agree with you but the bogus family leave and bogus sick calls are un ethical..if you need to go home take a po...

 

[AC AA LA FA]

Garfield 1966 and others like him cant seem to think outside that box when it concerns not only us as individuals but our company as well..I have never asked for special status or praise for my position-am well aware of the economy and the evolution of my career as well...yea things change..they always have..The impact of the way we are treated at AA not only bruises my ego and angers me as an individual..but in the end hurts AA.. Since I have no choice,thru my experience at AA, but to buy into your ideas of my worthlessness-I am a victim of AAs mgmt style..I can collect a paychek, keep my nose clean, and not care..and at times I do..But in the end I can see everyday that it hurts nobody and everybody but me...You pay for it up front-or in the end-with thousands of unhappy pissed off employees-I know what the reality is but dont accept that it will be my future....Most of us wont roll over that easy,we are the ones that punch the time card everyday and support our familys with thousands of hours at work each year-why not want them to be productive and happy ones and secure ones for years to come?

 

[ozcobber]

quote by Garfield...

"I have never called in sick and I never will."

You must be younger than I thought. You may have been lucky in the past, but I can assure you that a ruptured disc, a broken arm, a bout of flu or some other misfortune, will one day cause you to retract that statement. In no way do I wish it on you, just want to warn you that statements like that have a habit of coming back to haunt you.

I am furloughed, after 38 years, but in good health (right now), looking for a job where they don't want people my age. Aside from some bad luck (5 broken ribs from a mugging while on layover e.g.) I have a great attendance record, and don't look kindly on people who abuse the privelege. But it does happen Garfield, and I was always unhappy flying with colleagues who coughed and sneezed their way across the Atlantic. It's simple: if you think you're unable to do your job in a safe and pleasant manner, stay home until you can.

Okay, stepping down of the soapbox now.

 

[Garfield1966]

quote by Garfield...

"I have never called in sick and I never will."

You must be younger than I thought. You may have been lucky in the past, but I can assure you that a ruptured disc, a broken arm, a bout of flu or some other misfortune, will one day cause you to retract that statement. In no way do I wish it on you, just want to warn you that statements like that have a habit of coming back to haunt you.

I am furloughed, after 38 years, but in good health (right now), looking for a job where they don't want people my age. Aside from some bad luck (5 broken ribs from a mugging while on layover e.g.) I have a great attendance record, and don't look kindly on people who abuse the privelege. But it does happen Garfield, and I was always unhappy flying with colleagues who coughed and sneezed their way across the Atlantic. It's simple: if you think you're unable to do your job in a safe and pleasant manner, stay home until you can.

Okay, stepping down of the soapbox now.

Let me clarify. I did not me to imply that in my entire career I have never called in sick. What I meant to say was that 1. I have never called in sick when I was not sick and 2. I have NEVER EVER called in sick on a holiday when I had to work.

I agree with you. If someone is sick and unable to preform their duties in a safe manner, then by all means call in sick becasue that is what the sick time is for. What bugs me is when people abuse the system because they think they are better then everyone else. They think they should not have to show up to work on a holiday or what ever and they bomb in sick. To me, those people are like the people who ride the shoulder when there is a trafic jam.

 

[Garfield1966]

Garfield 1966 and others like him cant seem to think outside that box when it concerns not only us as individuals but our company as well..I have never asked for special status or praise for my position-am well aware of the economy and the evolution of my career as well...yea things change..they always have..The impact of the way we are treated at AA not only bruises my ego and angers me as an individual..but in the end hurts AA.. Since I have no choice,thru my experience at AA, but to buy into your ideas of my worthlessness-I am a victim of AAs mgmt style..I can collect a paychek, keep my nose clean, and not care..and at times I do..But in the end I can see everyday that it hurts nobody and everybody but me...You pay for it up front-or in the end-with thousands of unhappy pissed off employees-I know what the reality is but dont accept that it will be my future....Most of us wont roll over that easy,we are the ones that punch the time card everyday and support our familys with thousands of hours at work each year-why not want them to be productive and happy ones and secure ones for years to come?

I am not sure what box it is that I should be thinking out of. What I am saying is that I believe people have unrealistic expectations of what a relationship between employee and employer is supposed to be. This is the way I look at it.

The investers in a company put up money. The board of directors run the company like a back seat driver. They have the money and they make the rules. They are in charge of getting a fair return on the money that the investors have in the company. The company hires us to perform various jobs to make the company run. They pay us what they have to in order to keep us employed, no more. Management has always hated unions and unions have always hated management.

I one of the ways in which I differ from most people is that I have very low expectations. I no longer expect to be appreciated, much less recognized by superiors. I work in a office with perhaps 500 or so people on the floor at any given time (not sure of the numbers but maybe Operaations knows). The general manager Roy Everet, does not know me from a hole in the ground. He has been up there countless times. During the various times he has been there, he has never walked the floor to say “helloâ€. I could walk up to him on the street, look him in the eye and spit on him and he would not know who I was till he saw me at work and fired me. He has never been there on a holiday when I busting my butt to cover trips give any word of support. I have been with the company for a little under 20 years and I am not earning nearly what a FA earns at a little under 20 years and according to numerous former FA’s who I work with, my job s substantially more stressful, difficult and challenging then yours.

Does this stuff bug me? Sure it does other wise I would not bring it up. Would I like to see changes? Sure I would. Do I expect it? No, I don’t. We live in a society that is “ME†based. No one seems to be concerned about the other person. I have indicated on numerous occasions that some of your work rules suck. Operaations has said so on numerous occasions. As far as I remember, only one person in here even acknowledged that the sick list was high. No one has given any words of support for us. A lot of you have stated that one thing or another sucks but I have yet to see anyone offer a solution. We at scheduling have tons of ideas. We see it from all sides. It’s just that our ideas mean that managers (including us), FA’s, pilots and the like will be losing their jobs. People don’t like forwarding ideas that will cost them their job. Some of the things I have heard are having every FA qualified on every aircraft at their base. We are tired of seeing ORD FA’s qualified on only 767 or S80. They are not being utilized. Hire temps to fly VMC positions during the holidays. Bring planning, VMC, scheduling and tracking under one roof. Have the DFW tracker, scheduler, VMC and Planning work together and be cross trained, this way when we are facing OSO when can work together. I do not expect more money. I do not expect easier work rules. I DO expect to be busting my butt for the next several years. I do not expect a raise for a long long time because the Unions will be first in line to get their money and we will get the crumbs that are left over. I would not be surprised if it takes me 10 years to get back what I have lost.

I look at these as the rules of the game that I chose to play. If I do not like it, I can find another game to play.

One more thing. I have numerous friends who are FA’s and we have #### and moan sessions on a regular basis. How many of you have sat down and talked with one of us or with someone in management to listen and exchange ideas? Our door is always open. Feel free to come during EPT’s or during a weather session and see why we do what we do.

We need to get rid of the FAmikes, RV4’s and NH black Bears in our midst. They are bitter and are only going to bring us all down.

 

[AC AA LA FA]

Garf..I have no doubt that your job at GSWFA is a stressfull one at best. You seem to have the right idea in that you fly in "under the radar" do your job and go home..What i think has to be understood here, comming from f/as is that our jobs are completley different. It would be apples to oranges to compare the challanges, and rewards..to those who work on the ground vs in the air. Flight Attendants, since the begining of time have had to fight for everything they have today..Every kind of discrimination-ect thru the years have been a fight. I think we are hard wired to challange anything that comes down from anyone who sits at a desk. Idea exchanges, meetings, walk a mile..ect nothing can enlighten us to exactly what we individualy feel. We all have our crosses to bare-and it always seems that no one gets it...or cares..its jus the nature of the beast that is AA..