You Must Work For Free.

[pitguy]

During one of the previous rounds of concession when the company had well over 40,000 employees they gave about 1.2 billion dollars in concessions. Now there is 27,000 employees and Dave wants 1.5 billion in concessions. That means if each employee gave $10,000 each the whole amount would total 270 million dollars. That is a far cry from the 1.5 billion dollars needed per Dave. Actually you would have to give about "six" times more than that. So in theory if you made $60,000 you could work for free and then the plan would work.


Dave stated he wanted to reduce the seat per mile cost 4 cents. Half through productivity and miscellaneous means which could include job cuts and etcetera and the other half through pay cuts. So you may only have to take a 50% pay cut. Something tells me there is major flaws in "the plan".

 

[robbedagain]

how muich did he save by turning a number of these mid-sized stations into the mickey mouse club called mainline express with the left over employees getting paid a carppy lousy 13.01 an hr top pay after 12 yrs of service???

 

[pitguy]

I wonder how bad the company truly needs the money. They just spent over five million on WORKBRAIN. I new time clock system. If cash is so tight why 'now' for that? Funny how Liz Jackson who worked for U and was instrumental getting the new time clocks at U is now working full time for Workbrain. The system the company had in place worked. There was no need to waste this cash.


--Gee Dave let the employees pay for it.

 

[mweiss]

pitguy,

How much did the old system cost to maintain? What are the payment terms for the new system? How much does the new system cost to maintain?

Without the answers to those questions, you cannot conclude that the switch cost any money at all.

 

[pitguy]

The old system was very reliable. I would have to surmise you may not know as much about it as I do since you don't work with it. Trust me when I say it was over $5 million dollars wasted. The system was sold to the company by an executive insider and then the aforementioned executive left to work for the supplier. The company was scammed.

--Bottom line.....why would the company spend that kind of money when they are threatening to go out of business?

 

[delldude]

i think boeing boy provided info on how all other airlines with employee concessions used their savings and had non personell costs drop...apparently we at U have seen our non personell costs rise quite dramatically....
like legal costs,costs for "workbrain",costs for management raises,etc,etc...

 

[usfliboi]

It is sad that you feel cutting cost at this point yet again will not help or work . First of all . IT HAS TOO! There are no choices here. Both management and line employees have to dig deeper. The rules have to and will change. DO I LIKE IT????????? NO! Regardless of your position on Dave, he is the leader here. Either stand and fight or move out of the way . I agree with many who point out his mistakes. I also have faced todays reality, none of which he is responsible for. He didnt ly those jets in to the buildings. He cannot control what a deep pocketed airline like south west does. He did not make the many mistakes of our past management and put us in the situation that we are in today . Fight the real enemy here. Start the nasty rumors about southwest not dave and company . It only hurts you, and your family .

 

[delldude]

the part i don't like is how dave will screw the mechanics by returning the 737's to the lessors and bringing in 170's to mainline and effectively eliminate mainline into rj...BTW they're won't be as many of you around either...do you like it now?

 

[700UW]

It is sad that you feel cutting cost at this point yet again will not help or work . First of all . IT HAS TOO! There are no choices here. Both management and line employees have to dig deeper. The rules have to and will change. DO I LIKE IT????????? NO! Regardless of your position on Dave, he is the leader here. Either stand and fight or move out of the way . I agree with many who point out his mistakes. I also have faced todays reality, none of which he is responsible for. He didnt ly those jets in to the buildings. He cannot control what a deep pocketed airline like south west does. He did not make the many mistakes of our past management and put us in the situation that we are in today . Fight the real enemy here. Start the nasty rumors about southwest not dave and company . It only hurts you, and your family .

Once again, NO airline has ever been saved from going out of business from concessions.

Go ask the employees of the following airlines how concessions saved them:

Pan Am, National (two companies), Braniff (three companies), TWA, Midway (three companies), the original Frontier, Air South, Air 21, Sabena, Swiss, Vangaurd, Eastern, and numerous others.

More airlines have been started and failed since deregulation, then in all of the time before.

 

[funguy2]

It is sad that you feel cutting cost at this point yet again will not help or work . First of all . IT HAS TOO! There are no choices here. Both management and line employees have to dig deeper. The rules have to and will change. DO I LIKE IT????????? NO! Regardless of your position on Dave, he is the leader here. Either stand and fight or move out of the way . I agree with many who point out his mistakes. I also have faced todays reality, none of which he is responsible for. He didnt ly those jets in to the buildings. He cannot control what a deep pocketed airline like south west does. He did not make the many mistakes of our past management and put us in the situation that we are in today . Fight the real enemy here. Start the nasty rumors about southwest not dave and company . It only hurts you, and your family .

So maybe management could go cut some other costs besides employee wages... Afterall, employee wages are only 33%-40% of costs... The only thing I've seen Seigel do is INCREASE costs by going to short term leases at PIT...

 

[usfliboi]

Once again, NO airline has ever been saved from going out of business from concessions.

You are assuming that is all there is too it. You need to only look across the board. This isnt about pay cuts. This is about pay cuts, productivity improvements, utilization of assets etc. The point is it will and has to be done . You and i ( if were both still here) will work for less and work harder . It is either that or we wont be working at all.

 

[colorado_cowboy]

Could it be possible the company is asking so much from so few knowing they (the employees) wont give into their demands forcing the selling of assets, piecing the airline out?
Would the airline be worth more if it was sold in pieces as opposed to trying to sell it as a whole?

 

[oldiebutgoody]

USFLIBOI,
I really sincerely hope that you're looking for another job. You're going to need it. Better stop drinking the kool aid and get your interviewing duds cleaned and pressed!

 

[funguy2]

You are assuming that is all there is too it. You need to only look across the board. This isnt about pay cuts. This is about pay cuts, productivity improvements, utilization of assets etc. The point is it will and has to be done . You and i ( if were both still here) will work for less and work harder . It is either that or we wont be working at all.

Problem is that US Airways management is now asking for Round 3 of concessions and yet has done none of the productivity or asset utilization cost savings measures which are within its control.

Even if these things are inevitable if the airline is to survive, nobody seems interested in doing them... They are just spoken of... and usually when concession are required.

"We'll do the other changes as soon as we get concessions... This time we will... I swear... Pinky swear..."

 

[Art at ISP]

This is what I have been saying all along--the company has no business coming back to the employees with their hands out IF and UNTIL they implement the other cost saving steps which could also help improve financial performance.

They REFUSE to rationalize the fare structure (they talk a good game though).

They have done nothing about rolling PHL and making the rest of the system run more efficiently. Work rules and utilization can change now--honestly they need to. But wages? Not until the company addresses the rest of the cost issue.

They are pushing the customers to use the web site. I used it for the first time to book the other day and didn't realize it didn't finish ticketing the transaction until I tried to print my boarding passes last night. (I wasted more time fixing the issue than I would have spent if I had dealt with my company travel agent, PLUS I had a conversation with my first unpleasant Chairmans Desk Rep!)

I am proud of all of you who continue to keep smiling and do your best in light of everything that's going on. I had 2 great flights this morning. Your company may not appreciate you but WE the customers do!!

I don't know how it will shake out but I wish you all the best...