[SPAN][FONT size=4]Employee''s Letter to Dr. Bronner[BR][/FONT][/SPAN]Names have been omitted to protect the innocent! Their letter to Dr. David G. Bronner follows..
[P align=left]Dr. David G. Bronner, CEO [BR]Retirement Systems of Alabama [BR][BR]Dear Dr. Bronner[BR][BR]My name is *******, just one of some 30,000 US Airways employees whose fate hangs in limbo while you decide whether or not to Chapter 7 our company. While you are waiting to make your decision, I''d appreciate a few moments of your time, and allow me to introduce myself to you, since you''ve never met me, yet it seems my fate it completely in your hands.[BR][BR]When I was a young kid, my father did a lot of traveling as part of his job, and it seems we spent a lot of time at the airport seeing him off, or waiting for him to return. Going to the airport became an event for me, and before I knew it, I''d been bitten by the aviation bug. One of the happiest days of my life was the day I got hired by Piedmont Airlines, on June 25, 1981. On that day, I joined the most elite industry I could have imagined; with what was then probably the best airline in the country. Under the management of Tom Davis and later William Howard, Piedmont Airlines flourished, becoming probably the most successful airline to emerge from the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. At the same time, in almost a parallel course, Allegheny Airlines grew to become USAir, also a successful airline.[BR][BR]In the late 1980s, when USAir acquired and merged the operations of Pacific Southwest and Piedmont into its own, something happened. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Monday morning quarterbacks have had over a dozen years to analyze what went wrong. But something happened. Part of what happened was bad luck. The war in the Middle East and the economic crisis associated with it in the early 1990s affected all of the major airlines (except Southwest). Five highly publicized crashes in as many years had a catastrophic effect on the USAir. Those were things that were seemingly beyond the company''s control. However, an argument could also be made that the company also squandered many opportunities as it saw its market share slip away in ever-increasing percentages. Did you know that at one time, Piedmont OWNED Florida, crisscrossing the state with a combination of 60-seat jets and 37-seat turboprops, years before today''s Regional Jets became en vogue? There were rum![BR]ors that we were going to establish a similar operation in the state of Texas...Southwest Airlines'' front yard. Yet somehow, USAir''s management at the time of the merger decided to fix a lot of things that weren''t broken and systematically dismantled the entire intra-Florida route structure, basically handing it over to competitors on a silver platter. USAir also missed some golden opportunities to expand internationally in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the yield was astronomical and many international markets were still regulated. We could have had the Pittsburgh-Tokyo market wrapped up a dozen years ago, along with several other lucrative intercontinental markets, had management been a bit less myopic.[BR][BR]The bottom line is this, Dr. Bronner. Pick up any industry analysis of US Airways and I suspect you will read the same thing...the problem with the company is not that we on the front lines are being overpaid and underutilized, but that the company has been mismanaged and has fallen victim to some questionable, at best, business decisions. I believe that Mr. Siegel came to US Airways with the best of intentions, and that he may very well be the right man for the job. I believe he has the best interests of the company AND the employees at heart. It is not his fault that he inherited a nearly moribund airline. Give him a chance to fix this company, and give us a chance to work with him.[BR][BR]If you''ve never worked for an airline, one thing you may not know about airline employees is that we''re a different sort of breed. Once jet fuel gets into our blood, it''s there to stay. Most of us are in this industry, if not this company, because we want to be. Whether it''s the lure of free travel, of interaction with people of a hundred different cultures on a daily basis, or simply the thrill of being part of giving a 250,000 pound airliner the life to take to flight, there''s a reason we all want to be here that transcends a mere paycheck. I believe, given the chance, we''d all do it again. For the vast majority of us, the airline industry is much more than a career. It''s a way of life. That this airline is in trouble cannot and must not be laid at the feet of the front line employees, the ones dealing with the passengers on a day-to-day basis to give this airline one of the lowest complaint ratios in the industry; the ones braving the elements day in and day out to![BR] load the right luggage on the right airplanes to give this airline one of the lowest mishandled baggage ratios in the industry; nor the flight crews and mechanics who work tirelessly to give this airline one of the best ontime performances and lowest cancellation rates in the industry. So your rhetorical statement as quoted in the New York Times on December 9 was a slap in the face at all of us, while ignoring the real crux of the problem, which is that we''re STILL not fixing what is really broken...the company''s business plan. Meanwhile, while we on the front lines are being told, Give more, or be out of business, please tell me this...where is the accountability of those who made those business decisions that landed this company in such dire straits to begin with? How about the former Chairmen, CEOs, Vice Presidents, and other officers with their golden parachutes, lifetime annuities, and other perks that, if totaled up, would probably alone amount to the additional ![BR]$100 million you are looking to save? Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture?[BR][BR]Dr. Bronner, let me tell you one more thing about the employees of US Airways. There is a ton of goodwill among us, and I believe that most of us would gladly fall in line behind competent and honest leadership. The last thing I want to do is sound like some hardened union holdover from Eastern Airlines, which I am not, but if you look at what we''ve been through over the past dozen years, and specifically the past 5 years, you can certainly understand why most of us are just a tad bit mistrustful of management. Give us a reason to believe in you besides ...Or Else! and we''ll follow you and Mr. Siegel all the way to profitability. Back us into a corner and you''ll still probably end up getting what you want, but there will be a lot of resentment to overcome, which ultimately will make everyone''s job that much harder.[BR][BR]Respectfully,[BR][BR]**********[BR]Customer Service Agent[BR]US Airways-*****[BR][/P]
[P align=left]Dr. David G. Bronner, CEO [BR]Retirement Systems of Alabama [BR][BR]Dear Dr. Bronner[BR][BR]My name is *******, just one of some 30,000 US Airways employees whose fate hangs in limbo while you decide whether or not to Chapter 7 our company. While you are waiting to make your decision, I''d appreciate a few moments of your time, and allow me to introduce myself to you, since you''ve never met me, yet it seems my fate it completely in your hands.[BR][BR]When I was a young kid, my father did a lot of traveling as part of his job, and it seems we spent a lot of time at the airport seeing him off, or waiting for him to return. Going to the airport became an event for me, and before I knew it, I''d been bitten by the aviation bug. One of the happiest days of my life was the day I got hired by Piedmont Airlines, on June 25, 1981. On that day, I joined the most elite industry I could have imagined; with what was then probably the best airline in the country. Under the management of Tom Davis and later William Howard, Piedmont Airlines flourished, becoming probably the most successful airline to emerge from the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. At the same time, in almost a parallel course, Allegheny Airlines grew to become USAir, also a successful airline.[BR][BR]In the late 1980s, when USAir acquired and merged the operations of Pacific Southwest and Piedmont into its own, something happened. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Monday morning quarterbacks have had over a dozen years to analyze what went wrong. But something happened. Part of what happened was bad luck. The war in the Middle East and the economic crisis associated with it in the early 1990s affected all of the major airlines (except Southwest). Five highly publicized crashes in as many years had a catastrophic effect on the USAir. Those were things that were seemingly beyond the company''s control. However, an argument could also be made that the company also squandered many opportunities as it saw its market share slip away in ever-increasing percentages. Did you know that at one time, Piedmont OWNED Florida, crisscrossing the state with a combination of 60-seat jets and 37-seat turboprops, years before today''s Regional Jets became en vogue? There were rum![BR]ors that we were going to establish a similar operation in the state of Texas...Southwest Airlines'' front yard. Yet somehow, USAir''s management at the time of the merger decided to fix a lot of things that weren''t broken and systematically dismantled the entire intra-Florida route structure, basically handing it over to competitors on a silver platter. USAir also missed some golden opportunities to expand internationally in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the yield was astronomical and many international markets were still regulated. We could have had the Pittsburgh-Tokyo market wrapped up a dozen years ago, along with several other lucrative intercontinental markets, had management been a bit less myopic.[BR][BR]The bottom line is this, Dr. Bronner. Pick up any industry analysis of US Airways and I suspect you will read the same thing...the problem with the company is not that we on the front lines are being overpaid and underutilized, but that the company has been mismanaged and has fallen victim to some questionable, at best, business decisions. I believe that Mr. Siegel came to US Airways with the best of intentions, and that he may very well be the right man for the job. I believe he has the best interests of the company AND the employees at heart. It is not his fault that he inherited a nearly moribund airline. Give him a chance to fix this company, and give us a chance to work with him.[BR][BR]If you''ve never worked for an airline, one thing you may not know about airline employees is that we''re a different sort of breed. Once jet fuel gets into our blood, it''s there to stay. Most of us are in this industry, if not this company, because we want to be. Whether it''s the lure of free travel, of interaction with people of a hundred different cultures on a daily basis, or simply the thrill of being part of giving a 250,000 pound airliner the life to take to flight, there''s a reason we all want to be here that transcends a mere paycheck. I believe, given the chance, we''d all do it again. For the vast majority of us, the airline industry is much more than a career. It''s a way of life. That this airline is in trouble cannot and must not be laid at the feet of the front line employees, the ones dealing with the passengers on a day-to-day basis to give this airline one of the lowest complaint ratios in the industry; the ones braving the elements day in and day out to![BR] load the right luggage on the right airplanes to give this airline one of the lowest mishandled baggage ratios in the industry; nor the flight crews and mechanics who work tirelessly to give this airline one of the best ontime performances and lowest cancellation rates in the industry. So your rhetorical statement as quoted in the New York Times on December 9 was a slap in the face at all of us, while ignoring the real crux of the problem, which is that we''re STILL not fixing what is really broken...the company''s business plan. Meanwhile, while we on the front lines are being told, Give more, or be out of business, please tell me this...where is the accountability of those who made those business decisions that landed this company in such dire straits to begin with? How about the former Chairmen, CEOs, Vice Presidents, and other officers with their golden parachutes, lifetime annuities, and other perks that, if totaled up, would probably alone amount to the additional ![BR]$100 million you are looking to save? Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this picture?[BR][BR]Dr. Bronner, let me tell you one more thing about the employees of US Airways. There is a ton of goodwill among us, and I believe that most of us would gladly fall in line behind competent and honest leadership. The last thing I want to do is sound like some hardened union holdover from Eastern Airlines, which I am not, but if you look at what we''ve been through over the past dozen years, and specifically the past 5 years, you can certainly understand why most of us are just a tad bit mistrustful of management. Give us a reason to believe in you besides ...Or Else! and we''ll follow you and Mr. Siegel all the way to profitability. Back us into a corner and you''ll still probably end up getting what you want, but there will be a lot of resentment to overcome, which ultimately will make everyone''s job that much harder.[BR][BR]Respectfully,[BR][BR]**********[BR]Customer Service Agent[BR]US Airways-*****[BR][/P]
