AA AGENT'S UNION

[Kev3188]

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5-10 years you don't have agents board flights, but TSA instead as you scan your own boarding pass while walking through a much more robust security system...like the one they displayed a few months back that can see through your clothes...

Not for nothing, but NW tried this as an experiment in my city a few years ago. It looked like a turnstile you might use on the subway. Labor bias aside, it was a complete failure....They wound up ditching the idea shortly thereafter.

 

[FWAAA]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ahh, "Good boy", eolesen...."Workrules". You SAID the magic word.

It's most likely that Workrules would be the MAIN reason that the agents would want representation.

You know, like flipping over your "position CLOSED" sign, when it's EXACTLY time to punch out(and a supervisor FORGOT to assign mandatory overtime, using a FAIR system.

You gotta' love those WORKRULES !!!!!!!

And yet there are people who don't understand why the percentage of unionized private sector employees continues to decline year after year.

With airline kiosks able to do more and more, we're gonna eventually get to a point where even the JFK or LAX check in area features only a few live bodies and dozens and dozens of self-serve kiosks. Same at the gates - eventually all flights will be boarded by a solitary agent at the jetway door. Wanna change your seat? Do it yourself over there at the kiosk. Wanna see 'bout that upgrade? Over there at the machine, buddy.

Reduce the number of agents sufficiently, and management will have either:

1) no problem covering in case of a job action; or

2) no problem hiring sufficient numbers of replacements.

In related news, the hapless employees at Albertson's are once again readying for a Southern Calif grocery strike. The last one worked out so well their union wants another go-round.

Every time I stop at one on my way home to pick up a few items, I use the friendly, self-serve checkout. Look for more and more of those to be installed.

 

[eolesen]

In related news, the hapless employees at Albertson's are once again readying for a Southern Calif grocery strike. The last one worked out so well their union wants another go-round.

Every time I stop at one on my way home to pick up a few items, I use the friendly, self-serve checkout. Look for more and more of those to be installed.

Unbelievable... Albertson's is really hurting since their buyout last year, with several stores in our area closing down because they can't stay competitive with the likes of Walmart Supercenter or Walmart Neighborhood Grocery, yet Kroger/Fry/Fred Meyer/Smiths (all owned by Kroger) and Safeway/Dominicks/Tom Thumb/Vons (all owned by Safeway) seem to be doing just fine at competing...


From the LA Times:

Although the 32,000 veteran grocery workers still don't pay health insurance premiums and have low medical deductibles and co-payments, new hires must wait 12 to 18 months before they are eligible for health insurance. They then get a plan that puts a larger burden of the cost on the employee.

.snip.

The union said it picked Albertsons to be the first target because the level of debt at Supervalu made it less able to withstand a strike. Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu borrowed $6.1 billion last year to purchase Albertsons and its non-union sibling, Bristol Farms.

Isn't Eden Prairie right next to NWA headquarters?...

What is the union going to do when Albertsons declares bankruptcy and starts shuttering stores?

 

[flyhigh]

"What is the union going to do when Albertsons declares bankruptcy and starts shuttering stores?"

...claim victory

Kev3188,

I had heard about the NW experiment before. I would suspect you'll see somebody else try it. NW having failed at it once is not the largest sample size to study....

 

[eolesen]

At this point, writing off the loss on their Albertsons investment isn't out of the question, strike or no strike. As I said, they've already been closing down stores in a lot of markets out here, and it wouldn't surprise me to see them walk away for a year or two, hold onto the real-estate, and re-open the stores under one of their non-union brands.

Sure, the unions can picket, but like the episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer returns to work at the bagel shop he'd been on strike against for five or six years, just about everyone will have moved on by the time they re-open, so there won't be anyone left to picket.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

How did this turn into grocery store chatter? :blink:

Same at the gates - eventually all flights will be boarded by a solitary agent at the jetway door.

Have a look around, they do that already. I've boarded many flights at MIA where there is a single agent handling the entire trip, running from gate to podium and back and we're talking airbus' here. I don't know how in the hell they do it but I can imagine that many of them, if not most of them end up taking a delay which, in Miami, goes in their personnel file!

Currently, the truth of the matter is, not everyone likes a machine, or the internet. Machines can be confusing, delay the passenger's airport "shopping" time and just frustrate the begeezus out of them. The kiosks can't do it all and even if the day comes when they can, you cannot take a once in a blue moon flier and put them in front of a kiosk and think they are going to know what to do. They will simply learn a lesson and go to an airline that provides personal "human" service for the money.

I like to think that as long as there is an FAA, a TSA, a DHS, a DOT, you know, Orwellism, then there will always be a need for warm bodies.

Plus, I rather like human contact. It's so much warmer and personal than a machine.

 

[FWAAA]

Wing, ya know, I agree with you that there will always be some segment of the traveling public that needs their hands held by live bodies. And rather than charging me for those agents, I hope that AA figures out how to charge those other travelers for their personalized special assistance. Sure, exempt them from the fees if their fare class is high enough or if they're Super Top Secret Elites.

AA management has repeatedly said that it intends to provide what people are willing to pay for, and to charge for what people want, and this is but one more example. Already costs $10 - $15 to buy a ticket on the phone or at the counter direct from AA instead of booking it on aa.com. Why not charge $5 to $10 to deal with a human at check-in or at the gate?

Anybody remember Bank One's proposal to charge $3 or so to talk to a teller instead of using the ATM? IIRC, it was a special low-balance no-monthly-fee account, but garnered an outsized amount of negative publicity.