Company Tips Its Hand

[BoeingBoy]

US Airways pilots' wages and benefits at risk
Company tips its hand on cuts in presentation

Thursday, June 17, 2004
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As US Airways Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lakefield meets with a group of pilots today at Pittsburgh International Airport, new details are emerging about the cuts the new CEO is asking his pilots to make.

Article

Jim

 

[mweiss]

Man, that was quick...

 

[BoeingBoy]

I'd take credit for being the source but that slide presentation has been on the ALPA web site for a week or so.

Jim

 

[delldude]

MY LL PREZ SAID IF THEY CAIN'T (SOUTHERN INFLUENCE) GET THE FLY BOYS ON BOARD........ITS ALL MOOT...PLEASE KEEP TOONED.....

 

[Justme]

It seems that the theory of U's situation as being presented by management is being confirmed by Delta's CEO. Like U, they are starting with the obvious group for reducing costs. And also like U, there appears to be a point at which cost reductions have to be made to prevent entering into BK protection.

(I've posted the article as the Trib requires a user name)

Delta Has Bleak Outlook on Revenue Boost

By HARRY R. WEBER
AP Business Writer
Published June 16, 2004, 3:53 PM CDT

ATLANTA -- The chief executive of Delta Air Lines gave a bleak outlook Wednesday of the carrier's ability to increase revenue, and said that means getting deep wage cuts from pilots is even more crucial to its survival.

In a speech at an investor conference in New York, CEO Gerald Grinstein said low-fare rival AirTran Airways has for the most part been able to call the shots on ticket prices in many of the markets in which the two compete.

"We have no pricing power and yields are continuing to erode," Grinstein said. He added, "We have to learn to live in the revenue environment that we're in."

That makes getting wage cuts from its pilots "a crucial first step" in Delta's turnaround plan, he said. He reiterated that the Atlanta-based company would consider bankruptcy only as a last resort.

"A la Mark Twain, the reports of our death are premature," Grinstein said.

Some analysts believe Delta, the nation's third-largest airline after American and United, has only six to nine more months to get the wage cuts or face bankruptcy. The airline has lost more than $3 billion and laid off 16,000 employees in the last three years.

"If they don't have a deal by the first quarter of next year, then it's going to be all over," said Ray Neidl, an analyst with Blaylock & Partners in New York.

Shares of Delta fell 24 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $5.71 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Delta is asking for a 30 percent wage cut from pilots, who are offering to take a 9 percent cut and to forego a 4.5 percent raise they received in May. Delta's pilots make between $100,000 and $300,000 a year, according to the company.

Formal negotiations between the two sides have been stalled since late January.

Grinstein said he hopes Delta's pilots will decide "that it is time to re-engage and get the discussions back on track."

The chairman of the pilots union's executive committee, John Malone, suggested in an open letter to all Delta employees last week that management has engaged in "divide and conquer" tactics as part of its negotiating strategy. He said the union is willing to negotiate, but it believes the company must develop a business plan that involves more than just cutting wages.

Grinstein told analysts at Wednesday's Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference that Delta is working on a top-to-bottom review that should be complete in August. He did not offer any new details of his plan to return the company to profitability.

"We are looking at everything we do, every plane type we fly, every hub, every marketplace," Grinstein said. "Any speculation now about what is going to come out of that is truly conjecture. We are working through that very methodically."

jm

 

[Justme]

Ooops,

Above article from the Chicago Tribune

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

jm

 

[usair_begins_with_u]

Yeah he wants you all to give back before they show 2Q results... F him... I'd hold out and wait till they publish 2nd Q financials.. I think you guys are about to get swindled..

 

[Schwanker]

oops

 

[Rob]

Yeah he wants you all to give back before they show 2Q results... F him... I'd hold out and wait till they publish 2nd Q financials.. I think you guys are about to get swindled..

Grinstein said that the union has full access to all the company's books. The union negotiators should know as well as anyone what the numbers are.

 

[28yrsnojob]

Its about time they start taking money and benifits off the pilots
then maybe they can bring some layed off employees back to work.
spread the wealth!

 

[El Gato]

Its about time they start taking money and benifits off the pilots
then maybe they can bring some layed off employees back to work.
spread the wealth!

My friend, socialism has no place in the corporate world. Chopping one man's wages and bennies to bolster another man's? That is wrong. What needs to be done is to set standards of productivity for all groups across the board. Getting more flying hours out of the pilots is WAY more important then cutting their wages.


But if you want to get down to brass tacks here, try looking at the guy who is slinging bags but making $18-20+/hr. Why is he paid so much for a job anyone can do, i.e. he is not licensed. The same for other positions as well.

Though I may not be a pilot, I will defend them from the arguement you make. Don't blame pilots for the screw ups of management past, or for demanding a wage in line with their work.

 

[PITbull]

El Gato,

Ramp agents deserve every single dime they make....they work out in all kinds of iclimate wheather and are at major risk for limb injuries along with an almost certain predisposition for back injuries that will last a lifetime and shorten ones quality of life in their older years.

 

[Rico]

El Gato,

Ramp agents deserve every single dime they make....they work out in all kinds of iclimate wheather and are at major risk for limb injuries along with an almost certain predisposition for back injuries that will last a lifetime and shorten ones quality of life in their older years.

Our competition's ramp agents are out in the same weather, throwing as many bags, but at much lower pay...

Ramp agents are a position, not a trade nor profession. No license, no extensive training nor skill with tools or heavy machinery...

Important role in our operation, but it is a job young kids eager for flight benefits will do willingly at the same low rates our competition has been able to get away with for years.

It is not an insult to the people that do the job, most found themselves in a decent paying job (for what they did to get it) and would just like to keep what they have. But US can no longer affoard to be one of the few "Career" companies for ramp agents...

 

[BoeingBoy]

Rico,

Could it be that the reason these types of jobs have become "careers" is because there's nowhere to move up to since we've downsized so much? At your beloved LCC's, these "unskilled" workers would have moved up to other (higher paying) jobs long ago, to be replaced by those "young kids eager for flight benefits".

How easy for management actions to result in these jobs being "careers" then blaming those doing them.

Jim

 

[crushed]

it is a job young kids eager for flight benefits will do willingly at the same low rates our competition has been able to get away with for years.

Not true.....

Philly has had part-time openings for months...can't fill them...many of the ones who do make it through the training class quit in the first week when they see the actual work involved and the mandatory OT every time it rains.
Not to mention the fact that an '04 hire date won't get you on many flights these days...at least not to the fun places a kid would want to go.