CWA’ers met with management to hear the details of their Transformation/Concessions plan...CWA presents alternative plans...
6-23-2004
The meeting took place on 6-22-04 at US Airways’ Crystal City Headquarters. Present for management were VP Donna Paladini, Doug McKeen, ECLAT Consultant and former VP, and several station, labor relations, and legal management. Present for CWA were each local president or designee and CWA staff.
Management presented several slides restating their view that the company is in serious financial difficulty and that further employee concessions are required. They presented slightly more detail on their earlier claim that, overall, US Airways passenger service employees are $122 million per year overpaid and underproductive compared to a hybrid model of certain other airlines (JetBlue and America West – excluding Southwest and other major airlines).
Management broke out the $122 million figure further, saying that passenger service employees are over cost by the following amounts in each category:
•Pay - $80 million
•Productivity - $17 million
•Retirement - $8 million
•Retiree Medical - $5 million
•Scope (Contracting Out) - $17 million
CWA’ers told management the magnitude of the cuts being demanded of passenger service employees is phenomenal - $25,700 per full-time employee per year - and if implemented would drive passenger service employees right out of the middle class and into a drastically lower standard of living. CWA’ers made the following points to management:
•We want to help save this company, but you can’t ask, again, for the lowest paid group to subsidize the others;
•Many employees are parents who are not going to give up their family’s economic security in an unfair transformation plan;
•Passenger service employees are not the high-paid workforce at US Airways, and we have no flexibility or reserves to fall back on if our income is cut further;
•Passenger service employees took pay freezes and cuts in benefits in the ‘90’s when no other group at US Airways did;
•Employees are losing confidence that management can run the airline successfully;
•Management needs to implement the non-labor parts of the transformation plan immediately, and say what is being demanded of the non-represented groups;
•Management’s statements that our seniority is “a problem†is age discrimination and a direct attack on the individual employees who work for this company;
•The amount of cuts suggested for our retirement plan, $8 million, would cut our defined contribution plan by about 60%. Coincidentally, the company just gave away about $8 million to our two recently departed executives.
•The America West “pay scale†management wants for us isn’t even a payscale – it’s a plan whereby your supervisor decides how much of a raise, if any, you will get, starting at $7.65 an hour and going no higher than $13.10 an hour.
CWA’ers presented an alternative plan to reduce passenger service costs by reducing seniority through a buyout, and described several other cost-cutting initiatives they are preparing.
•Buyout. CWA presented a comprehensive, cost-cutting buy-out plan to management at this meeting. Text of that plan is available at www.cwa.net.
•Work At Home. CWA’ers told management they are preparing a reservations “work at home†option that could substantially reduce some res costs. We are determined, though, that the plan be voluntary and not allow reps to be forced to accept the work at home option.
•Retiree Medical Costs. CWA’ers told management they are working on a possible alternative ways to fund retiree medical, as long as the current retiree medical is not reduced or made more expensive.
CWA research department will meet again next week to go over the calculations in the CWA buyout plan and those in the company’s most recent presentation. We’ll keep you informed of further meetings with management.
CWA Local Officers and Staff
6-23-2004
The meeting took place on 6-22-04 at US Airways’ Crystal City Headquarters. Present for management were VP Donna Paladini, Doug McKeen, ECLAT Consultant and former VP, and several station, labor relations, and legal management. Present for CWA were each local president or designee and CWA staff.
Management presented several slides restating their view that the company is in serious financial difficulty and that further employee concessions are required. They presented slightly more detail on their earlier claim that, overall, US Airways passenger service employees are $122 million per year overpaid and underproductive compared to a hybrid model of certain other airlines (JetBlue and America West – excluding Southwest and other major airlines).
Management broke out the $122 million figure further, saying that passenger service employees are over cost by the following amounts in each category:
•Pay - $80 million
•Productivity - $17 million
•Retirement - $8 million
•Retiree Medical - $5 million
•Scope (Contracting Out) - $17 million
CWA’ers told management the magnitude of the cuts being demanded of passenger service employees is phenomenal - $25,700 per full-time employee per year - and if implemented would drive passenger service employees right out of the middle class and into a drastically lower standard of living. CWA’ers made the following points to management:
•We want to help save this company, but you can’t ask, again, for the lowest paid group to subsidize the others;
•Many employees are parents who are not going to give up their family’s economic security in an unfair transformation plan;
•Passenger service employees are not the high-paid workforce at US Airways, and we have no flexibility or reserves to fall back on if our income is cut further;
•Passenger service employees took pay freezes and cuts in benefits in the ‘90’s when no other group at US Airways did;
•Employees are losing confidence that management can run the airline successfully;
•Management needs to implement the non-labor parts of the transformation plan immediately, and say what is being demanded of the non-represented groups;
•Management’s statements that our seniority is “a problem†is age discrimination and a direct attack on the individual employees who work for this company;
•The amount of cuts suggested for our retirement plan, $8 million, would cut our defined contribution plan by about 60%. Coincidentally, the company just gave away about $8 million to our two recently departed executives.
•The America West “pay scale†management wants for us isn’t even a payscale – it’s a plan whereby your supervisor decides how much of a raise, if any, you will get, starting at $7.65 an hour and going no higher than $13.10 an hour.
CWA’ers presented an alternative plan to reduce passenger service costs by reducing seniority through a buyout, and described several other cost-cutting initiatives they are preparing.
•Buyout. CWA presented a comprehensive, cost-cutting buy-out plan to management at this meeting. Text of that plan is available at www.cwa.net.
•Work At Home. CWA’ers told management they are preparing a reservations “work at home†option that could substantially reduce some res costs. We are determined, though, that the plan be voluntary and not allow reps to be forced to accept the work at home option.
•Retiree Medical Costs. CWA’ers told management they are working on a possible alternative ways to fund retiree medical, as long as the current retiree medical is not reduced or made more expensive.
CWA research department will meet again next week to go over the calculations in the CWA buyout plan and those in the company’s most recent presentation. We’ll keep you informed of further meetings with management.
CWA Local Officers and Staff
