Daves Message For The Week

[PITbull]

Row,

You're kidding, right?

They can go anytime they want. No need to waste trees and wood on a resignation letter. We'll accept a verbal They only have 18 months seniority. Don't let the door hit them in the head.

Hell, we'll even throw in "none contestment" of unemployment benefits just to make it an easier transition.

 

[TheWatcher]

Row,

You're kidding, right?

They can go anytime they want. No need to waste trees and wood on a resignation letter. We'll accept a verbal They only have 18 months seniority. Don't let the door hit them in the head.

Hell, we'll even throw in "none contestment" of unemployment benefits just to make it an easier transition.

If so many employees feel like this at US Airways, maybe your leadership should step down. Its hard to direct a war if the troops have no faith in you.



Just my two cents

 

[usfliboi]

Watcher i assure you the majority does not feel this way at all . It reflects in day to day operations. Its gonna be really funny when these resign dave get their wishes. You think your cuts were bad then ? Get another real buisness man in here and youll see som major cuts. So be careful what u wish for my friends

 

[RowUnderDCA]

Row,

You're kidding, right?

They can go anytime they want. No need to waste trees and wood on a resignation letter. We'll accept a verbal They only have 18 months seniority. Don't let the door hit them in the head.

Hell, we'll even throw in "none contestment" of unemployment benefits just to make it an easier transition.

If so many employees feel like this at US Airways, maybe your leadership should step down. Its hard to direct a war if the troops have no faith in you.



Just my two cents

Replaced by whom? Is there a line of nice managers beating down the door? How much money would you want to do their jobs? How muchodf U's revenue would you want them to have? Do those figures overlap? Keep in mind that most of the job is putting up with attitudes like those expressed on this board (what a laugh riot). But since somebody owes you something, there must be someone you can FORCE to be your buddy and manage U the way you want it to be managed, right? Where? Somewhere in 1972?

The sad fact is that U exists in the same political economy that the rest of America does. There isn't some moral 'bubble' that surrounds U (or is it just PIT that's supposed to be immune from the troubles of working folks in America?) It seems to me that some poster has provided some cogent analysis about how the U story is a BIGGER story about the relationship between labor and management and capital in the entire airline industry and the entire country, YET, despite that apparent realization, the solution is PERSONAL?!? NONSEQUITOR!

Did you not recognize what happened in IOWA? The two labor-endorsed candidates TOGETHER did not poll as much as the SECOND PLACE finisher (AND THESE ARE DEMOCRATS!). The problems are MUCH bigger than not feeling respected by individual managers.

This country is going in a seriously wrong direction. Those driving it that way WANT you to think that when unfair things happen to working people it's because of some individual jerks or stupid folk and that Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing and TYCO were just isoloated crooks. yeh, right. Taking the bait and focusing on individual personal failures is worse than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, it's more like bailing water into the boat!

This stuff is NOT going to change, unless it changes everywhere. It's system, most markets are. The top managers and executives occupy a DIFFERENT market for thier labor (by and large) than do unionized folks. I think that that is wrong, but it's not going to change by a vendetta against management.

It reminds me of D.C. Everytime some new public executive can be hoodwinked into working in the District he/she is immediatly the subject of criticism from ALL SIDES. Some deserved, some piling on. But everytime somebody leaves a failure, it makes that much harder to recruit the next sucker. And this is the nation's capital!

Well, this is several months of pent up rant, because I feel for what's going on to the workers at U. It is an emotional subject for me, so I'm just trying to provide a little reality check. Listen, I'm an angry guy, but don't let anger fool you into thinking that revenge is a solution. It might be fun, but in this case, I don't think it'll work.

 

[oldiebutgoody]

Watcher i assure you the majority does not feel this way at all . It reflects in day to day operations. Its gonna be really funny when these resign dave get their wishes. You think your cuts were bad then ? Get another real buisness man in here and youll see som major cuts. So be careful what u wish for my friends

I want some of whatever it is you're smokin'

 

[Traveler]

Watcher i assure you the majority does not feel this way at all . It reflects in day to day operations. Its gonna be really funny when these resign dave get their wishes. You think your cuts were bad then ? Get another real buisness man in here and youll see som major cuts. So be careful what u wish for my friends

Consider the ideological approach to labor relations with this Management. On a spectrum of Lorenzo to Herb Kelleher, where do you think USAirways CEO falls? Honestly? Yet on the same spectrum, which Airline does USAirways CEO fear and respect the most? I believe USAirways CEO respects the Executive Leadership of SouthWest and the corporate culture of SouthWest but shows no interest in adopting the winning philosophies of Kelleher. On the same spectrum, honestly, which CEO do you think the USAirways employees would fight the toughest battles for? On the spectrum, how typical is it for labor to sue and win so many of these kinds of indictments, hardly a year since Contract Ratification? Do all the events since Bankruptcy shift UAIR's CEO closer or farther from Kelleher on the spectrum.

Despite how expert the Majority of Employees conduct themselves professionally as human being while interacting with the traveling public, there’s an undercurrent of uneasiness. It’s pretty much unprecedented to have so much rancor between the Labor Leaders and Management. So many votes of no-confidence. So many votes for resignation. If this was objectionable to the Majority of Employees, perhaps it’s the Labor Leaders who should be impeached instead of Management. But that’s not happening. Why?

I honestly don’t think The CEO has intentions of staying, one way or the other. Be it success, failure, fragmentation or Merger. His is a very specific skill. And he’s extremely talented as a transitional Executive.

Sometimes I think what the Employees of UAIR fail to recognize is that the transitional phase isn’t over yet. Sweet sounding POR numbers via a short trip through bankruptcy helped secure a vital ATSB Loan Guarantee. Any reasonable person would believe that an Emergence from Bankruptcy means a new beginning. It wasn’t. That’s the incongruent aspect of Managements approach to Labor Relations. Ordinarily when Management has achieved the necessary concessions; When Management has gotten the necessary tools; When Management has mutually acceptable Contract Agreements – It begins a healing process, implements it’s plan and focuses on employee Motivation to achieve these goals.

Continental did exactly that and USAirways CEO was a part of that transformation there. It’s an incongruence that it’s not happening here. Something doesn’t fit. It can only be...

The transition phase of Bankruptcy is and never was viewed by Management as complete. It’s the only piece that fits. Otherwise when the CEO walks down the concourses, employers and passengers alike would be singing his praises. Something’s not right. Management has been just as agressive with concessionary tactics post bankruptcy as it had pre-bankurptcy. I’m absolutely sure that Management knows that Labor Relations is a critical aspect to any Business Plan. But Management can’t yet implement the Good Cop routine... Not until the transition phase is complete.

The Airline is being configured for a continuation of Wolf’s strategic intentions or is evolving into something perhaps less appealing to most or somewhat appealing to some of the employees. But what ever the plan, it’s neutrally functional for Management and the Board. What ever it is, it can't be revealed to the public or the employees. Otherwise the employees would have seen definable goals and targets for excellence, achievement and growth long before now. The incongruence of strategy requires silence.

Like the Wolf initiatives, the problem is time. Fruition of the Plan requires time, which is threatened by a race by LCC to undermine it’s design while the Airline scrambles during this most vulnerable phase.

This phase requires the special talents of a Bulldog. When it’s done, the bulldog will leave. Too much irreparable harm to do otherwise. Besides, It would nearly be a walk in the park for any new CEO who wouldn’t have to dirty his hands with these nasty, bad cop chores.

 

[28yearsnojob]

:huh: All you people just dont get it ,well here it is when there done.
1. you will have about 8cities mainline mabe
2. psa or mda will run all rjs
3. peidmont will fill in the gaps
4. all the rest of the cities mda or psa or piedmont
5 new wage scale for those cities
6.if they dont agree psa or mda sold to mesa and you will have to work for them
7shuttle sold
8.wage cuts for all mainline employees
9.the company will be able to ruin more jets big jets out of these small cities if they chose
10.a whole new business model.
this has to be done or the company will be done.

 

[oldiebutgoody]

:huh: All you people just dont get it ,well here it is when there done.
1. you will have about 8cities mainline mabe
2. psa or mda will run all rjs
3. peidmont will fill in the gaps
4. all the rest of the cities mda or psa or piedmont
5 new wage scale for those cities
6.if they dont agree psa or mda sold to mesa and you will have to work for them
7shuttle sold
8.wage cuts for all mainline employees
9.the company will be able to ruin more jets big jets out of these small cities if they chose
10.a whole new business model.
this has to be done or the company will be done.

NO, you just don't get it. People ignore folks that are always whining the same thing. Especially if they can't type.

 

[usfliboi]

Its amazing the insults some of u guys sling because people on here have a different perspective or idea. Why cant you guys be adults and understand that not everyoone feels the same way . I think the monitors here have said in repeat to stop the insults, Cant we all just get along and agree to disagree with out calling names?

 

[oldiebutgoody]

Its amazing the insults some of u guys sling because people on here have a different perspective or idea. Why cant you guys be adults and understand that not everyoone feels the same way . I think the monitors here have said in repeat to stop the insults, Cant we all just get along and agree to disagree with out calling names?

Can't take the heat, huh? Pretty defensive. Gotta be able to take it if you're gonna spout a VERY umpopular company line! Are you related to Chip?

 

[Traveler]

Apparently not! There is an orthodoxy on here that to me is very Robotic and Orwellian and shows very little independant thinking.

Anyone who dares question the orthodoxy is immediately shouted down and insulted. God forbid if you are a customer who does not walk in lockstep with this orthodoxy.

One need only look to the Steel Industry to see exactly what happens when all you do is repeat the mistakes of the past.

The USWA is mighty silent on NuCor Steel and it's record profits that almost single handedly bankrupt several integrated Steel Companies like LTV and Bethlehem. A non union shop where the average worker income exceeds USWA wages in some cases by 30-40 THOUSAND annually. NuCor employees laughed the USWA right off the property when they tried to organize. The employees just whipped out there W-2's and asked "What can you do for us" and of course the answer was NOTHING!

There is a lesson in NuCor Steel for every US Airways employee and that lesson is that it is possible to be a low cost, high wage provider. You have to look and think outside the box and this goes for labor and management.

I agree with much of what you've said here.

I kind of like the slick banter between two lawyers in court followed by a shared beer at the sports bar across the street. Perspectives are 360 degrees. 360 people surrounding a problem will give a different description. The guy looking south sees the smile on the face. The guy looking north sees a dagger gripped in the hand behind the back. Together they draw a conclusion what the smile and the dagger combined might represent... The guy to the south sees a hooded figure kneeling in the shadows, over the victim, holding a weapon in his hand. The guy to the north sees a Cleric kneeling, gripping a cross with both hands above the victim in prayer. Listen to perspective... add your own. Argue. Debate. Insults are not productive.

A different perspective on the, “lesson in NuCor Steel for every US Airways employeeâ€. Bear with me...

Here's sections of an article written on the joys of “Low Cost†“Highly Compensated†Employees:



Sun, Jan. 05, 2003
Southwest keeps employees happy
By Mitchell Schnurman
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

â€Low costs are a way of life at Southwest Airlines, but here's a little
secret: Many of its pilots are among the best-paid in the business...

...Southwest pilots earn about 20 percent less each month than their colleagues
at mainline carriers, but many Southwest pilots eventually lap the
competition because of stock options, profit sharing and performance
bonuses.

Those variable elements have made millionaires out of some Southwest pilots
without ratcheting up the company's expenses.

Not surprisingly, stock options have been eagerly adopted by most of the
airline's other workers.

At Southwest, it's a virtuous circle, holding down labor costs, boosting
productivity and rewarding the people responsible for the company's success.
That, in turn, drives more growth, more job opportunities and a stronger
stock price.

Executives at other airlines marvel at the trust between Southwest managers
and employees. But Jim Parker, Southwest's chief executive, says it's just a
matter of everyone realizing that what goes around comes around....â€

... Since then, Southwest's stock has split four times and its price has
soared, even after accounting for the latest downturn in the industry. The
initial stakes for those senior pilots now total 50,625 shares, with a base
price, adjusted for splits, of $3.95 a share.... Last January, when Southwest was trading at more than $23, those stakes were worth just under $1 million....

....The upside potential is great, but the process requires careful tending.â€

...Surely that's one reason that ramp workers recently agreed to a contract
extension, even though it freezes pay for two years. Their deal includes
stock options, which have become a staple with nearly all worker groups at
Southwest.

Darby calls the Southwest approach "self-adjusting." If there are no
profits, there's no profit sharing, and the stock options aren't a hard
cost.

"The problem is that you have to sell employees on doing it," Darby said.
"They start out wanting cash."

Southwest says it pays competitive rates for all its employees. By adding
stock options to the mix, it keeps pay from skyrocketing and motivates
workers to push harder.

That keeps the company growing, which creates more jobs. Southwest pilots
have typically advanced to the captain's seat in less than six years, about
half the time of pilots at many other airlines -- and that promotion adds
the biggest boost to pay.â€



That’s the article. What can you extract from it? Southwest employees are paid well. The total compensation package is worth more than those of some employees at Legacy Airlines. Because of this morale is high. The employees are motivated.

But what is the hard driving facet behind morale, motivation and Management/Employee mutual geniality? --Employee Compensation. Management has found a recipe for success at the negotiating table. But...

Is it nature’s way that everyone live happily ever after? –Rarely. What does this formula rely on? –Growth. This permeates the Article above from the first sentence to the last. For SouthWest and NuCor Steel, the birth or rebirth cycle of a Corporation followed by an enduring Growth Cycle will make the recipe work. But what happens when a Corporation reaches the Mature stage?

When these Corporations reach the Mature phase of its business life cycle, employee advancement declines, cost free, profit based incentive programs such as profit sharing, Bonuses and Stock Options become less valuable because of growth stagnation. ....See where this is going?

The one element which will not change with an aging Employee group as well as new hire Employee entrants – is the compensation and retirement security issue. With growth stagnation at NuCor as well as SouthWest, the employees will seek satisfaction elsewhere at the negotiating table. NuCor will, of course try to retain it’s low cost competitive advantage. Employees will place a greater value on the necessity of Labor Organization and Collective Negotiations. This all leads where... Higher Corporate Operating Costs?

SouthWest must grow to sustain it’s employee compensation operational cost advantages. Lately SouthWest has deviated from it’s formula for growth. With Baltimore and Philadelphia, SouthWest has indicated that it must grow via a path of more frictionally competitive Markets. The Airline is seeing more competitive resistance form evolutionary Legacy Changes as well as an exponentially growing presence of other successful LCCs.

The Industry is nudging toward a new state of Equilibrium. LCC’s costs are rising while Legacy Airlines are remodeling for Low Cost Competition. The external indicators are that the LCCs are meeting greater resistance to incisive incursions. The internal indicators are that employees are beginning to become concerned about the universal truth... Compensation.

Junior Southwest Pilots are just beginning to put pressure on Southwest Executives to convert their compensation plans to match or exceed those of the Major Airlines. Here’s one quote from SWAPA:

“...The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association “remains steadfast in its commitment to negotiate an industry-leading contract.â€

Here’s another quote from the Unisys Corporation:

“Part of the problem stems from the desire of each pilot group to have an industry-leading contract. Even some of Southwest’s pilots have caught the fever. And part of the problem stems from the employees mistaking the cyclical peak of the late 1990s for the beginning of an era of permanent prosperity. Sadly, it was in fact the end of an all-too-brief period of temporary and modest prosperity. Somehow, in the summer of 2002 Southwest managed to avoid (or postpone) the reckoning, negotiating a mid-term two-year extension (to 2006) of its pilot contract with only a 20% wage increase over the next two years.â€

Reckoning... Not my words but the words of an Airline Research and Consulting group which neither slants it’s reports to favor Labor or Management. Employees can’t continue to upgrade forever in a perpetual growth business cycle. An Airline’s overvalued stock in the Mature stage of the business life-cycle, can’t sustain the same post retirement potentials for the youthful as it did for the mature employees.

So my conclusion is that different perspectives by different angles of aspect will reveal why different organizations have competitive advantages and why their employees, who’s needs are mutually satisfying under growth oriented Management, will have no use for more formalized Labor Organizations or more tenuous collective bargaining processes. At least until... the certainty of the Reckoning.

 

[PITbull]

The USWA is mighty silent on NuCor Steel and it's record profits that almost single handedly bankrupt several integrated Steel Companies like LTV and Bethlehem. A non union shop where the average worker income exceeds USWA wages in some cases by 30-40 THOUSAND annually. NuCor employees laughed the USWA right off the property when they tried to organize. The employees just whipped out there W-2's and asked "What can you do for us" and of course the answer was NOTHING!

There is a lesson in NuCor Steel for every US Airways employee and that lesson is that it is possible to be a low cost, high wage provider. You have to look and think outside the box and this goes for labor and management.

No. There is a lesson to be learned by this managment when comparing mangement styles and thinking with NUCOR.

YOU WILL ONLY SEE UNIONS ON THE PROPERTY WHERE THERE IS BAD MANAGEMENT!

NUCOR is NOT a Low cost employer!! They provide some of the best benefits to their employees in corporate America in present day, and their wages earned is beyond compare in steel industry or any industry. This company has the "key" to success.
When the economy is tight, they FURLOUGH NO ONE EVER! They cut the work week down to 4 and in rare cases three days a week. Their managment has been going strong for 30 plus years.....
NUCOR is a great company in a tough industry and is a prime example of how good managment runs a profitable company by respecting and valuing their employees.

That's the lesson to be learned for USAirways employees, THAT WHEN YOU HAVE BAD MANAGEMENT, THE RESULT IS POOR LABOR RELATIONS, and the results of that EFFECT "bottom line" profits.

 

[PITbull]

I have an acquaintence who works for NuCor, and is in their managment. Their company is a "class act" along with SW.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Jerry's office, take a gander of the wall. He has awards for "anti-union, anti-labor" activity. (After reading this, he will probably remove them).

No way U could adopt the above. From Dave on down to low mangment. Those lower mangement and middle managment, every time you call them they are in a meeting according to their voice response. Every single day.

I can only imagine that first thing in the morning, they are all on conference call with the "Great Oz" on how to screw labor today and have NO conscious.

 

[Traveler]

I have an acquaintence who works for NuCor, and is in their managment. Their company is a "class act" along with SW.

"Class act"

It's the single most important common thread at all successful Organizations.

“My priorities at all of my companies are my employees first, my customer second and my Stockholders are a distant third. I never worry about the stockholder because if I take good care of those first two, they'll take care of the third for me.â€￾ --Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin Airlines)

 

[Doc]

repeet its either give or --------no job

NO JOB