Doug Parkers statement on philly.com

[diogenes]

Maybe it's time to put this dog down then. The industry has shown that it can't afford to support wages that make it a career, and the auto industry is going the same way.

The other reason why the "top out" isn't what it used to be is because it is impossible to be twice as productive on the ramp with 5, 10, 15 or 20 years of service. They don't want you to stay. I feel for the people that have been here that long, but the only way wages are coming back is a regulated industry. If a socialist is running for congress in your district, your best bet is vote for him/her.

Ramp payscales from the only airline to consistently make a profit.

http://www.twu555.org/index.html

(page 67)

Care to reconcile?

 

[hp_fa]

Maybe it's time to put this dog down then. The industry has shown that it can't afford to support wages that make it a career, and the auto industry is going the same way.

The other reason why the "top out" isn't what it used to be is because it is impossible to be twice as productive on the ramp with 5, 10, 15 or 20 years of service. They don't want you to stay. I feel for the people that have been here that long, but the only way wages are coming back is a regulated industry. If a socialist is running for congress in your district, your best bet is vote for him/her.

This is the same you can pay now or you can pay later argument. Part of the problems at a lot of businesses is a lack of institutional knowledge. You know, the oldtimers who have forgotten more then most of the newbies know. By going to a system where there is no institutuional knowledge there are more accidents and incidents then occurred when folks not only knew their jobs, but often other folks jobs too. But too many pencilpushers didn't have sufficient foresight to think about the costs of not doing the job safely and correctly.

One of these days folks will ask themselves how thinks got so mucked up and will realize that they caused it themselves in the rush to lower costs on a short term basis and screw the future.

 

[qwerty]

I think the mistake was not getting the union off the property during the first bankruptcy, at least in Philly. The ramp is a perfect place to outsource, when you own employees don't perfom, why not used hired guns?

And you can continue to compare Southwest payscales, but unless you include productivity levels you aren't making an accurate comparisson.

 

[ChrisUS]

True. But it is a career job at WN but not at USAirways!

Don't forget that fact.....

But for some reason, they dont stay. Everytime I went down to WN counter at my city, there were new faces. If they encourage turnover, it keesp labor costs low. You can make the wage 50.00 and hour but nobody makes it that far. LOL

 

[SKY HIGH]

I think the mistake was not getting the union off the property during the first bankruptcy, at least in Philly. The ramp is a perfect place to outsource, when you own employees don't perfom, why not used hired guns?

And you can continue to compare Southwest payscales, but unless you include productivity levels you aren't making an accurate comparisson.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6...ontinental.html

Here's a novel idea, improve employee relations with incentives!



only stating opinions.

 

[Zarah]

Didn't the company set up a program to give out IPods or something like that to the ground people? Forget the details, but they were giving away things to a certain group for one reason or another.

 

[diogenes]

I think the mistake was not getting the union off the property during the first bankruptcy, at least in Philly. The ramp is a perfect place to outsource, when you own employees don't perfom, why not used hired guns?

And you can continue to compare Southwest payscales, but unless you include productivity levels you aren't making an accurate comparisson.

And you know full well a hub operation (which management, not labor decides)cannot equal the productivity of point-to-point.

Example:

WN operates PVD MCO non-stop.
US connects you thru CLT or PHL.

There is no way, save employee subsidies, the US operation is cheaper. Three cities to pay gate, counter and ramp space for instead of two, two landing fees instead of one, higher fuel burn, etc.

What I do know is, WN agents aren't superhuman, and that US agents (except maybe in PHL!) can turn a 737 just as quick as WN agents can - I've seen it done on a regular basis.

So to divide WN revenues or passengers by employees for a ratio is not an accurate comparison to US numbers either, is it? Because the operations are not apples-to-apples.

An accurate comparision would be to carriers that have hub operations - AA, DL, UA - but they are losing money too, which goes to my larger point.

WN has a superior business plan.

 

[qwerty]

WN has a superior business plan.

No argument here. The only way to make real money now is run a primarily point to point airline, which means a much smaller airline.

 

[BoeingBoy]

which means a much smaller airline.

Like WN? More airplanes, more RPM's, more FTE employees....

Jim

 

[REACC1]

Hey we can connect out of Dallas, man!!!

 

[a320av8r]

No argument here. The only way to make real money now is run a primarily point to point airline, which means a much smaller airline.

How about a "rolling hub"?
:blink:

 

[BoeingBoy]

How about a "rolling hub"? :blink:

Oh, the "talent" that we have to pay so well or risk losing (right qwerty?) apparently isn't smart enough to figure out how to do that.

Jim

 

[diogenes]

When Wolf and Gangwhal started poor-mouthing, we pointed out the WN payroll numbers. Gangwhal said we'd need to bring the fleet down to about 280 planes (from 400)if we ran a WN operation.

well , they did, and we still don't have WN pay.

 

[SKY HIGH]

So US has only 2 ways to close that gap. One is lower wages the other is to fly more per day. That's the dilema all the Legacies face. If you get you A/C utilization UP and your turn time lower then you close the gap and pay can be restored to a certain extent.

sky high states: Already BEEN TRIED. Bob. Operation HighGround, in the early 90's, wasnt it?




only stating opinions.

 

[evprincess]

Check out the newest AboutUS regarding his statement. You can access it on justplanenews.