OK songbird......let's play devils advocate here.
Let's say I am a big wig in the inflight department. For two years now we have had (on average) 275 flight attendant sick calls between the 23rd and the 26th. Over the course of the other 361 days of the year, the average sick number of Flight Attendants that call in sick is 80. Reviewing that data for the year, I find that there are spikes in sick calls on Halloween, Valentines Day and SuperBowl Sunday. During the 11 months from Jan to Nov, 70% of reserve Flight Attendants do not break guarantee (made up number because I don't know the actual percentage).
I am now tasked with coming up with a solution to the spike in sick calls over that 4 day period in December. What could be done to ensure we have coverage? First things off the top of my head.....
1. No vacation awarded over that four day period.
2. No days off awarded over that four day period.
3. All qualified supervisors will be made available to fly and made to work as OPR's
4. Any employee calling off sick will need a note or receipt from a Doctor/Emergeny Room/Urgent Care facility validating their absence.
5. Offer Vacation Fly back for the month.
These are just a few ideas, but I feel that in the end, by doing #1 and #2 you are penalizing those employees that are senior enough to hold that time off. By initiating those recommendations, you would increase the sick call volume, because if the senior employee can't get that time off, they will pay the 25.00 co-pay to go to the Dr just to get a note that they had the flu or a headache.
I realize there is pleanty of blame to go around....and yes, management is just as to blame as those that called in sick, if not more. There is not a person in this company that didn't know that the holidays were going to be a problem. As soon as the 21% pay cut was announced, that was the first thought that came to mind.
I also think that when you took all the problems that took place on those 4 days, you will find that one issue wasn't the cause of the melt down, put when you combined them all together, we had a mess. Would things have been any different if we only had 80 f/a sick calls versus 300? Maybe to a small degree. Would things have been different if ComAir didn't have it's melt down? Maybe to a small degree. Would things have been different if we had full staffing on the ramp in PHL? (By full staffing I mean all vacancies filled and minimal sick calls) Maybe to a moderate degree. Would things have been different if the weather were better? Maybe to a greater degree. So if we only fixed one problem, the out come may have varied slightly, but I think we still would have had problems unless ALL of the problems were addressed.
I'd love to hear any ideas that people have on how to avoid this same situation next year.
Filling vacancies in PHL would be a top priority.
Adaquate equipment would be another.
A better employee incentive program.
Accountability for things this year from top to bottom. Every action/inaction should have a consequence from Al on down.
Just my thoughs......