False Bravado

[USA320Pilot]

False Bravado

I believe every reader on this board recognizes that US Airways and the other legacy carriers are all battling for survival. It’s easy for some of us to pound our chest on this message board, but that is not the sentiment of the majority of US Airways’ employees.

ALPA will lead the effort to adjust to the new realities of the marketplace and last week the Negotiating Committee met with management and PSA representatives to discuss SJ scope issues/relief. Meetings will continue next week on these issues and discussions on the revised business plan will start shortly after the SJ scope issues are resolved.

I believe Dave Siegel’s comments to the Potomac Officers Club were accurate when he said, this is a brutally competitive industry. In fact it’s a daily battle for survival. That is why I frequently cite the comments of Charles Darwin, who in his classic book “The Origin of the Speciesâ€￾ wrote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.â€￾ Change in this business is inevitable. My job is to bring along all of our stakeholders so that they participate.

Respectfully,

USA320pilot

 

[700UW]

Brain implant, koolaide or brainwashing?

 

[Bud8EE]

False Bravado

I believe every reader on this board recognizes that US Airways and the other legacy carriers are all battling for survival. It’s easy for some of us to pound our chest on this message board, but that is not the sentiment of the majority of US Airways’ employees.

ALPA will lead the effort to adjust to the new realities of the marketplace and last week the Negotiating Committee met with management and PSA representatives to discuss SJ scope issues/relief. Meetings will continue next week on these issues and discussions on the revised business plan will start shortly after the SJ scope issues are resolved.

I believe Dave Siegel’s comments to the Potomac Officers Club were accurate when he said, this is a brutally competitive industry. In fact it’s a daily battle for survival. That is why I frequently cite the comments of Charles Darwin, who in his classic book “The Origin of the Speciesâ€￾ wrote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.â€￾ Change in this business is inevitable. My job is to bring along all of our stakeholders so that they participate.

Respectfully,

USA320pilot

So far most have only heard only generalities, market conditions and unfortunate reality speeches. What is needed is details, a managemet who talks and acts proactively to kick competition in the teeth along with honoring of CBA agreements. If UAIR management needs relief to CBA's, then they need to act through leadership by setting a clearly defined vision for the company and staking their reputation behind it by boldly stating it, not geralities and gloomy predictions. Follow that up with honoring current agreements and seeking any relief needed through discussions with the respective CBA's oginizational representatives instead oof unilateral implementatition and a hope for change by litigation/arbitration. The great majority at UAIR want to see it survive but they are very tiredof the same old #$%^. So what you see as chest thumping another might see as a weary lash out in response to a leadership vacuum.

 

[usjacket]

No False Bravado here. I know it will be darn tough to find another job, but I do not trust this management team. Their track record aint too great!

 

[autofixer]

Me neither, I've already made my move. Bud8EE, I like your call sign. Bummer, no race this weekend.

 

[A320 Driver]

So, what you're saying 700UW is that we will thrive and survive with the staus quo? Uh, the numbers don't support that belief with our costs 30% higher than those of our competition. Question is, what method(s) do we employ to bring about the required cost savings to make us competitve. I don't think the Airbus farmout is one of the ways we should do this. I don't however, have any better ideas either. I know that I would rather have a sayso on how it's done instead of having management dictate terms. Smarter people than me will have to figure this one out.

A320 Driver :unsure:

Darwin also said he didn't find it beyond belief that whales evolved from bears that hung around the beach too long eatin' fish.

 

[WO/drone]

Typical American industry reactions to the market. Too little too late, no reality checks, dropping a good product that actually makes money. And scope relief after two good companies have been put to pasture, ALG/PDT. Survival of the fitest can also be survival of the most sneaky. After the next round of concessions lets see how many furlowed employees are ever called back. And how long ALPA can survive after they have ailienated so many younger pilots. The legacy carriers have to change how they do business, some will survive and some will not. Overcapacity is still here, LLCs will move into more markets. Airways has become another dinasaur like Eastern, TWA, and PanAm, all good companies in their day, but slow to move into changing times. Can Airways do it? I hope so, but I seriously have my reservations. I am not a preacher of doom and gloom, just tired of all the bickering and poor decisions of management AND the unions, both side need to straighten up and look at what they can do to help. How about some decisive leadership! B) Good luck to all!!!!!!!!!!

 

[700UW]

A320 Driver,

If you have read the other forums you would know what the IAM has done.

We have identified and submitted $100 million in cost savings to the company that has fallen on deaf ears.

The key is revenue generation, not trying to turn a profit for the company out of the employees wallets, that has never been successful in this industry.

I can give you numerous examples just in the maintenance department of how this company wastes money and when you go to them to show them the inefficiencies it goes in file 13 (trash can).

This company is doomed if the current leadership stays in place, there is no trust from the majority of the employees to any executive in this company.

So IMO I say polish up the resume, I hate to say it but I believe that is where the current regime has us headed.

 

[Furloughedagain]

I strongly support not only the transfer of the EMB170 to PSA, but also the transfer of the entire 737 fleet, along with the Airbus319, 320, and 321.

The cost structure along with the work rules in their PWA will make those airplanes extraordinarily profitable at PSA as they would then have the lowest fixed costs in the industry for their respective types.

Jetsforjobs is, of course, blocking the immediate implementation of these changes, so in the interest of survival the US Airways pilots currently working the Airbus and 737 will be furloughed and/or offered employment opportunities as newhires at US Airways' PSA division.

Only THEN will Chip FINALLY begin to realize the impact of his statements on his fellow employees. Maybe yanking the gear for Rocky for a while will finally give him some idea of his worth.

 

[cavalier]

False Bravado

I believe every reader on this board recognizes that US Airways and the other legacy carriers are all battling for survival. It’s easy for some of us to pound our chest on this message board, but that is not the sentiment of the majority of US Airways’ employees.

ALPA will lead the effort to adjust to the new realities of the marketplace and last week the Negotiating Committee met with management and PSA representatives to discuss SJ scope issues/relief. Meetings will continue next week on these issues and discussions on the revised business plan will start shortly after the SJ scope issues are resolved.

I believe Dave Siegel’s comments to the Potomac Officers Club were accurate when he said, this is a brutally competitive industry. In fact it’s a daily battle for survival. That is why I frequently cite the comments of Charles Darwin, who in his classic book “The Origin of the Speciesâ€￾ wrote: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.â€￾ Change in this business is inevitable. My job is to bring along all of our stakeholders so that they participate.

Respectfully,

USA320pilot

First off, and with of course the utmost respect:

Ask anyone who gets around and talks to employees, ramp, gate, reservation, mechanics, even a lot of pilots, when you actually do this, unless they are all lying then they have had it. If you really believed what you are writing, you wouldn't bother wasting your time writing it.

Darwin comment: Without getting into a theology debate, nor do I want to: It's my opinion that to believe in Darwin one must also believe the bible is full of nothing more than allegories. Dave Siegel keeps beating the Darwin drum and like Darwin this airline will be dead in no time with his continued path.


If you really believe that Dave and his known companions of union breakers can or will break the will and resolve of members who they lied to, stole from, used deplorable tactics to seize jobs and wages, if you believe these very same people they plundered will go along with anything this man has to say, you are dreaming and living in an allegory.

The BOD didn't want to rid themselves of this team, then they will pay the price, we all will, but Dave is finished when it comes to people trusting or working with him, it's over. The sooner you realize THIS reality, the sooner you will save your keyboard useless abuse spitting out the same old song and dance.

 

[A320 Driver]

A320 Driver,

If you have read the other forums you would know what the IAM has done.

We have identified and submitted $100 million in cost savings to the company that has fallen on deaf ears.

The key is revenue generation, not trying to turn a profit for the company out of the employees wallets, that has never been successful in this industry.

I can give you numerous examples just in the maintenance department of how this company wastes money and when you go to them to show them the inefficiencies it goes in file 13 (trash can).

This company is doomed if the current leadership stays in place, there is no trust from the majority of the employees to any executive in this company.

So IMO I say polish up the resume, I hate to say it but I believe that is where the current regime has us headed.

We too have examples of cost savings and revenue enhancements that are not implemented. I guess that's one thing that frustrates so many of us. We see many oportunities, but nobody willing to bite. I can remember a time when we had lots of contract people going through our training facilities, but no more. We've sold 2 simulators that weren't five years old that we could have sold time on to bring in some extra bucks. I mean, how much would the electricity cost us anyway? I think the problem is though, it takes technicians to maintain those sims and the company is so set on reducing the headcount, they are not willing to pay the maintenance cost in order to bring in more $$$.

We are a boat without a rudder.

A320 Driver :blink:

 

[USA320Pilot]

The "Going Forward Plan" is work in progress and you do not come up with a plan to convert the airline into a Network Airline/LCC hybrid overnight.

The broad scope has been presented to ALPA and the AFA. The IAM was to obtain a brefing, but I understand their leadership refused to hear the details.

I'm not trying to carry management's message, but some of us may be looking for instant gratification and that is not available.

We will hear more in the not-so-distant future.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[700UW]

That is right, Robert Roach, General Vice President of Transportation of the IAM told the company we are not going to meet with them as they don't care about our workers and our contract, about time someone with gonads stands up to them.

You can cower and live and fear, we will embrace it head on!

Union cancels meeting with US Airways on concessions

By: Karen Ferrick-Roman - Times Staff 02/27/2004

Thursday was when representatives from the mechanics union at US Airways were to hear about the airline's new business plan - and get a clue what concessions the airline might seek.

But Thursday's meeting between the International Association of Machinists and Related Aerospace Workers and US Airways didn't happen.

The union canceled, said David Castelveter, company spokesman.

True, said Bill Freiberger, who handles negotiations as general chairman of the IAM's District 141-M.

And, he said, the union has no plans to meet with the company until the airline is as willing to listen as it is to talk.

Freiberger said that two weeks ago, he passed along cost-saving proposals that could save US Airways $500,000 a year when he met with two airline executives in Philadelphia.

"If the IAM has suggestions on ways to save money and cut costs, we're more than willing to hear them," Castelveter said. "Not only to hear them, to discuss them thoroughly. In addition, we want to provide the IAM's leadership with information about the company's business plan, as we have done with the other unions, with the pilots and the flight attendants, but the IAM refused to attend the meeting."

Freiberger said that he took some of the proposals to the airline last May "and they haven't taken any type of response on it."

He contended the reason is because the proposed savings involve doing Airbus work in-house instead of using outside contractors.

The proposals have nothing to do with another battle over whether in-house mechanics or outside contractors in Mobile, Ala., provide heavy maintenance on the Airbus fleet, Freiberger said. That issue remains alive in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia. The last ruling went the company's way and reduced the dispute to a grievance procedure; the mechanics are petitioning the entire appeals court to decide the case.

Freiberger said the cost-savings proposals instead deal with repairing flight controls, ceiling panels, emergency power supplies and avionics equipment.

Routine Airbus maintenance is done internally, Castelveter said, and outsourced only if a plane needs repairs while at an airport without a US Airways maintenance base.

But the union has a different outlook.

"They're hell-bent on not utilizing existing mechanics, as well as bringing laid-off ones back to work," Freiberger said.

"Until they're willing to meet with us on what we suggested to them, why would we do anything else?"

Meanwhile, a meeting Thursday between the Association of Flight Attendants and David Bronner, chairman of the board for the US Airways Group, was canceled. A spokeswoman from the Retirement Systems of Alabama, which Bronner also chairs, said the meeting had been postponed and no other date set.

 

[AAviator]

You guys need MacGyver. USA320pilot has a firm grip on the obvious. ALPA will lead the charge to the bottom. When Seigel and company hit another mulligan, Team ALPA will dig even deeper. :down:

 

[Light Years]

Good post furloughedagain.

A320Driver,

Are you willing to

*outsource A320 family flying to affiliates

*put 737s at PSA with current contract

*put the remainder at MDA with current contract.

*let United and Star do international flying

*dissolve the "mainline" entirely... its too expensive, particularly those darn pilots!

*forfeit health insurance for six months



There you go. Maybe they could find profits then. Who cares about our families!