How Did We Come To This?

[Dog Wonder]

So here we are. Waiting for any union to give up and give in. But, for some reason it has all broken down. The question is, with so many jobs at stake, why has this happened?

If you read these boards enough you hear from top management, and a few souless sycophants, saying there are employees of US Airways that should be sacrificed in the interest of the rest. Maybe, that is why the unions are fighting this so hard.

And then there is the possibilty some one has forgotten, or never knew, that no matter how good management is, without good labor they are of no value, and vice versa.

No one on this board has questioned the dedication of labor in fighting through these very difficult times. There would be stern warnings from the moderater if they did.

The solution lies in a partnership. Labor and management working together. It is not a one way street. Neither side wins if this company fails. Unfortunately, the yelling going on makes it impossible to listen.

The unions don't want their members out of work. Please listen to what they say and why they say it.

 

[robbedagain]

problem is that the unions gave up some 2 billion or more in the last two rounds however the clowns that ran the show and the two new clowns running the show have all squandered it away and the iam has given these two clowns tips on how to improve and save but according to the clowns it is not enough! now tell me why all the unions should accept a third round when we know that it too will be squandered away and oh yes how about the golden parachutes and the millions that were given to the last two sets of clowns who walked away for the fatal mistakes they made at usair and now usair is in its last leg of life due to them. we could all work for free and have no benefits and yet this airline would be in the toilet. and the first class free spots and space given to the clowns but yet when an employee wants to travel they better buy a ticket in order to have a confirmed seat tell me why it should stay that way!

 

[cavalier]

problem is that the unions gave up some 2 billion or more in the last two rounds however the clowns that ran the show and the two new clowns running the show have all squandered it away and the iam has given these two clowns tips on how to improve and save but according to the clowns it is not enough! now tell me why all the unions should accept a third round when we know that it too will be squandered away and oh yes how about the golden parachutes and the millions that were given to the last two sets of clowns who walked away for the fatal mistakes they made at usair and now usair is in its last leg of life due to them. we could all work for free and have no benefits and yet this airline would be in the toilet. and the first class free spots and space given to the clowns but yet when an employee wants to travel they better buy a ticket in order to have a confirmed seat tell me why it should stay that way!

[post="172887"][/post]​

Because we live in an evil world, there is NO other explanation to rectify that question and any other answer is the result of flawed thinking which is the result disobedience.

When one accepts these facts as facts, they are no longer confused, nor ask such questions.

 

[usair_begins_with_u]

Poor management, bad economic circumstances.. Mostly poor management though..

 

[funguy2]

Dog Wonder:

I disagree with your whole premise. The problem here is not that of poor labor... While the labor costs are a contributing factor to US Airways' problems, they are not by themselves to blame...

Is a Customer Service Agent at US Airways any better/worse than one at Southwest? What about Pilots? Flight attendants? Everyone else? By and large, the answer is no... Both US Airways and Southwest will have employees on all levels of the scale. Some good, some bad, some average.

The problem with US Airways is, that like many airplane crash, management, the hypothetical pilots of our aircraft, have made one mistake after another... Never recognizing a mistake, and only correcting when it is painfully obvious and way too late (Oh my! Look out for that mountain!!!!)

US Airways is in its current state of affairs largely because of management. How else do you describe an organization that defined a problem in 1993 (or earlier) with LCC incursions, and has yet to find a viable solution to that threat?

Can employees give more concessions to this company and MAYBE give it some breathing room for another few months? Yes. Should they? Well, I don't know. If I were an employee of US Airways, I, personally, would say no. In the past I've compared concessions to an investment. In the last several rounds of concession investing, the employees have largely seen their investment squandered away... After a while, you learn to stop investing when the investment is wasted repeatedly... Unfortunately, that is what I think has happened here.

 

[Dog Wonder]

Fun guy, I never said it was bad labor. My plea is for management to listen to labor. They stopped doing that months ago.

 

[autofixer]

Perhaps the patient is terminally ill and the doctor is simply trying to perform some sort of radical, heroic last ditch surgery? It may be that "All of the kings horses, and all of the kings men, could not put Humpty Dumpty together again".

 

[A320 Driver]

So here we sit:

ALPA tries to partnership with management, but it's "business as usual" with the boys at the top.

IAM is already in a dispute over maintenance farmout, says they have cost sharing ideas for which they want credit that management is unwilling to conceed and wants them to cough up for nothing.

AFA is willing to talk, but they too meet with the same old song and dance in the meetings with management.

CWA has little if anything left to give.

Seems to me that the labor at U was willing once again to save the airline, but management is unwilling or unable to make the change from antagonizer to partner.

Just my $.02

A320 Driver

 

[Hope777]

Could not agree with you more A320 Driver. To me and many people I have talked to, it seems that Managment is not trying to make this work. The 28,000 Employees deserve better ! ! !

 

[MCORORES]

Amen A320Driver...Amen!!!!!

 

[Schatzee]

Fun guy, I never said it was bad labor. My plea is for management to listen to labor. They stopped doing that months ago.

[post="172942"][/post]​

They have never listened. :down:

This place is fried, dried and will be laid to the side. It is only a matter of time.
So get this over with so people can get on with their lives.

 

[funguy2]

Schatzee: I was going to say the same thing... Management has not listened since at least 1989...

Dog Wonder: I agree with you that the problem is not labor... However a "partnership" is not what is required. What is required is for management to properly manage the business in all aspects... One of those management items is feedback from employees. Management would not need a "partnership" with labor if they had properly worked on reducing CASM in the last ten years, or developing a strategy to deal with LCC's or any other of a number of items that management has failed to do in order to properly manage the business. Had management properly managed the business, the only thing that they would need labor for, is to do their jobs (i.e. fly the plane, load the plane, take reservations, whatever) with professionalism, courtesy, and safety in mind.

There is very little labor can do to fix the situation, other than continue to give back wages, until management regards labor as an asset to be used, rather than a liability to be avoided. I have no faith that management at this company will figure this out before its too late.

The difference between Eastern Air Lines and US Airways is this... At Eastern, the IAM wanted raises, and the company wanted concessions, neither side would budge... At US Airways, management wanted concessions, and got them, but did not use them effectively... Thus additional concession are being rebuffed.

Could this ugly duckling be transformed into a swan? Maybe. The problem is that time is running out, and has been for a while, and very little has been done to change it.

Yes US Airways has announced some new things, and these might be good. At least they are beginning to think outside of the box. The problem is that this kind of thinking was needed max 10 years ago, min 3 years ago.

The bottom line is that management needs to manage the company, and make the tough decisions... This process has only just begun, and only because management has a proverbial gun to their head. They needed to make the tough decisions before now. But that is not history and cannot be changed.

 

[planeirish]

You folks are hitting it right on the head. This company has tons of manangement but no leaders. We have anylysts and management that look and look at data and make procedures and other decisions that they claim work "on paper". They should spend more time with the customers at the airports and less time at long lunches. If we built submarines our anylysts would say we could put screen doors on them. "On paper" they would be less costly, light weight, more attractive. We would not have to worry about functionality because that is not our job. We only build them and it works on paper.

 

[MCORORES]

planeirish, how correct you are...I learned how we are really doing when I was sitting around at the ATO just hearing comments from the passengers. It is a really interesting experiance.

 

[harleyrider]

:angry: In my opinion, Management, just doesn't care or want to listen to any one of the labor groups. It seem that they are only protecting themselves,their salaries, their medical, ect. We,all have given and given. Has management ever said what they are going to give up!! I'm still LISTENING for their reply...I am really sad to see that management refuses to come to the plate. But that is why we are in the state of affairs that we are in. They can walk away with millions, their golden parachutes and blame labor for the companies demise. This is just like Eastern, for example a Gate agent at Eastern was making $40,000 after management was done taking and taking, that poor gate agent, just before the doors were closed, was making $13,000. Not much for your family to live on. I am ready to move on, But, I'm staying until they close the doors. I'm going to hand them, the chain and lock for the door. Good bye USAIRWAYS it's been nice knowing all of you. And, just so there is no hard feeling toward any one in Management, as I walk away from this company, please notice the mistletoe on my coattail.