Management=no Trust

[Broke@SFO]

A little history, United Airlines engine shop 2001. I would like to comment on the outsourcing of the JT8, JT9, CFM-56, and the Scare Bus V-2500 enging overhaul. No one in the turbine shop could understand this move. It cost UAL for in house overhaul about $600K for the JT8, $1.2M for the JT9, and $800K for the CFM-56. UAL agreed to pay Pratt $ Whitney 1.2M for the JT8, 1.8M for the JT9, and 1.4M for the CFM-56. This was almost double the cost to outsource. In addition to this we gave up all our customer contracts to do these engines. About 40% of all our work was customer work so this added up to a large amount of lost income for UAL. Even the engine shop managers and foreman were at a loss to explain this move. Our general manager Jim Keenan and IAM President Scotty Ford came to the Jet Shop and held seperate meetings to explain it. Even though they were seperate meetings they read from the same script. These engines were "old technology" and we had to make room for the V-2500. As soon as the warranty ran out they would be brought in-house and would secure our future for many years to come. As a humorous side note, P&W didn't have a clue as how to overhaul a GE CFM-56 and they outsourced them to some outfit in Norway who also didn't have a clue on how to overhaul them so we got them back in-house soon after. This whole deal was perpetrated by Jim Keenen. The ink wasn't even dry on the contract before the "honorable" Mr. Keenen resigned suddenly from UAL to take a position of Vice Pesident at Pratt & Whitney. Talk about "conflict of interest" Ken Lay of ENRON would have been proud of Keenan. He walked away with a bundle and UAL got left holding the bad. Not only did the union sell us out but so did upper management. I personally know a few high senority foreman and managers were very bitter over this and retired soon after. I am sure Keenan made a lot of money on this deal, and secured a high position with Pratt & Whitney. I wonder how high the corruption went. I am sure there was a lot of money spread around to upper management to have this fly. What did Scotty get for selling out his union? I along with many other previous IAM supporters took a good look at AMFA after this. Now the present- "United Airlines to outsource all the V-2500 engines to Pratt & Whitney in a $2 Billion 10 year contract" United's CEO Glen Tilton just can't understand why the mechanics don't trust management!!!!!

 

[TravelDude]

So, why then outsource if the cost is so much more?

The only thing that comes to my mind quickly is liability, it is easier to blame a third party if something goes wrong and it does not affect the main brand "United."

Any other reasons someone can think of???

 

[N230UA]

Do you know if United bought or leased most of the engines?

If they're on an operating lease, I would guess that some pretty attractive post-bankruptcy terms were given for this contract.

Does this mean the engine shop will be sold to Pratt as was rumored some time ago??