Manhattan Based Management

[Bob Owens]

Well in yet another display of Management being out of touch the top dog at JFK, who actually has an office in Manhattan decided that the most recent 18 inch snowstorn did not qualify as a Transportation Emergency. He explained to Local 501 leaders that if he could leave a half hour early and make it in to work then so should his employees, I'm told he lives 4 blocks from his Manhattan office. "I have a business to run and I expect my employees to show up". Four city blocks is less than 1/4 mile. He basically had to commute the legnth of Hangar10 at JFK, less than what I have to walk from my car in the lot to my locker. None of his employees that actually work at the airport are as fortunate, both in being able to afford to live in Manhattan or have such a short commute. Just from the parking lot to the Terminal at JFK is approximately 2 miles, Eight times the distance he had to travel, once his employees got from their homes to the lot that is. So since he braved his four block commute he instucted all departments to code workers who call in snowbound as "Unauthorized Absence" instead of TEU, as Tulsa subsequently did the other day when hit with a similar storm. A "UA" counts as a serious mark against their attendance, in fact its even worse than calling in sick. Hmmm, so whats an employee to do the next time it snows and the plows, if they come in time, leave a 4ft high berm of compacted snow across your driveway? Call in snowbound, not get paid, have a mark against their attendance? Or call in sick, get paid and have a mark against their attendance? Now we expect our employees to be honest, but after moving a ton of snow to get their way to the street,(not too many people who live in Manhattan have to shovel out driveways) without any guarantee that all the streets on their way will be passable, the likelyhood of having a sore back is high, if they are lucky enough to not have chest pains and be on their way to the emergency room instead. So instead of being out one day unpaid they may be out a week or more getting paid, recuperating.

Dumb, just plain dumb. And these are the types of decision makers that we should continue to make sacrifices for in the hopes that they will make AA profitable and our futures brighter!!!

 

[eolesen]

Hidden in Bob's rant is the fact that Tulsa management made the right call...


I seem to recall that the station's general manager made the call on a transportation emergency, not a staff or regional VP.

You're a union official. File a grievance instead of whining on an internet bulletin board.

 

[strikeforce]

Hidden in Bob's rant is the fact that Tulsa management made the right call...


I seem to recall that the station's general manager made the call on a transportation emergency, not a staff or regional VP.

You're a union official. File a grievance instead of whining on an internet bulletin board.

ORD declared a transportation emergency for 2/1 & 2/2......TL or PV....I still think it's wrong that I have to burn 2 vacation days for this event, so I'm filing a grievance tonite. I'm curious how employees in MIA are paid during hurricanes? Anyone?

 

[eolesen]

Unpaid, according to my wife who used to work in MIA 18 years ago, but made up for by all the overtime spent leading up to and afterward....

 

[rolis2559]

I remember that when i was stationed in MIA during the early 90's all of our local members were coded TE for several days during hurricane Andrew and other storms during that decade . Here at AFW they are trying to do the same move by making employees opt for TL , PV , VC or make up the lost days by working on the weekend . Where is the station Transportation Emergency Policy for AFW ? I asked a shop steward in my work area and he had no idea what that was . TWU get your act together and represent the membership .

 

[Hopeful]

Hidden in Bob's rant is the fact that Tulsa management made the right call...

Another thing NOT mentioned is that all employees at JFK who could not make it in last snow storm were ALL coded UA......UNAUTHORIZED ABSENCE!


Slight coincidence?

 

[FWAAA]

A reasonable approach would permit employees a couple of unpaid "no-discipline" days each year to cover the times when they can't reasonably get to work even though the airport is still open and flights are still operating. The failure of The Worthless Union to negotiate something like this on behalf of its members isn't very surprising.

And if local management says "Don't come to work" because of extremely bad weather/airport shutdown/no flights, employees should be able to stay home (unpaid) without any discipline.

 

[eolesen]

A reasonable approach would permit employees a couple of unpaid "no-discipline" days each year to cover the times when they can't reasonably get to work even though the airport is still open and flights are still operating. The failure of The Worthless Union to negotiate something like this on behalf of its members isn't very surprising.

And if local management says "Don't come to work" because of extremely bad weather/airport shutdown/no flights, employees should be able to stay home (unpaid) without any discipline.

Disagree that it should be contractual -- attendance policies need to be aligned across all workgroups, and I have no doubt that allowing the TWU to insert "no-discipline" days into the contract would quickly become "the car broke down" days just to get a free day off without pay.


BTW, did local management in either TUL, DFW or NYC say "don't come to work" or simply that a TE was declared?

The two are mutually exclusive. I suspect people who still showed up to work were probably allowed to clock in. I worked thru many a TE...

 

[boston]

Well in yet another display of Management being out of touch the top dog at JFK, who actually has an office in Manhattan decided that the most recent 18 inch snowstorn did not qualify as a Transportation Emergency. He explained to Local 501 leaders that if he could leave a half hour early and make it in to work then so should his employees, I'm told he lives 4 blocks from his Manhattan office. "I have a business to run and I expect my employees to show up". Four city blocks is less than 1/4 mile. He basically had to commute the legnth of Hangar10 at JFK, less than what I have to walk from my car in the lot to my locker. None of his employees that actually work at the airport are as fortunate, both in being able to afford to live in Manhattan or have such a short commute. Just from the parking lot to the Terminal at JFK is approximately 2 miles, Eight times the distance he had to travel, once his employees got from their homes to the lot that is. So since he braved his four block commute he instucted all departments to code workers who call in snowbound as "Unauthorized Absence" instead of TEU, as Tulsa subsequently did the other day when hit with a similar storm. A "UA" counts as a serious mark against their attendance, in fact its even worse than calling in sick. Hmmm, so whats an employee to do the next time it snows and the plows, if they come in time, leave a 4ft high berm of compacted snow across your driveway? Call in snowbound, not get paid, have a mark against their attendance? Or call in sick, get paid and have a mark against their attendance? Now we expect our employees to be honest, but after moving a ton of snow to get their way to the street,(not too many people who live in Manhattan have to shovel out driveways) without any guarantee that all the streets on their way will be passable, the likelyhood of having a sore back is high, if they are lucky enough to not have chest pains and be on their way to the emergency room instead. So instead of being out one day unpaid they may be out a week or more getting paid, recuperating.

Dumb, just plain dumb. And these are the types of decision makers that we should continue to make sacrifices for in the hopes that they will make AA profitable and our futures brighter!!!

Does anyone know if this the guy who wrote the letter about the Flight Attendants a few years back after the and had everyone in an up roar.

He had JFK flt svc call in the f/a's because he didn't like the service on his CUN-JFK trip, he said the bev carts were dirty, not the tops but the condition of them.....HELLO

 

[Hopeful]

A reasonable approach would permit employees a couple of unpaid "no-discipline" days each year to cover the times when they can't reasonably get to work even though the airport is still open and flights are still operating. The failure of The Worthless Union to negotiate something like this on behalf of its members isn't very surprising.

And if local management says "Don't come to work" because of extremely bad weather/airport shutdown/no flights, employees should be able to stay home (unpaid) without any discipline.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg declared a weather emergency which stated avoid all unnecessary driving. Having used those words, employees that could not make it in are not expecting to get paid, but the company needs to realize that employees live in various areas where weather conditions can differ substantially. A Transportation Emergency Unpaid (TEU) payroll code is all anyone expects.
Quite a few years ago when Guiliani was mayor, NYC and surrounding suburbs got hit by another major blizzard. He at that time declared a Transporation Emergency and clearly stated that ONLY emergency vehicles and snow clearing vehicles be on the roads of the 5 boroughs of NYC. Anyone else caught on the roads would be ticketed.
For those employees who lived outside the 5 boroughs where no TE may have been declared, they STILL could not have made it into either JFK or LGA. The company was forced to pay employees for the day, union and non-union alike, because of the mayor's decree. But originally AA had coded those employees a TEU.
The irony of it was that with both recent storms, virtually ALL flights were cancelled. So it would have had no adverse impact on operations having few or no employees on duty.

 

[Bob Owens]

Hidden in Bob's rant is the fact that Tulsa management made the right call...


I seem to recall that the station's general manager made the call on a transportation emergency, not a staff or regional VP.

You're a union official. File a grievance instead of whining on an internet bulletin board.

Hidden in your reply is that JFK f%^&d up.

Why grieve it? Better to let the whole world know how they treat their employees than keep it confined to a system that favors the company.

 

[Bob Owens]

A reasonable approach would permit employees a couple of unpaid "no-discipline" days each year to cover the times when they can't reasonably get to work even though the airport is still open and flights are still operating. The failure of The Worthless Union to negotiate something like this on behalf of its members isn't very surprising.

And if local management says "Don't come to work" because of extremely bad weather/airport shutdown/no flights, employees should be able to stay home (unpaid) without any discipline.

If management says "dont come to worlk" then they for sure are paying us, We're guaranteed 40 hours a week as a full time employee and they have to give us seven days notice to change our shift. In Travel Emergencies its left up the employee whether of not they should take the chance and attempt to get to work. Normally flights have ceased anyway. Most people dont want to lose a days pay, so sick calls are common, the more honest call in snowbound and take the financial hit but it doesnt count against their attendance. In order to discourage sick calls sometimes management will pay for a TE, but those who called in sick still get charged the sick day. Rare, but its happened. Its a game, however never before have I seen them charge people with an unauthorized absence for being honest and calling in snowbound and I would expect that next time, if its not fixed, there would likely be a flood of sick calls, and since it counts as an occurance no matter how its sliced, and it makes the arguement better, more than likely they will stay out several days, not just the one like Snowbounds usually are, further compounding the effects of the storm and delaying recovery from the storm. It was a dumb move, plain and simple. If the punishment is the same for being honest plus you lose a days pay then the company is providing a lot of incentive to be dishonest. It speaks volumes about how they really feel about their workers.

One of the things I left out is that they got some of their employees Hotel rooms while sending others home and expecting them to return. Also, the company requires that workers leave the property when off duty and they could not even sleep in their cars, they had to leave.

 

[nbmcg01]

If management says "dont come to worlk" then they for sure are paying us, We're guaranteed 40 hours a week as a full time employee and they have to give us seven days notice to change our shift. In Travel Emergencies its left up the employee whether of not they should take the chance and attempt to get to work. Normally flights have ceased anyway. Most people dont want to lose a days pay, so sick calls are common, the more honest call in snowbound and take the financial hit but it doesnt count against their attendance. In order to discourage sick calls sometimes management will pay for a TE, but those who called in sick still get charged the sick day. Rare, but its happened. Its a game, however never before have I seen them charge people with an unauthorized absence for being honest and calling in snowbound and I would expect that next time, if its not fixed, there would likely be a flood of sick calls, and since it counts as an occurance no matter how its sliced, and it makes the arguement better, more than likely they will stay out several days, not just the one like Snowbounds usually are, further compounding the effects of the storm and delaying recovery from the storm. It was a dumb move, plain and simple. If the punishment is the same for being honest plus you lose a days pay then the company is providing a lot of incentive to be dishonest. It speaks volumes about how they really feel about their workers.

One of the things I left out is that they got some of their employees Hotel rooms while sending others home and expecting them to return. Also, the company requires that workers leave the property when off duty and they could not even sleep in their cars, they had to leave.

They absolutely should get paid! If the world is shut down and the company declares an emergency then ALL employees sould be paid. It is the cost of "good will" management. You build employee loyalty by sometimes showing some compassion for the events that over which you no control.

 

[eolesen]

So what did Southwest do? What did Fedex do? You all love to hold them up as the pinnacles of employee relations, so how did they handle it? Paid? Unpaid?

 

[737823]

They absolutely should get paid! If the world is shut down and the company declares an emergency then ALL employees sould be paid. It is the cost of "good will" management. You build employee loyalty by sometimes showing some compassion for the events that over which you no control.

Do you mean goodwill as in the amount paid in excess of an intangible asset?

If so, you're right because why should AA pay employees when no productivity is achieved? Passengers don't receive compensation for WX delays. AA loses revenue when passengers don't fly, take refunds or travel other carriers that would otherwise travel on AA. Passengers may lose out on prepaid vacation, hotel, car rental, scuba lessons, ski school, lift tickets, etc.

My daughter's school was closed yesterday when there was only 4" of snow and the roads home were fine. I can't get one day of private school tuition refunded.

Josh