Northwest to layoff 2,500

[Kev3188]

Hopefully, a good lot of these will be offset by early outs... I'm not holding my breath, though....

From Doug Steenland today (bold text is my own doing):

"As you know, our fall schedule will be reduced by 8.5% - 9.5% versus the fourth quarter of 2007. This includes the reductions previously announced in April.

As a result, Northwest Airlines announced today that it will reduce its frontline and management employees by 2,500. These reductions are the direct result of our extraordinary fuel costs and the necessary actions we must take to right-size our airline and eliminate unprofitable flying.



In an effort to reach this reduction by voluntary means, the following is a summary of how each employee group will have the opportunity to voluntarily meet the reduction target.



· IAM represented employees will be eligible to apply for a limited number of early out opportunities based on seniority, classification and customer and operational needs at each location/station and may be also be eligible for lifetime retiree pass privileges under the one-time voluntary “Rule of 60â€￾ pass travel program. There will also be SLIP leave opportunities in Airport Operations.



· Flight Attendants have recently completed an early out program and are also participating in the previously announced SLIP leave program.



· Pilots may participate through voluntary programs including a targeted Pilot Early Retirement Program (PERP), a SLIP leave program and a Partial Month Leave (PML) program.



· All other employees, including management, are expected to achieve their goals through attrition and through the elimination of open non-operationally critical positions.



The IAM program details will be available soon on RADAR, within the Employee Resource Center, which can be found under Featured Links.



I am pleased that we are offering the means to achieve this headcount reduction goal through voluntary programs. Each department will only evaluate the possibility of layoffs if voluntary programs do not sufficiently reduce staffing overages.



Thank you for your continued support as we work together to help control costs and increase our revenue given the unprecedented oil prices.





Doug Steenland

President and CEO
"

 

[jenny@nw]

What? getting rid of the company's "most valuable asset?" :huh: the nerve. Plus whomever fell for that "employees are a valuable asset" needs to get their heads examined

 

[tech2101]

Hopefully, a good lot of these will be offset by early outs... I'm not holding my breath, though....

From Doug Steenland today (bold text is my own doing):

"As you know, our fall schedule will be reduced by 8.5% - 9.5% versus the fourth quarter of 2007. This includes the reductions previously announced in April.

As a result, Northwest Airlines announced today that it will reduce its frontline and management employees by 2,500. These reductions are the direct result of our extraordinary fuel costs and the necessary actions we must take to right-size our airline and eliminate unprofitable flying.



In an effort to reach this reduction by voluntary means, the following is a summary of how each employee group will have the opportunity to voluntarily meet the reduction target.



· IAM represented employees will be eligible to apply for a limited number of early out opportunities based on seniority, classification and customer and operational needs at each location/station and may be also be eligible for lifetime retiree pass privileges under the one-time voluntary “Rule of 60â€￾ pass travel program. There will also be SLIP leave opportunities in Airport Operations.



· Flight Attendants have recently completed an early out program and are also participating in the previously announced SLIP leave program.



· Pilots may participate through voluntary programs including a targeted Pilot Early Retirement Program (PERP), a SLIP leave program and a Partial Month Leave (PML) program.



· All other employees, including management, are expected to achieve their goals through attrition and through the elimination of open non-operationally critical positions.



The IAM program details will be available soon on RADAR, within the Employee Resource Center, which can be found under Featured Links.



I am pleased that we are offering the means to achieve this headcount reduction goal through voluntary programs. Each department will only evaluate the possibility of layoffs if voluntary programs do not sufficiently reduce staffing overages.



Thank you for your continued support as we work together to help control costs and increase our revenue given the unprecedented oil prices.





Doug Steenland

President and CEO
"

The silver lining in this is that the maintenance scabs will be the first to get laid off. The very few honorable that did get called back will get to stay (if that is good in some way???)

I wish the best for the rest...All should have known that this was coming.

Those who stayed should have made plans long ago when they decide to cross the AMFA picket line. Like ducks in a gallery, you have been picked off group by group.

Kev: I hope you will be safe. Is this going to be station by station, or by system seniority? If it is in typical NWA fashion, it will be done to inflict the most damage to force the highest paid/seniority to leave.

 

[hp_fa]

All other employees, including management, are expected to achieve their goals through attrition and through the elimination of open non-operationally critical positions.

(Italics added)

So if you take this at face value Steenland is being fired?

 

[groundcontrol]

(Italics added)

So if you take this at face value Steenland is being fired?

Excellent reply.
I can think of a few others he can take with him.

roflmao

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

It's at this point, that Anderson/Stealin' slowly, but steadily get "rid of" the amount of NW-UNION Members that they need to ensure a "NO" vote when they Finally get around to Representation elections.

Remember, DL has a pretty good Idea, who among there employees are pro-Union.
In effect, DL(having More Employees that NW in almost every department) can Also lay-off large numbers, and NOT ruin their chances for the "NO" vote,...............Just as long as they get Stealin' to shed NW/Union folks.

 

[super80fa]

Kev, I hope that you will be ok in this. You are one of the "good guys"!!!

 

[Kev3188]

The silver lining in this is that the maintenance scabs will be the first to get laid off. The very few honorable that did get called back will get to stay (if that is good in some way???)

Not a whole lot of silver linings at Big Red these days, but I'd say that's one of 'em...

I wish the best for the rest...All should have known that this was coming.

I would say most have just been waiting to hear it. However, it's a little hard to reconcile economic reality with the fact that NW is continuing to hire like crazy (at least in Ground Ops).

Those who stayed should have made plans long ago when they decide to cross the AMFA picket line. Like ducks in a gallery, you have been picked off group by group.

Kev: I hope you will be safe. Is this going to be station by station, or by system seniority? If it is in typical NWA fashion, it will be done to inflict the most damage to force the highest paid/seniority to leave.

Thanks for the well wishes! It'll be system-wide, but I have no idea on how many people will be cut in any given city. The totals system wide are:

ESE's: 240

CSA's: 150

if I had to guess I'd say the bulk would be in the hubs, but again, that's just a guess.

I have no other numbers on any other work groups, but have seen that the company is offering up to 750 leaves to the F/A's (in 3, 6 & 9 month increments).

They're going to (re) offer the Early Outs to the ramp & stores as listed in our cba, and a similar one to the CSA's Res., clerical.

For the ramp, there's 100 positions available every year, offered in seniority order (using your earliest ESSC date). You get double your "normal" severance amount-up to 20 weeks max-and can then retire.

For those that don't make that cut, there's the "rule of 60" plan, wherein if your age+ years of service equal 60 or greater, you can separate and get lifetime pass travel

They're also offering S.L.I.P. leaves, which may appeal to some this time around. They tried this about a month ago in select cities, and then furloughed when they didn't get enough takers (MCO & MKE being 2 examples)


My guess is that they're hoping some of the more senior people finally decide enough is enough. I have to say, though; offering "lifetime passes" isn't going to cut it for most people.....

 

[bagboy]

It's at this point, that Anderson/Stealin' slowly, but steadily get "rid of" the amount of NW-UNION Members that they need to ensure a "NO" vote when they Finally get around to Representation elections.

Remember, DL has a pretty good Idea, who among there employees are pro-Union.
In effect, DL(having More Employees that NW in almost every department) can Also lay-off large numbers, and NOT ruin their chances for the "NO" vote,...............Just as long as they get Stealin' to shed NW/Union folks.

On the ramp I believe NWA is on top of the numbers game if you play fair. Delta likes to try and include ASA, DGS, and Comair in their mainline employee count. Not even the employees of these farm out companies know where they stand on the food chain.

 

[Kev3188]

Kev, I hope that you will be ok in this. You are one of the "good guys"!!!

Thank you very much!

 

[Kev3188]

On the ramp I believe NWA is on top of the numbers game if you play fair. Delta likes to try and include ASA, DGS, and Comair in their mainline employee count. Not even the employees of these farm out companies know where they stand on the food chain.

The numbers I have seen:

DL Ramp:
6,542 FTE

NW Ramp:

3,372 FT
1,206 PT
4,938 Total
4,335 FTE


DL CSA's
6,158 FTE

NW CSA's
1,809 FT
832 PT
2,641 Total
2,225 FTE


NOTES: The DL numbers don't break down FT vs. PT
Neither set of numbers account for attrition or early out offers accepted
These were accurate as of mid-April

 

[Airlinelifer]

The numbers I have seen:

DL Ramp:
6,542 FTE

NW Ramp:

3,372 FT
1,206 PT
4,938 Total
4,335 FTE


DL CSA's
6,158 FTE

NW CSA's
1,809 FT
832 PT
2,641 Total
2,225 FTE


NOTES: The DL numbers don't break down FT vs. PT
Neither set of numbers account for attrition or early out offers accepted
These were accurate as of mid-April

Kev, they don't break the FT/PT numbers down because you can get moved from an 8 hour line to a 6 hour line depending on the flight schedule. Unless your an "incumbant", another word for being "grandfathered" into an 8 hour line. How many incumbant lines are their at any given station, who knows, whatever Delta management sees fit. At Delta you can be a full time incumbant in one station, transfer to another (if you pass the "personnel file" test), lose your "incumbancy" and have the honor of working a six hour line while having a junior ramper hold an 8 hour line. So if you had the unfortunate luck of having to move because of a family emergency or some other unforseen reason, you lose! It's Delta's special way of taking care of their ramp employees. The funny thing is I had some Delta ramp supervisors telling me about the "advantages" of moving back and forth between 6 and 8 hour shifts!

Is this a little wierd or is this bizzaro world - 6,542 Delta ramp employees for 4 hubs and 9 spokes ? Compared to 4,335 in 3 hubs and 37 spokes. If those numbers are real, you better hope that NWA's bean counters are not included in the new management team!

 

[Kev3188]

Kev, they don't break the FT/PT numbers down because you can get moved from an 8 hour line to a 6 hour line depending on the flight schedule. Unless your an "incumbant", another word for being "grandfathered" into an 8 hour line. How many incumbant lines are their at any given station, who knows, whatever Delta management sees fit. At Delta you can be a full time incumbant in one station, transfer to another (if you pass the "personnel file" test), lose your "incumbancy" and have the honor of working a six hour line while having a junior ramper hold an 8 hour line. So if you had the unfortunate luck of having to move because of a family emergency or some other unforseen reason, you lose! It's Delta's special way of taking care of their ramp employees. The funny thing is I had some Delta ramp supervisors telling me about the "advantages" of moving back and forth between 6 and 8 hour shifts!

All the more reason to get those cards signed!

Is this a little wierd or is this bizzaro world - 6,542 Delta ramp employees for 4 hubs and 9 spokes ? Compared to 4,335 in 3 hubs and 37 spokes. If those numbers are real, you better hope that NWA's bean counters are not included in the new management team!

Well, I thought they were odd... I wouldn't take the DL numbers as any kind of "absolute truth," as I got them from a few different sources... Also, as noted, attrition/early outs/what-have-you could have skewed these.

It does lend some credence to what I've been hearing about "needing 7000 votes."

The NW ones are pretty solid (at least they were in April). The numbers I used were from the union.

You can also get a relatively good picture of our (NWA) numbers by checking out the peer choice nominations. Not sure if your manager posts these, but ours does, and it shows the headcounts for both CSAs & ESE's (in total, not by FT/PT). One caveat: it will also "count" any open positions you may have that are not currently filled...

 

[Don Smith]

Just my opinion on this one, but if you are at an outstation with an equal Delta presence...you're gone.

...if I had to guess I'd say the bulk would be in the hubs, but again, that's just a guess.



My guess is that they're hoping some of the more senior people finally decide enough is enough. I have to say, though; offering "lifetime passes" isn't going to cut it for most people.....

 

[Kev3188]

Just my opinion on this one, but if you are at an outstation with an equal Delta presence...you're gone.

You're probably dead on... Either that, or it's DGS for everyone. :angry: :down: