Pay Cuts To 9.00 Or 10.00 An Hr?

[Frontier69]

I hate to say it, but mgmnt doesnt care about turnover, customer satisfaction, lost bags, ticket reissues, or any other complex cust svc issue. It's always the bottom line! If they could develop a robot to do the job, they would do it in a heartbeat. Just look at the kiosk buildup throughout the system. Any senior cust svc employee in the company will be forced to work in a large city or hub as the smaller cities will be transitioned to mainline/express operations. Just be glad cust. svc hasnt been farmed out to contractors, because I am sure mgmnt has looked at that as well. It might be time to move on to bigger and better pastures. h34r:

 

[Bear96]

Can Someone put this in English....


Are you saying that Agents are going to be put to 9.00-10.00 per hour on the job.... See... U employees really need to Specify what is going ON!!!

Agents?

Oh... I thought this was referring to the new pay rate for A330 Captains once ALPA is done bending over again.

:blink:

 

[wench]

Bite Me with that pay scale!

Mgmt's scale max per yr should be 40,000-50,000.
and I'm being generous! :down:

 

[mweiss]

It's always the bottom line!

There are really two bottom lines, though. One is the short-term. For an extreme example, you could eliminate all phone agents tomorrow and do really well in the immediate future. Then you stop selling as many tickets because there are some things you simply must talk to a US Airways agent about. Eventually, the bottom line suffers.

A great example of a short-term bottom line business was Packard-Bell. Their computers were priced rock-bottom. The computers and customer service were so awful that they had almost no repeat customers. They were only successful in the short term because there were so many people buying their first computers who didn't know any better. Once that market had been saturated, they suddenly couldn't find customers anymore. Packard-Bell is gone now.

The other bottom line is long-term. This is the tougher sell, but the better executives understand it. In essence, a business needs to determine (roughly) the net present value of a given customer, and be willing to spend as little as necessary (not as little as possible) to keep that customer, up to matching that customer's net present value. Any customer that costs more than that is not a customer you want.

If they could develop a robot to do the job, they would do it in a heartbeat. Just look at the kiosk buildup throughout the system.

There is nothing wrong with moving many services to kiosks and the web. Why in the world do you want to have high-paid agents doing minimum-wage work? All of the complicated things that a customer could never consider doing are tasks for which one needs a professional. So, why not let the agents do that work, and automate the stuff that amounts to busy work for them?

 

[wings396]

First off, Robbed, stop spreading unsubstantiated rumors. You seem to have this huge chip on your shoulder about the choices that YOU made. You had the opportunity to remain a ML employee and you CHOSE to work for mainline/express. Coming on here and spreading FUD does no one any good.

Second. When I hear people talk about "you get what you pay for" and the wages paid to entry level employees, I take offense. Each and every one of us started with this airline making peanuts. Are you saying that you cared less about the comany when you were making 6.00 an hour versus when you go to the top of the scale? With each pay raise did you start caring more? Work experience levels are one thing, but care and compassion are something else. When I was making 6.50 to start I was just as proud (if not more) then I am now.

You are correct, we all did start making peanuts. The difference then was we knew that we would not be at that level for EVER. Now there is nothing to look forward to. No decent paying job that you are going to make a career out of. Remember that when we started the company gave us raises as time went on. At that time there were no greedy unions to blame for the wages that we were paid. Just like most all jobs, we got a raise each year to keep up with the cost of living. Now as the cost of living continues to rise, our wages nosedive 20 years into tha past. If my mortgage, taxes and medical benefits went back that far it would all be OK.
Maybe this will make the picture clearer for you to visualize.

 

[Frontier69]

There is nothing wrong with moving many services to kiosks and the web. Why in the world do you want to have high-paid agents doing minimum-wage work? All of the complicated things that a customer could never consider doing are tasks for which one needs a professional. So, why not let the agents do that work, and automate the stuff that amounts to busy work for them?


Airlines need to simplify all cust/vc. related tasks. The kiosk is the start. The price structures are way to complicated for any agent to be familiar with. Now you have to consult with rates agents and res agents to deal with date changes, time changes, etc. It should never be difficult to take a customer's money. The internet has streamlined the ticket purchase process quite a bit. Staffing will be reduced to extreme limits at every possible instance. This is not the glorious industry it once was and the big money is fading out. Its time to move on! :blink:

 

[Tim Nelson]

heard rumors all over today that it is posible that the inside agent may be all but not sure would have paycuts down to 9.00 or 10. an hr but i am not sure this would sit to well with anyone? if that is the case then you are better off working at walmart. may be mgmt should take their own pay checks down to 7.50 an hr or less!! as far as im concerned it is over and i refuse to give more

It may be that your company and perhaps your union are placing some 'shock' numbers only to manufacture consent to something higher like $18. I remember the IAM putting out some trash about the company wanting $16 and shocking all the sheep and then saying they negotiated like heck and got them $19 and change. And the consent followed.
It is possible to repeat.

 

[4merresrat]

It won't happen. Someone is either pulling your leg or trying to get everyone riled up. Check your sources.

Unfortunately, you had better check your sources. When Dave headed up CO and they went through bankruptsy that is exactly what their agents made $10.00 an hr!!Believe it.

 

[tadjr]

I believe that during the last round of "negotiations" the company wanted $17.22 an hour top out and wouldnt budge for a long time. I would suspect this being more in line with what they are looking for again.
How about some more leave now forever and get flying free for life (or as long as the company is around?) I know a couple agents who are trying to get started on another job and would jump if something like this were offered again.

 

[cavalier]

Unfortunately, you had better check your sources. When Dave headed up CO and they went through bankruptsy that is exactly what their agents made $10.00 an hr!!Believe it.

I believe it.

And I believe he does the Bohemian Grove every summer too.

 

[bobcat]

I'm very sad to say, that I think, Reservations/Customer Service as we know it today is, very soon, going to be history.

Up until about 2 years ago our customer service in Res/Reissue was impeccable. I can't tell you how many times passengers complimented our dept. and stated how much more friendly, competent, knowledgeable, and efficient we were as opposed to the other "large" airlines. Many of us received commendation letters on a regular basis. Now, we top list of most complaints and the only agents that receive complimentary letters are the ones that have family and friends write one on their behalf.

When I first came on board it was tough to get into US. First, you had to know someone within to even get an application, then if you got one and were one of the chosen applicants you had to go to an information session and sit through hours of listening to the good and bad. Then each person had to stand up in front of the group and answer a question pulled out of a hat about a past work experience or problem and how you handled it. Afterwards you had to fill out another application and answer numerous "situation" questions and then wait to be called for another interview which was one on one. If you made it past that, another interview, then if you passed that one the big interview with a Res. sup and a proffessional interviewer hired by US which was about two hours long and very grueling. Just to note, business attire was required and expected at all interviews. Then if you were one of the chosen, a very extensive background check, drug test and reference check. If all checked out, hired and training. I was hired as a Reissue Agent so, I had six weeks of Gen Res training and five weeks Reissue training back to back which we had to pass with at least a 90%. Out of my class of twenty five, three dropped out and eight didn't pass, tree of us are still here. It wasn't easy!

That has all changed over the past 2-3 years. When they started hiring again about 3 years ago they just had the applicants come to the Res. building for a quick meeting and hired from that meeting. What we saw come into the initial meeting were mainly 18-25 year olds in jeans, cut-offs, tank tops and flip flops. The ones that took the job, not acquired it, had minimal training and then put on the phones. The last round of hiring and interviews were done strictly over the phone. Training is now a couple of weeks for Res. and TWO days of Reissue training. Most of these agents have no clue of how to do the job. How in the world can we give great customer service like this.

I was called into my supervisor's office right after 9/11 about my "talk time", which is the time that you are on the phone with each passenger. I came from a very intensive customer service oriented background with extensive CS training, so I gave each passenger the service that they required and deserved, but I quess it was too much because my "talk time" was too high. While I was defending myself to my Sup. he came right out and told me that US has no desire for good Customer Service. The only thing they are worried about are numbers. He said that their statistics showed that out of so many calls, (can't remember the exact number)no matter what the level of customer service, we would definately sell a certain number of tickets. So, my new mission was to stop servicing the passengers and just get them on the phone and off as quickly as possible. Needless to say my "talk time" is still the same. This example is just to show the mentality of the management at US. Customer Service is very important to any company and US just doesn't have it or care about it any longer!

The agents that have been loyal to this company for so many years deserve the pay and benefits that they have, not a penny less. The majority of us are extremely professional, efficient and knowledgeable in our field and given the right tools, leeway, and some respect can bring our customers back and keep them. We ARE an asset to this company whether anyone believes or not. We are the initial contact that passengers have with Us and we make the first impression. That has to be worth something. Get the 19 year olds in here with no work or CS experience, and only want the job to fly for free, and pay them $9.00 an hour and see how long US stays in business. It would be a revolving door. Our dept. is ruled with an "iron fist" and guaranteed not many are going to stick around long under those conditions for $9.00 hr. How many passenger will put up with an unprofessional, inefficient, inept company? It won't last for long. Again, you get what you pay for.

 

[mweiss]

Unfortunately, you no longer deserve that pay. Not because you aren't providing better service, but because US isn't willing to pay for it. McDonald's doesn't sell truffles and caviar because their customers aren't willing to pay for it. You no longer can sell high customer service because your "customer" (your employer) isn't willing to pay for it.

It's not necessarily the right way to run the business. I guess it's not even necessarily the wrong way to run it...if it costs more to provide that level of customer service than US is getting out of those customers, then it's not worth it. But regardless, it is the way US is running the business.

 

[jimntx]

A fairly recent phenomenon in American business is the desirability of the revolving door. The social contract of work for a very long time was "If you work for me diligently and faithfully for 30-40 years, I will provide you with a decent pension for your retirement years to supplement Social Security."

But then two separate, but related changes occurred in society. One, the baby boomers started to approach retirement age and companies began to look at the real cost of the social contract which they had established years ago and started to renege on that contract. (See also, what United is trying or is doing to their retirees.)

In addition, advances in health care resulted in the average life span increasing (in historical terms) exponentially. At the time Social Security was started during the Great Depression, most people did not even live until 65 where they could collect. The average life span is now in the high 70's or low 80's depending on whose figures you use. That means that the average life span has increased by a third in only 70 years--a moment in medical sociology terms.

The truth is that most companies today hope and pray that you do NOT make a career with them. This is especially true in the airline business. No one in management historically ever envisioned flight attendants that would stay on the job for 10 years, much less 40+ years.

As to low rates of pay being rumored, remember as long as their are people willing to work for a given wage, there will be no pressure to raise the rate. There are furloughed mainline flight attendants who were making upwards of $30/hr who are now flying for a regional for less than $20. The company--whichever company it is--will continue to try to lower pay rates until they find a rate that no one will work for.

 

[4merresrat]

High pay does NOT necessarily correlate with good work ethics, loyalty etc. I saw it all the time. New hires would come in and make excellent, hard working agents. And then the were the agents who had been there 10 years making double what the new hires make, and they were sloughing off. They think it is their right to be payed 20 plus an hour and be lazy. They feel they have put their time in and now the new hires can pick up the slack. Work Ethic has NOTHING to do with salary-it is a personal choice.

 

[jimntx]

Work Ethic has NOTHING to do with salary-it is a personal choice.

I'm not disputing what you are saying. Lord knows I saw enough flight attendants at AA that were making twice what I made, but gave the minimum in the way of customer service; however, there is a correlation between pay rate and work ethic.

It has been shown time and time again that "you get what you pay for." If you pay much below the prevailing wage in a given industry, you will attract only that part of the population who have not had the advantage of being taught that there is such a thing as integrity and honesty, OR you will attract the people who have been fired by the companies who do pay the prevailing wage or better and can afford to be picky about who they hire and who they keep.