Predicted Domino Effect

[PITbull]

Open Letter to the MEC:


US Airways "bankruptcy business model" is alive and well and permeating into all the legacies. I watched DELTA and NW take their dance into BK today to get their "free pass". Yup, I called this one folks.

I told Siegel late in August,2002, he would not be able to enjoy these low costs from labor for very long, as all other legacies would catch on and the courts and judges would be filled with BK chapter 11 filings. The legacies would have no choice but to follow the pattern of BK. Heck, NW AMFA mechanics are already on strike.

Siegel argued in an e-mail with me that my theory was incorrect. That airlines would consolidate which was needed in our industry. That was BEFORE United's dance into BK on Dec. 9 2002. Siegel had insisted that U had no choice because of mismanagement and having the highest labor costs in the industry that these cuts were necessary....and that was BEFORE concession #2 and BK #2. But hey, Siegel is at Gate Gourmet destroying that company with his same BK model used at U.

What a track record.

So where does it end? The LCC will no longer continue to have the advantage or edge and neither will AWA or U, and for SW you can not hedge for infinity at one price. And you can't hedge in BK with no cash on hand accept to operate day to day.

The BK wave is just the beginning.

Once all legacies get their wages BELOW US Airways and AWA, and the LCC, then what?

There will be no profits during this race to the bottom in costs, and then the consolidation will continue until there will be liquidation of carriers. No choice.

Who will survive?

For those MEC members that were not on the MEC in 2002, Local 40 predicted this on Aug. 29, 2002 and wrote it out to he entire Senior management team.

Subject on E-mail: "Domino Effect Commences".

Pandora's box is now open...and we will be able to keep the union busters employed for a longer period.

AWA seniority is a small problem compared to where this industry is about to go. AWA f/a contract is still open and I can almost predict concession #4.

Prediction: There will be liquidation. When? Anybody's guess. To help save the jobs in this industry is not to put them at poverty wages; but rather REGULATE THIS INDUSTRY! Otherwise, bk will cost billions and billions to all industries and higher interest rates and pricing will and must happen for all to absorb.

Hold on to your seat belts, we are in for another ride on this "merry-go-round".

PS: Just wonder how the American working people can continue to pay billions for a war in IRAQ, the catastrophy and rebuilding of MSY, baby boomers retiring with SS and Medicare with the future of jobs outsourced and millions of misplaced workers with Corporate America upside down?

U employees went pretty peacefully, even though morale is still at rock bottom. they didn't know what hit them.

I predict anarchy.

Regards,

Teddy
LEC, Local 40 PIT
--

 

[usair_begins_with_u]

Teddy sounds just like me... allow me to dig up some old UBWU posts...

I could have sworn I wrote that (on several occasions, but I digress). Ahhh but then.. the people here just said *ad nuasium* I'm only mr. doom & gloom... dont listen to me... Well kiddies.. everything in life is not a fairy tale, and the nightmare of commercial passenger transportation is just beginning...

 

[PITbull]

Ubwu,

That's why i'm one of the only posters that loves you...

Great minds think alike.

 

[usair_begins_with_u]

Hey,

Here is my point of view.. in all seriousness.. I put in 2.5 years of good service in Uair mgmt. I worked hard, never called in sick, put in an honest 40+ hours every week. Was treated like dawg schit by managers who could not manage their way out of a paper bag if they had ginsu knives for fingers, save maybe one. I mostly feel they were intimidated by my knowledge, and the fact I would never be a yes man, and that I openly questioned the status quo.. Not a great place for a young guy with a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm..


I wish no harm on current Uair employees, I wish only the best for all of them, but the best is not waiting for them in the airline industry.. MOVE ON!! Thats the advice I give, commercial aviation is the worst possible field to start a career, or to try to hang on to a dying one.. Learn some new skills, move on, go back to school.. you can do it. Look, we are an information based economy and its only going to become more so in the future. Your best pension bet is having valuable skills to sell employers in the new economy. Dont stick you head in the sand and think things are going to get better. Call me doom and gloom, but pick up a focking news paper like the WSJ.. read it every day for a few months.. try it, see what the business world is really about these days before you drop all your eggs in the passenger aviation basket.. Dont listen to me, listen to the whispers of the free market..

 

[calibrator]

Open Letter to the MEC:


I predict anarchy.

Regards,

Teddy
LEC, Local 40 PIT
--

[post="300723"][/post]​

I predict that it never happens because the employees, “American workersâ€￾ are "we the Sheep-pole" and are willingly being led into the slaughter house. Americans are witnessing the transformation into a third world economy thanks to vermin CEO's and judges that are making it happen.

 

[skyflyr69]

Calibrator, you are dead on! If this wasn't such a civil country i could see anarchy but not now. the melting pot is to big here.
within 3-5 years, cabotage will be here or Ryanair types will be allowed to operate in the USA with all kinds of different national employees. pilots from Asia etc................ <_<

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Calibrator, you are dead on! If this wasn't such a civil country i could see anarchy but not now. the melting pot is to big here.
within 3-5 years, cabotage will be here or Ryanair types will be allowed to operate in the USA with all kinds of different national employees. pilots from Asia etc................ <_<

[post="300864"][/post]​

I am calling it:

All the airlines are eventually going to turn into Carnival Cruise Lines-like operations. Cheap labor from all over the world, no benefits, no pension, but you get to live for free in a 9X7 cabin (shared with four other worker bees) and all the free food you can eat (if you have time after a 15 hr workday). Why do you think cruises are so cheap?? Somebody pays for the cheapness and it's the poor souls from Indonesia, Philippines, Croatia, Jamaica, Turkey who work on the ships. Who gets rich? Billionaire cruise line owners and their management flunkies. We are a soulless country and we are about to reap what we have sown. PITbull may be right: anarchy.

 

[700UW]

Before things ever get better in this county another revolution will have to take place.

It is on its way to being the country of the HAVES and HAVE NOTS.

 

[hp_fa]

I agree with the contents of Teddy's e-mail. The question is who are the fools buying airline stock when BK is now done as a normal function of business.

Here is the problem that the airlines are going to have to face. Just how low do they think that they can get well-qualified people to work for them? From a FA perspective do they think they can get that many people to work for $16.00 per flight hour who can and will do all things that the job entails AND treat customers well at the same time?

Employees should not be subsidizing the passengers fare.

 

[Emil.Howes]

Open Letter to the MEC:
US Airways "bankruptcy business model" is alive and well and permeating into all the legacies. I watched DELTA and NW take their dance into BK today to get their "free pass". Yup, I called this one folks.

I told Siegel late in August,2002, he would not be able to enjoy these low costs from labor for very long, as all other legacies would catch on and the courts and judges would be filled with BK chapter 11 filings. The legacies would have no choice but to follow the pattern of BK. Heck, NW AMFA mechanics are already on strike.

Siegel argued in an e-mail with me that my theory was incorrect. That airlines would consolidate which was needed in our industry. That was BEFORE United's dance into BK on Dec. 9 2002. Siegel had insisted that U had no choice because of mismanagement and having the highest labor costs in the industry that these cuts were necessary....and that was BEFORE concession #2 and BK #2. But hey, Siegel is at Gate Gourmet destroying that company with his same BK model used at U.

What a track record.

So where does it end? The LCC will no longer continue to have the advantage or edge and neither will AWA or U, and for SW you can not hedge for infinity at one price. And you can't hedge in BK with no cash on hand accept to operate day to day.

The BK wave is just the beginning.

Once all legacies get their wages BELOW US Airways and AWA, and the LCC, then what?

There will be no profits during this race to the bottom in costs, and then the consolidation will continue until there will be liquidation of carriers. No choice.

Who will survive?

For those MEC members that were not on the MEC in 2002, Local 40 predicted this on Aug. 29, 2002 and wrote it out to he entire Senior management team.

Subject on E-mail: "Domino Effect Commences".

Pandora's box is now open...and we will be able to keep the union busters employed for a longer period.

AWA seniority is a small problem compared to where this industry is about to go. AWA f/a contract is still open and I can almost predict concession #4.

Prediction: There will be liquidation. When? Anybody's guess. To help save the jobs in this industry is not to put them at poverty wages; but rather REGULATE THIS INDUSTRY! Otherwise, bk will cost billions and billions to all industries and higher interest rates and pricing will and must happen for all to absorb.

Hold on to your seat belts, we are in for another ride on this "merry-go-round".

PS: Just wonder how the American working people can continue to pay billions for a war in IRAQ, the catastrophy and rebuilding of MSY, baby boomers retiring with SS and Medicare with the future of jobs outsourced and millions of misplaced workers with Corporate America upside down?

U employees went pretty peacefully, even though morale is still at rock bottom. they didn't know what hit them.

I predict anarchy.

Regards,

Teddy
LEC, Local 40 PIT
--

[post="300723"][/post]​

History repeats itself because 'WE' allow it!!!

Good Post!!!
-BigE

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Employees should not be subsidizing the passengers fare.

[post="300890"][/post]​

Right on hp_fa. However, the "public" has been conditioned to expect the lowest fares regardless of the business and over social costs. People are too selfish. I don't shop at Wal-Mart (regardless of their low prices) because they don't pay their employees what they should be paid. We end up paying (subsidizing) for Wal-Mart's poor wages and benefits through social services that sadly the majority of their full-time employees qualify for. People working full-time deserve to be paid a livable wage. Like I said, this country is headed for a real nightmare.

On another note, in today's Post-Gazette:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05258/571806.stm

"....Average annual health premiums for family coverage hit the $10,880 mark this year, the study found, higher than a minimum wage worker's annual gross earnings of $10,712...."

 

[diogenes]

I am second to no one in their criticism of management and politicians.

But I reserve my harshest criticism for ourselves.

We let our union leaders sell us out to management, and the best we can do is throw a b*tchfest.

When that rare leader surfaces, look who betrays them - their membership. You need look no further than U AFA.

Too many won't hold their elected officials' feet to the fire. Voting is the beginning of civic duty, not the end. And for those who whine, I can't make a difference, I ask you:

What if Washington had that attitude? Lincoln? Roosevelt? King?

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi

"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

 

[Bear96]

Employees should not be subsidizing the passengers fare.

[post="300890"][/post]​

Then stop doing it.

As long as sufficient numbers of qualified people are willing to do the job for those wages, it won't get better from the employee point of view.

 

[diogenes]

Just found this, Bear.

They say it better than I do.

http://alternet.org/story/25495/

 

[Bear96]

Sure it "says" things, but how does it relate to my post?

You sure have a strange strategy of persuasive argument. Instead of responding substantively, you just post links to articles by others that have nothing really to do with the issue being discussed.

Again, let's try to FOCUS.

hp f/a said employees should stop subsidizing cheap air fares, a point with which I agree.

But I pointed out that the only way this will stop is if and when enough qualified airline employees say "enough is enough" and leave, to the point that the airlines have trouble finding enough qualified people to do the job at the wages, terms, and conditions being offered. Only then will things get better for airline employees.

Your link adds to that point, how exactly? I could be missing something, but I sure didn't see it.