The State Of The Labor Unions

[Do_it_for_Dave]

This is a critical time to support this management team. Internal labor friction must stop immediately. We must join forces to fight the competition. We can win as a cohesive team. Don't allow your labor leaders to lead you astray.

The below comments are must reading for every employee.

There is an institutional flaw in the union hierarchy at the big network airlines. Union leadership is politicized in the sense that the only way to maintain power is to cater to the whim of the membership. Local union leaders are elected to leadership posts because they are anti-management. In other words, they get elected because they position themselves as providers of the truth, which implies that management is lying. In fact, they tell the membership that management is lying. The unions also tend to hire advisors that tell them what they want to hear, which typically is lousy advice. Management at United was required (at the board level) to communicate through the union leadership and this helps explain why the employees were so ill informed.

Blunt, honest, and direct communications with the front-line employees is the only way to get them to understand the competitive realities of the marketplace. They need to understand the value of the paths the company can take.

National union leaders will not provide a balanced understanding of the consequences of taking certain paths because they have a different perspective and agenda than that of the average employee. It is the average employee who must understand the value of each path, and they in turn will elect officials that best represent their interests. It is management's job to articulate the value and consequences of the paths in language the employee can understand. This requires clear and open communications and direct involvement with the employees. It also requires resources and hands on leadership from the CEO.

Airlines in trouble today are the airlines that gave up on the employees. They never spent the money or effort required to keep the employees in the loop. Once out of the loop, the employees turned on management because they followed the lead of the union leaders - who got elected based on their
anti-management rhetoric.

There is a window of opportunity to fix the legacy airlines. It will only be open during the expansion phase of the economic recovery underway. Earnings estimates over the next few years suggest that the airlines will make slim profits during the good times but will not be able to cover costs or fix the balance sheet over the full cycle. If management and labor do not get the economic house in order during the upside of the cycle, a bankruptcy judge will help them sort it out during the next downturn.

 

[bigbusdrvr]

Reference the AFA letter to dave. It pretty much puts all of this in true presprctive.

 

[Dilligas]

The State Of Us Airways "management", Time for a regime change...

This is a critical time to support your fellow employees and labor leaders in protecting what is left of our work and careers. Internal labor friction must stop immediately. We must join forces to fight the sorry excuse for management currently ensconced in CCY. We can win as a cohesive team. Don't allow your company shills and disinformation specialists to lead you astray.

The below comments are must reading for every employee.

There is an institutional flaw in the management hierarchy at this particular carrier. The current management structure is politicized in the sense that the only way to maintain power is to cater to the whim of the people above you in order to protect your turf and "justify" your job. Corporate management is selected to posts because they are anti-labor. In other words, they get hired because they position themselves as repeaters of the "company line", which implies that labor is evil and must be constantly attacked. In fact, they tell their bosses only what they want to hear, and reality has no bearing in this dysfunctional structure. The company also tends to hire advisors and anti-labor law firms that tell them what they want to hear, which typically is lousy advice.

Blunt, honest, and direct communications with upper management is not only discouraged, it is unacceptable. Don't confuse them with facts, they already know it all. They need to understand the value of the loyal employes they are destroying each month this incompetent management team is allowed to milk the company coffers while not producing any viable business plan.

US Airways "management" will not provide a balanced understanding of the consequences of taking certain paths because they have a different perspective and agenda than that of the average employee. It is the average employee who must understand the lack of honesty and honor displayed by this sick corporate culture and realize they have not been dealt with fairly. You have been lied to.

This airline is in dire trouble today.

There is a window of opportunity to fix this wreck of an airline. It will require new leadership, with an absolute dedication to operating and marketing this valuable franchise. The current regime has proven itself untrustworthy, and not deserving of their inflated salaries while the employees have sacrificed many times over.

The current regime must be terminated by the Board of Directors and professional airline operations management hired to attempt to stop the destruction of a proud franchise.

Stop the insanity!

Wake up, Board of Directors!

 

[airlineorphan]

There is an institutional flaw in the union hierarchy at the big network airlines. Union leadership is politicized in the sense that the only way to maintain power is to cater to the whim of the membership. Local union leaders are elected to leadership posts because they are anti-management.

Oh the horror! How dare the union leadership be responsive to the democratic sentiments of the membership! What is clearly needed is a leadership that ignores the sentiments of the frontline employees and is more interested in playing golf with management (NOT!).

Do_it,

You do, of course, contradict yourself in your Must-Read-Screed. If the union leadership is catering to the whim of the membership, and there is a "silent majority" in the membership which supports the BOHICA approach, then wouldn't the leadership be catering to the BOHICA approach, extolling its virtues, and all that?

Of could it be that there IS NOT SILENT MAJORITY that favors any and all concessions while Mr. Siegel fritters away the airline? Could it be that the rank and file have Mr. Siegel's number and are now in a mood to make a stand against this Lorenzo-With-A-Human-Face that we are presently saddled with (along with Liquidave down in Alabama)?

If you want, Do It To Yourself For Dave. You count the rest of us out.

Airlineorphan

 

[Phantom Fixer]

Do It TO Dave,

Your feeble atempts to divide the unionized employee's is falling on deaf ears.

Your efforts and that of Dave himself ,have not only failed , they have in fact galvanized the working masses against you...and those like you.

You are very shallow..and you offer us nothing for everything in return...your departure is what's required here. Heed the advice....and take a hop , skip and a fly to another profession. We will stay here in an attempt to correct your repetative failures

BTW....maybe Avis or Hertz is shy a "Village Idiot" at this time??? need help with a resume???

 

[700UW]

Do it for Dave, too much Kool-aide?

Honesty with the employees?

Lets just say one week before 700UW came due of its S-check the company decides to blantaly violate the IAM contract by vendoring out the check, three differant times the court ruled against Dave!

Dave and Jerry have created this mess, ALL the airline analyst have said it is not labor costs, it is MANAGEMENT's ineptness that is causing the problems.

Lets see ALPA agrees to 70 seat RJs, what does Dave do?

He buys 76 seat RJs and then Ashby tries to spin in it the media that it is big bad ALPA's fault.

Lets see Dave promises all the furloughed members a job at non-existant MidAtlantic airlines.

Hmm, proposes no Utility or Stock Clerks and be able to vendor out everything and anything.

So answer how the laid off Utility and Stock Clerks will have a job when Dave and Jerry don't even want the respective classifications there?

Do I need to go on?

The Concession stand is closed, no employee trusts Dave anymore, he violated that trust and has done nothing except be decietful, lied and stolen from the employees!

Time for YOU, Dave, HAWK and others to take your golden parachutes and move on to destroy the next business you work for!

 

[PITbull]

Do-it-for-Dave,

Well you did it now....your words are taken right out of "anti-union" literature! Shame on you.

If you think your retorhic will separate the Leadership of the unions on this property from their members......think long and hard.


If our Corporation is in such bad shape, then obviously the RSA CEO made a stupid move by investing in USAirways WHILE IN BK. Again no vision on the surface. However, I believe he knows that deceit will get him everything he wants. Only thing, management has played their "last trump card" with labor in the last concession.

This CEO did not prove himself. Other network carriers have stabilized and did not nearly have the cost savings and advantages that U has had this past year. The union leaders HAVE NEVER EVER BEEN ANTI MANAGEMENT IN THE PAST! We have had our share of differences, and we were able to compromise because we we were dealing with rational people who cared and valued their employees even if they were management.

It is quite obvious that Dave and his team are not the type of management that can handle this type of competition, or this type of environment and Industry.


Dilligas,

Once again, great post!

 

[Twicebaked]

Remember the movie "Carrie"? Well, Carrie's mother used to go door to door and preach. She would light candles and worship all day long. She would try to sway others to believe in her "god". Everyone looked at her as if she were a loon.
Read the first post on this thread and get her image in your head. How parallel!!!!

 

[linemech]

This is a critical time to support this management team. Internal labor friction must stop immediately. We must join forces to fight the competition. We can win as a cohesive team. Don't allow your labor leaders to lead you astray.

Do It For Dave,

You've got one thing right, this is a critical time.
But the support that you talk of is the type that must be earned, and this management team has shown us nothing to gain such support.

As far as your plea to not let our labor leaders lead us astray, I don't need a labor leader to tell me what to think of this management team.

I will not support this fake disguised as a leader :down:

 

[diogenes]

This is a critical time to support this management team. Internal labor friction must stop immediately. We must join forces to fight the competition. We can win as a cohesive team. Don't allow your labor leaders to lead you astray.

Support is a two-way street. If support is one-sided, the recepient is abusive, and the giver is an enabler. My parents taught me at a young age to stay away from 'heads-I-win,tails-you-lose' situations.

DifD, I'd dearly love to support managment. I've done so at previous jobs, and I did so at Piedmont. It's not that I have difficulty with authority. In my life, I have both answered to, as well as excercised authority. I do part ways with any paternalistic authority that expects blind obedience. Even the Good Lord said "...test my ways" and that each person may "..boldly approach the throne of grace."

What you cannot have are bright people, who are dealing with complex operations and meeting our customer's needs, turn those 'brights' off when considering the operation of the company, and management activities. Would you rather have mindless drones? Given the direction we are headed, I'd say that is exactly what the Palace wants.

Friction is caused by two forces working in opposition. Look at the metrics. Employees are getting the job done. Perhaps management is out of step. That businesses fail every day is indicitive that management is not always right.

And now, let's cut right down to the nub. I have a superlative work record - attendance, customer satisfaction, evaluations, problem-solving. Given that, and my views, am I the kind of employee U wants? I'm guessing, NOT.

 

[robbedagain]

do it for dave: you must be that steve rader sorry type of guy that feels for this crippling of an airline type mgmt. I sure as heck would love to see a regime change at ccy. We absolutely need a "REAL" Team that is willing to work with the Employees Without Giving Up Any Concessions in the form of money. If You Really Want this Airline to Succeed, Then Get off of your lazy bones and give up most if not all of your pay the way we the employees have and FIX the Fares.
HELLO THere! Do Not Come to any of us the Employees and Ask For any further
concessions because the stand is CLOSED permanetly!

 

[diogenes]

There is an institutional flaw in the union hierarchy at the big network airlines. Union leadership is politicized in the sense that the only way to maintain power is to cater to the whim of the membership. Local union leaders are elected to leadership posts because they are anti-management. In other words, they get elected because they position themselves as providers of the truth, which implies that management is lying. In fact, they tell the membership that management is lying. The unions also tend to hire advisors that tell them what they want to hear, which typically is lousy advice. Management at United was required (at the board level) to communicate through the union leadership and this helps explain why the employees were so ill informed.

U agents did not come under contract until 1999. Management had the previous decade to win the hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, pretty much the same agents that certified the unions in the 90's were the same ones that DECERTIFIED the Teamsters post-merger. It took some mighty shabby treatment to take a group that, by a wide margin, said no to a union, and then turned around and landslided one in.

How did management convince agents to decertify? They lied about their intentions. Management blatantly interfered with the recertification. Management earned the IAM and CWA.

I never held office by portraying myself as the source of truth. I just said I'd bust my butt to enforce the contract. You know, the same thing U expects it's legal beagles to do. Due diligence.

 

[cavalier]

Don't allow your labor leaders to lead you astray.

Yea, let this joke of a management team do it instead. Do-it-for Davy....you are really running scared to actually think this kind of crap you’re spewing on these boards is going to do anything except set our resolve in diamond. Removing this anti labor management team is all that matters, period! I for one will do anything including hit the street to fight this management team and their tired worn and plain sick tactics! This team is clueless! If we worked for free I doubt we would show a profit given this management’s ineptitude. TWA employees gave until it hurt and then until they bleed, now there are gone, so don’t give me your nonsense of working together crap! It’s too late to try and make peace with labor now, give it up and save face, leave the property.

 

[diogenes]

Blunt, honest, and direct communications with the front-line employees is the only way to get them to understand the competitive realities of the marketplace. They need to understand the value of the paths the company can take.

Well, even if management were blunt and honest, I would not rely solely on them for insight. Everyone has blind spots, under the best of circumstances. And generally, when power and money is involved, an axe to bury in someone's back.

I glean information from a wide variety of sources, and that, together with my experience, informs my judgement.

The internet has commoditized and democratized information. The Palace is not the sole fount of wisdom and knowledge, and they would do well to accept that. A wise enterprise would make it work for them.

"Saul, Saul, why kickest thou against the pricks?"

 

[diogenes]

National union leaders will not provide a balanced understanding of the consequences of taking certain paths because they have a different perspective and agenda than that of the average employee. It is the average employee who must understand the value of each path, and they in turn will elect officials that best represent their interests. It is management's job to articulate the value and consequences of the paths in language the employee can understand. This requires clear and open communications and direct involvement with the employees. It also requires resources and hands on leadership from the CEO.

Dude, look at the primrose path Enron and Global Crossing led their employees and shareholders down. Look at the mutual fund scandals. You say union leaders have a different agenda from the members. I say the on-going business revelations prove CEO's can have different agendas from their employees.

Kindly point out direct involvment at U. Other than directly cutting employee compensation. So far, management seems to be channeling the silent majority, while doing their best to ignore anyone who has a mind of their own. And this is such a fun fact, I just have to repeat it. Harvard Business Review made a compelling case that computer and internet savvy employees trend towards the upper percentiles. The very ones you want onboard. Or, perhaps not.