I dont know what everyone has against CEO's, including Doug Parker.
Speaking for myself, this is about spinning a message to make the workers buy into a mindset. He would have more respect if he told it like it is, but he can't do that because the message is unpalatable. If his wife believes the nickels and dimes add up when it comes to salary increases for the workers, doesn't it add up when coming to the executives? Most of the workers are not going to jump onboard that grants wage increases to the exec staff while the majority of employees have just endured the 3rd round of wage cuts. In one of the town hall meetings this past week didn't a worker ask him if there would be raises in the near future and he responded 'are you kidding this is an LCC'? Well, if it is an LCC for the workers, is it not an LCC for the executives? Do these nickels and dimes add up when granting lifetime medical care in the form of a 70K check on the day the execs turns 65? It sure did when the current and future retirees had their medical insurance taken.
Our last CEO had a brother who was unionized and drove a truck, had blue collar parents, promised to be labor friendly, and would ask for concessions once. he was one of us. He dressed casually, wanted to be called by his first name, answered questions as posed on usaviation.com, held town hall meetings, etc. That CEO worked at Northwest with Glass, Cohen and Baldanza in the 90's. Where did the current CEO work in the early 90's? It appears we are reading the same script just a different actor. You see, we have traveled this road previously and are rather skeptical. The take home message: If he wants to woo the workers, actions speak louder than words.
a. honor the current contracts
b. negotiate in good faith the amendable agreements
c. give something to the exec staff, give on a pro rated basis to the worker bees
d. execs and family travel confirmed, space positive first class for life, retirees travel as active employees.
To copy from Piney, I'm just getting warmed up.
