To Usa320pilot

[mweiss]

Employee reduction along with wages are about to happen again.

To borrow an idea from BoeingBoy (especially since he's busy flying around), why not keep the employees and increase capacity? I get the point about reducing unit costs, but that doesn't necessitate layoffs.

 

[NeedForSpeedNFS]

Martha Stewart type treatment is what every employee including low level management is subjected to the only difference is the U employees don't see the light at the end of the tunnel, unless they make a personal choice to just walk away from years of service, years of their life's effort.

Any sane person is angry, upset and just frustrated. The airline industry like everything else is being buffeted by a global economy and wal*mart-ization which brings up everyone on the planet while bringing down USA working class.

What galls me more that anything is the fact that this management team chooses to use to their advantage the woes of the airline industry to bring us all down instead of fighting back with a real honest to goodness business plan and model. This airline has been reinvented every six months since I have been here and all for naught only costing billions of wasted dollars and energy and many jobs affecting many families.

If they continue attacking the employees moral will be such that this franchise will self destruct from within and it already is happening.

It's like a cancer patient trying to cut out his own cancer and while driving his car, he’s about to wreck.

Lakefield is just another talking head put in place to placate the employees. I hope to the good Lord above that the IAM walks the walk until the bitter end! I am personally ready for whatever occurs and want to see a stance made once and for all, whatever the outcome, whatever.

CAV, the frustration in your post is evident.....we are all feeling it!!!! I am FINALLY doing something about it!! I think all of the posters to this board who are regulars should do the same. Why continue with "the company" raping us??? We all know that's occuring!! I realize some people may not be in my position, whether it be age, years of service, whatever. But... we need to do what needs to be done.. I agree with you 100% that the IAM should NOT open our contract!!! Bottom line...........We need to move on!! GOOD DAY!!!!!

 

[NeedForSpeedNFS]

Employee reduction along with wages are about to happen again.

Take this quote to heart........she knows whats happening

 

[BoeingBoy]

Hi Gang,

Catching up on 4 days of reading and this seemed like a good place to jump in with just odd and ends after reading this thread.

Been flying around in my automated airplane looking out the window - pretty much a piece of cake. Oh, except for all those thunderstorms in S. Florida yeaterday afternoon - kept waiting for the autopilot to turn away and it never did. Had to "work my fingers to the bone" turning the heading knob!!!

How 'bout us sacrificing pilots, taking it in the shorts for everybody. Was I unhappy over the pay cut I took already? He#@ yes. Am I upset that somebody making $20 (or $30 or $40) didn't take as large a percentage a cut? Why should I be? I can stand it better (what I still get is a nice paycheck), and besides, why be mad at them instead of my union leadership who agreed to the cut (or as some would say, embraced the cut)?

And last, employee unit cost. Yes, what management seems to want (at least what we pilots have been asked to accept) is lower pay than just about any other carrier - regionals aside - and possibly the worst "rest of the contract" as anyone else. It's probably no accident that we're being presented with AWA pay and JetBlue everything else. As has been pointed out, pay is not necessarily the problem, it is employee unit cost. And unit cost is not a number, it is a ratio - cost PER unit (ASM). As such, it can be lowered two ways. One is to lower cost more than ASM's (shrink to profitability). The only problem there is that those pesky fixed costs end up being spread over less ASM's, so those unit costs go up and wipe out part (most, all, more than) the savings from employee costs.

The second way to lower employee unit costs is to increase units faster than employee costs. A side benefit is that those fixed costs are now spread over more units, so you get a bonus in reducing total unit costs. Sort of like happy hour - two for one.

Now back to my reading....

Jim

 

[mweiss]

One is to lower cost more than ASM's (shrink to profitability). The only problem there is that those pesky fixed costs end up being spread over less ASM's, so those unit costs go up and wipe out part (most, all, more than) the savings from employee costs.

Depends on how you shrink, though. It is certainly possible to get rid of some of the fixed costs as well. We're seeing some of that at PIT.

BTW, welcome back! 🙂

 

[cavalier]

Been flying around in my automated airplane looking out the window - pretty much a piece of cake. Oh, except for all those thunderstorms in S. Florida yeaterday afternoon - kept waiting for the autopilot to turn away and it never did. Had to "work my fingers to the bone" turning the heading knob!!!

I always knew you guys were way over compensated.... 😛


Forgive and let live is hard to swallow since I have a good memory and 92 still shines through. That said. I don't care if you guys get a million dollars an hour, but for ALPA to keep saying EVERYONE else must take it in the shorts because they choose to makes me crazy. I have NO, absolutely ZERO use for ALPA and I don't care if they are lined with people who hold multiple Ph.D. degrees, they are just men just like I am but have this smug attitude I like to rid them of.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Cav,

No disagree here...

Jim

 

[BoeingBoy]

mweiss,

I agree, it is possible to get rid of some of the fixed costs. Airplanes are a fixed cost, too. We parked a lot of them. Of course, they produce ASM's so we parked a lot of those too.

Actually, I'd suspect that even in bankruptcy, it's hard to shrink fixed costs as fast as ASM's when you shrink ASM's substantially, as we did. But that's just my guess.

Jim

 

[mweiss]

I'd suspect that even in bankruptcy, it's hard to shrink fixed costs as fast as ASM's when you shrink ASM's substantially

I agree. But there are a few that do come to mind, such as gates and ground equipment.

One thing I haven't heard (and I don't know how straight an answer I'd get around here) is how much, if any, staff reduction has occurred in Crystal City. There's some fixed cost that should have gone down.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Gates, yes, although we still haven't shed any that I know of (anyone knowing differently can correct me). In fact we're paying extra for many of the PIT gates. Ground equipment to some extent, though much is more gate related than fleet size related - at least in a traditional hub/spoke system like ours.

As I said in some thread, shrinking runs the risk of reducing ASM's as fast as costs (which we've proved). Expanding (and increasing a/c utilization is the most cost effective form of expansion) carries a one-two punch of increasing ASM's faster than costs and lowering fixed cost per ASM.

That's the theory behind my one-time remark that we "must" expand to survive. The other alternative is lowering employee costs to the point that we can't help but make a profit - which may or may not be possible.

Jim

 

[N924PS]

I always knew you guys were way over compensated.... 😛


Forgive and let live is hard to swallow since I have a good memory and 92 still shines through. That said. I don't care if you guys get a million dollars an hour, but for ALPA to keep saying EVERYONE else must take it in the shorts because they choose to makes me crazy. I have NO, absolutely ZERO use for ALPA and I don't care if they are lined with people who hold multiple Ph.D. degrees, they are just men just like I am but have this smug attitude I like to rid them of.

So far I think you've only heard from one regular poster who has been conveying that particular message. And it is HIS opinion only, not ALPA's.

Your disdain for the pilot group comes through in just about every one of your posts. I can't tell if it's simple jealousy, resentment over the fact that the pilots crossed the IAM picket line back in '92 or what.

You might be interested to know that most pilots believe the Mechanics should have the rightful Airbus Heavy Maintenance. In fact, they would prefer it be done
in house. Then they would know that the most experienced wrenches in the industry were doing the work. Great comfort to the operators of the airframes knowing they are flying a machine maintained by the best.

It doesn't matter what, if anything, ALPA, IAM, AFA, CWA, TWU etc. offer towards the company requested"bogey" numbers. Until someone on the BOD decides they really want to run USAirways as a going concern and get back in the customer service business, it's all an excercise in futility.

I believe your expectation, along with many others, is that it's perfectly fine for
the Pilots to take it in the shorts so you won't have to. Not this time.

 

[WorldTraveler]

There is no successful example I know of a network airline (or any other network business for that matter) shrinking to profitability. Even in bankruptcy, legacy costs are very difficult to get rid of especially for employees since the highest cost employees are the ones that remain. The only proven way to lower unit costs is Jim's second method - grow the airline.

It is important to note that the only 2 airlines that survived chapter 11 both made dramatic changes to their revenue generating capabilities in addition to reducing costs. CO moved their assets from CO Lite to Newark and found there was a huge untapped revenue base waiting for them. HP became a true low fare carrier. In both cases, they controlled their revenue generating capability. Right now, all of the legacies' ability to control revenue generation has been cost to the LCCs. Until it is regained, there is no hope for any of them to make money.

 

[Atlantic]

Your right PS.
If this CO goes down, it will from it's own weight.
Not from a job action from one or more crafts.

 

[700UW]

You might be interested to know that most pilots believe the Mechanics should have the rightful Airbus Heavy Maintenance. In fact, they would prefer it be done
in house. Then they would know that the most experienced wrenches in the industry were doing the work. Great comfort to the operators of the airframes knowing they are flying a machine maintained by the best.

But ALPA represented Pilots flew them to BFM, Test Flighted them and flew them back to CLT to RTS.

 

[BoeingBoy]

700,

I don't usually jump on you, but the flights to BFM didn't require crossing a picket line (though I'm not saying the planes wouldn't have gone anyway).

Jim