Unfolding News & Events?

[A320 Driver]

Why both of you are so bent on MRO's is beyond my comprehension...maybe you are shareholders of ST Mobile Aerospace....It wouldn't surprise me though.

E-TRONS OUT.



E-TRONS?
Mind telling me WHAT THE HELL YOUR TALKING ABOUT? My posts have been supportive of our maintenance staff and totally against our farming out the Bus heavy maintenance.
I do refuse however to sit idly by while you dudes continue to take pot shots at the pilot group. You act as if your the only ones getting hurt around here. YOUR NOT! Every single employee at U has a story to tell. Yours is no better or worse than anyone elses.

A320 Driver :angry:

 

[pitguy]

All I truly ask of any of our pilots is support for us in maintenance regarding this farm out issue. We all will have our differences, but hopefully we all can see common ground and be allies to each other.

 

[USA320Pilot]

Pitguy:

I have said before and I will say it again...I support the IAM and I believe your union is taking appropriate action.

My issue is separate from the farm out issue in that I believe third party contractors, just like US Airways mechanics, both do excellent work.

Separately, what sickens me is to watch committed mechanics whom have years, and years, and years of dedicated service, see their careers threatened by this action.

Respectfully,

Chip

 

[ClueByFour]

It's not about the quality or skill or work ethic of the A&P holders at the third-party shops. It's that the primary motivation is money not safety.

These guys probably have "pencil whip elbow"--because they have no way to keep the job without meeting time constraints.

One of the guys who works on the corporate Lear fleet at my shop spent some time at TIMCO, IIRC. What he said scared me (just for reference, this particular gentleman used to service a 172 I had a share in at the time, so I trust in his work and word).

Even if you look past the contract violation (and from a third-party perspective, the contract violation is huge, considering that US could have tried to get this concession on the table while in Chapter 11, and has both the facilites and most of the tooling given that C-Checks are done in house), it's a huge safety risk. These people learned nothing from the -1900 incident in CLT.

Check the trim cables, folks.

 

[T-bone]

Pitguy:

I have said before and I will say it again...I support the IAM and I believe your union is taking appropriate action.

My issue is separate from the farm out issue in that I believe third party contractors, just like US Airways mechanics, both do excellent work.

Separately, what sickens me is to watch committed mechanics whom have years, and years, and years of dedicated service, see their careers threatened by this action.

Respectfully,

Chip

Hey Chip are you aware that the a/c that crashed into the Charlotte hangar was 3rd, 4th, or 5th party, with next to no oversite. I know you if anyone are a thorough investigator, please do so I can see your recant.

This is not totally about who does maintenance it's about honoring contracts......
Get it. It is totally time for he Pilots and whom ever to bury the hatchet. Today it's the IAM's work, Tomarrow it will be the Pilots and 75 seat RJ's the next day flight attendants, say 1 per every hundred on an oversea's flight you have to get the picture by now. Our evil leaders message is divide and conquer. You have to recognize this by now, don't you?[color]

 

[E-TRONS]

A320DRIVER: Your pal CHIP seems to make a lot of statements in the defense of 3rd party operators....when he was told he was embarassing the pilot group and should clam up YOU claimed not to be embarassed by Chip's comments.

How should I have interpreted that statement??? Chip keeps on coming back with more blatherings about 3rd party operators and how safety and quality orientated they are......Chip is smoking rope!!! In fact anyone who believes that is indeed a fool.

It's bad enough that 3rd party providers are DIRECTLY THREATENING our livelihoods as mechs....we do not need any cheerleaders for 3rd party from within our company.

Here is a new thing to consider: The intentional violation of our contract by vendoring out the Airbus work to 3rd party has been carefully orchestrated by our beloved Dave LORENZO to provide leverage which will be used at a later date.

Dave wants to talk to the IAM about the future maintenance of the remaining 111 Airbus fleet.....He wants to do it in-house but ONLY IF ADJUSTMENTS ARE MADE TO MAKE IT ECONOMICAL......Translation: Dave wants MORE CONCESSIONS in exchange for the Airbus work to be performed in-house. And he has already raised the bar prior to any such talks. I say NFW!!!!!! NOT A PENNY!!!!

That RE-VOTE forced upon the confused membership by the IAM is really paying dividends now isn't it?? For a $1.25 million dollar BRIBE (if the re-vote passed) the IAM sold our souls to the devil himself. And everyone that deals with the devil eventually find out what a mistake it was indeed. Thank you Scotchy Ford.

Now the only recourse we have is to SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN. If WE lose our careers then so do the Extortionist pillaging this place.

STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

E-TRONS OUT.

 

[SalesGuyCCY]

Yes, it's unfortunate it could cost us mechanics jobs, but geez guys, see the writing on the wall! If you don't like it, find other employment. You don't have to stay here. The company MUST cut more costs to be competitive and to make a profit. We cannot rely on the business traveler any longer for high yields to make us a profit.

 

[E-TRONS]

Let's see, company secured $1.8 BILLION in annual concessions....that means that it costs them $1.8 BILLION LESS to operate the airline each year.

And they still are not making money???? AND YOU WANT TO GIVE MORE????

Walk over to your office window, open it and JUMP OUT!!!

You are beyond description.

E-TRONS OUT.

 

[diogenes]

If management cannot turn a profit after BK, and two rounds of concessions from labor, we deserve to go under.

I want U to survive, and thrive, but NOT at ANY cost.

I'm prepared to see the company go under before ANY labor group conceeds another dime.

This is a job, not a life.

 

[AP Tech]

Its rather humerous some of the comments that have been made. If we don't like it quit.....Too bad we have to lose some mechanics, until we make a profit, ect,ect.........I don't know about the rest of you but I am at U to make a living, not because I love the glory of aviation!!!!Maybe when U starts doing 100% of their sales online and the cuts really start to affect other departments some will open their eyes and realize what type of LIARS and CROOKS run this company. I wonder after reading some of these posts if some of you would come in and work for free, just because Dave asks you too!!!!!!!

 

[JetMech]

On the issue of sub-contracting of maintenance work, I'd like to offer some information for all interested. The government contracts have an exceptionaly hight amount of oversight. This is just not the case when it comes to airlines. The facility chosen by Usairways is MAE. MAE has had a history of bad maintenance. It was even fined recently by the FAA for it's infractions. JetBlue, an MAE customer pulled it's work out of MAE and has inked a 6 year deal with Air Canada for it's heavy maintenance. On the issue of why doesn't SW have problems with it's contract maintenance, the answer is simple. 1. The majority of SW aircraft are relatively new. 2. SW's corporate culture is such that any issues with maintenance are kept "in the family". This was the case with their great ontime departures, which were "called in" by the crew. A maintenance manager for SW, whom I have known for over 20 years informed me that there are "major" issues with the contract facilities that SW uses and they are in the process of evaluating their practices. Oversight is crucial. Not all third party maintenance is unsafe, but the majority have major quality issues. Proper oversight drives the costs up to the point where it may not be economicly advatageous to contract out the maintenance. With the US goverment this is not an issue. These companies work practices are the equal of PepBoys as compared to an actual auto manufacturer aprooved dealer. The mechanics simply DO NOT POSSESS the training and skills to provide maintenance.There are few licensed mechanics used by these companies. The license is not needed since they work under an FAA Repair Facility certificate. Only a small percentage of the mechanics need a certificate. The vast majority of these mechanics are contractors themselves, working from place to place as needed. There are many "Kelly Girls" type companies which offer the personel services for as little as one month time. There are just too many issues with contract maintenance to explain here. Any of you who wish to enlighten yourselves just read the NTSB report on the Air MIdwest B-1900 crash in CLT. That says it all. Any of you who are pilots can speak to Capt. Dan Sichio, ALPA air safety on the issue.

 

[delldude]

thank you for the info...i think this ought to be sent to the media....

 

[Art at ISP]

Yes, it's unfortunate it could cost us mechanics jobs, but geez guys, see the writing on the wall! If you don't like it, find other employment. You don't have to stay here. The company MUST cut more costs to be competitive and to make a profit. We cannot rely on the business traveler any longer for high yields to make us a profit.

Sales Guy,

While I agree that the company must be profitable, I take exception with the method in which they are trying to accomplish that. They have already extracted the required concessions from the employees. Other than perhaps some workrule changes, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. What you fail to realize is that the employees are the best in the industry, and in many cases they are the ONLY reason loyal customers like myself stay. It surely isn't the product anymore. Your "first class" is an embarrassment when compared to other carriers, especially the other legacy airlines.

Rather than address the real issue, the company has chosen to take more from their most valuable resource, the employees, AND from whom they need the most, us passengers. What is the real issue, you ask?

IT'S THE FARES, STUPID (just my slogan, not meant as a slight to anyone).

There is no justification whatsoever for the current fare structure. It can be easily rationalized to the point where it makes sense, and by default it will improve the revenue picture, thereby making the company more profitable. I was told by a member of management not long ago, that if they could raise the lowest fares by about $20, they could lower the top ones by about $300. SO DO IT ALREADY.

The company has to realize that regardless of which fare we pay, the business traveler is STILL the bread and butter of the industry. Yet they still offer these bargain basement fares which attract the once a year flyer, who is the first to complain and make a scene when something goes wrong (don't get me started on this one). Let me see how plainly I can say this.... FIX THE BUSINESS FARES and let the priceline traveler go to the LCC's. I hate to say this but I am getting tired of subsidizing them. I can no longer justify paying $1000 to fly LGA-CLT and back in one day.

Instead of being brave and doing what needs to be done, the company chooses to make insane decisions--alienate the employees by subcontracting and making impossible work rules, AND alienate the customer by penny pinching on the product. If this continues it is a LOSE LOSE situation--the employee loses the desire to please the customer and the customer loses the desire to fly US. What does that get us?? Say good bye to US.

I don't mean to rant, but most of you know how loyal I have been, and I am just getting frustrated with the current state of affairs. I wish all my friends at US nothing but the best, and I sincerely hope it works out for all of us.

My best to you all.

 

[delldude]

Yes, it's unfortunate it could cost us mechanics jobs, but geez guys, see the writing on the wall! If you don't like it, find other employment. You don't have to stay here. The company MUST cut more costs to be competitive and to make a profit. We cannot rely on the business traveler any longer for high yields to make us a profit.

c'mon guy...youz guys signed the contract...now abide by it as we are required to do....thats all...and please....no diatribe about facilities,equipment.
BTW-see you in court!

 

[OldGuyinPA]

SalesGuyCCY...is your name an oxymoron ?????????????????

I have it......From what I see from CCY, the best thing to do is shut the palace down.

Unfornately the clowns ( Dave Lorenzo and all )on the 8th floor wouldn't have any place to store their golf equipment if that happened.

:down: