united usairways deal may be falling apart

[FlyDCJets]

Teamsters slam Tilton's leadership of UAL board
The union, recently elected to represent United’s 5,500 mechanics, criticized the company’s merger attempts as a “cut-and-runâ€￾ business plan and said the directors weren’t challenging Mr. Tilton.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=29604

 

[767jetz]

Mr. United Spin Master,

The problem is the blanket statement that you have the OPINION of the coworkers. Lets see your facts as to the poll you conducted. Give us the numbers of how many people were polled.

You claim to be in the know and yet you have no proof. Just like when you said USAPA did not have the numbers to get an election or numbers to be voted in. How about the vocal minority?

Look, instead of attacking me personally and making accusations, try to step back and think about what I'm saying. I never claimed that I polled every United employee. However I can draw reasonable conclusions just like you or anyone else. I fly the line and talk to my coworkers all the time... Gate, Ramp, pilots, fa's, flight office, etc. I read public statements by the unions of my fellow employees coming out unanimously against a merger with US Airways. I see letters posted here and other places by employee groups to the shareholders and the Board of Directors telling them that a merger with USAirways would only bring more labor unrest, and that the employees have no confidence in the CEO or his merger plans. I also attend my own union meetings where they convey the general mood and consensus of their constituents at all other domiciles. I do volunteer work for ALPA and participate in picketing events where I talk to more employees, union officials, pilot groups and leaders from other airlines like AA and CO. I have a close friend who is on the MEC level of the fa's union. Should I go on?

So no, I never polled United employees, but I can say that with all the contact I have with the various groups as stated above, I have never, not once, run into even one person who supported the latest merger talks. So IMO, from what I see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears, in my own personal experience, I stand by what I have said.

 

[767jetz]

I, for one, couldn't be happier.

No offense to the good folks at United but the whole thing was looking like a train wreak.

Thank you for your honesty. And as a United employee I take absolutely no offense.

I don't understand why people get so emotional and offended and take things so personally when someone says... "Sorry, I just don't want to merge with your company because I don't think it would be beneficial." Everyone is entitled to feel how they feel. It's not personal and never should be.

 

[kmsurvey]

Just heard on the news that it was reported that talks between US and UAL have slowed and have deemed to be near an end. The reason given was that there were union problems and Doug Parker let it be known that if he was not the top dog that he would leave. Please let this merger go through!

 

[sharktooth]

Is this the big announcement comng this week?

I bet soon, since jetz says the talks are on "permanent hold", whatever that means. Is that like, "binding"?

 

[cltrat]

don't know if it's true but I read that Tilton gets 5 mil in event of a merger and 10 mil if he isn't the head of the combined carrier. for that price I 'd tell Dougweiser to have at it,go ahead and lead that train wreck

 

[Fly]

I have to agree with Jetz.

Horror! That word describes the ONLY reaction I've seen and read from the employees at United. NO ONE at United wants to merge with US.

I'm thrilled that the talks are off.

 

[Glucose Intolerant]

CNBC is reporting after hours that LCC and UAUA are meeting again tomorrow to discuss MERGER plans. Stock is up .20 in after hours trading. Seems that greed outweighs employee concerns....regardless of what camp your in. The fact that oil is up again to 130+ at market close might be a major factor along with both companies stocks tanked on the news that merger talks were off.

 

[jec9]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ual-...p;dist=printTop

UAL, US Air CEOs to meet Thursday to discuss merger: report

By Sue Chang
Last update: 5:09 p.m. EDT May 28, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The chief executives of UAL Corp. are scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss a possible merger and share information on potential problems that UAL directors raised at their last board meeting, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition late Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. If the meeting goes well and the CEOs can resolve the bulk of outstanding issues, they could approach their respective boards in mid-June for approval to move ahead with a deal, the Journal said. Outstanding items include how the airlines would raise capital to fund the combination and how to resolve labor contract issues, according to the newspaper.

Consider also: http://www.thestreet.com/story/10418767/1/...eet-report.html

 

[gaucho99]

Which part of "permanent hold" do you not understand?

I guess the part that permanent only means 24 hours.

 

[checksix]

I have to agree with Jetz.

Horror! That word describes the ONLY reaction I've seen and read from the employees at United. NO ONE at United wants to merge with US.

I'm thrilled that the talks are off.

I share you happiness that this nightmare looks to be dying on the surface. However, the fact that they are blaming the primary reason for a failure on labor makes me think there is some "special BS in the air." Labor, primarily the pilots, do not have the scope to do much to sink this coupling. History also shows us that management will take any opportunity available to take a swipe at labor, regardless of how far from the truth it may be - if they can make the claim they will.

I think most of the employees from both airlines would prefer to avoid a merger, at least most of those from US anyway. I realize there are some groups out west that see promise but I would imagine that prospective is from a lack of experience of the merger process.

Let's hope this thing dies a quiet death, but I'm more likely to believe its more likely posturing.

 

[Fly]

Let's hope this is an "agree to be friends" meeting. I can't imagine the internal problems this will cause but I seriously doubt that they will be able to get the capital necessary to fund it anymore.

 

[freedom]

Freedom,

With all due respect, I would like some of the kool aid you are smoking.

The current management of US Airways is one of the worst and most incompetent group of managers I have ever seen in ANY industry. The merger between US and AWA has been BOTCHED big time. The penny wise pound foolish attitude has backfired, and has created a monster.

Three years into the merger, you have the worst IT in the industry...a web site which is slow and spotty, and a reservation system which still doesn't work 15 months after the switchover--because they were too cheap to invest in a system capable of handling the new operation.

Three years into the merger you have total labor unrest--a splintered pilot group capable of shutting the whole thing down, and divisive problems in all the other workgroups. Integration has STILL not happened, and the practice of getting the longer tenured people to leave is proving disastrous.

Customer service is at an all time low....customer relations is nothing more than complaint resolution. US doesn't even respond to many complaints, and when they do they don't address the issues. They throw vouchers at customers, rather than investigating and fixing the problem which caused the customer to complain. Oh--and the vouchers are almost impossible to use, and are worthless to many people who have NO intention of ever flying US again. And US is always in the top 2 of complaints to DOT.....

And you call Doug a Success???????????? All he has done is lined his pockets, and manipulated the numbers to show some profits.....AT THE EXPENSE OF LOYAL EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS.

IF there is a merger between UA and US, and Doug is in charge, it will be doomed to failure...what the company needs is leadership from outside the two companies at this point.....I understand Gordon Bethune is available.

You need to realize the truth.

Wow that was quite a post ART … at this point I’d have to say your completely biased in your opinion .

First of all by merging the two airlines Doug parker saved THOUSANDS of job , mine included and with the price of oil the way it is today , I highly doubt EITHER airline would still have its doors open if we hadn’t combined …

You criticize our IT department , customer service and make the usual baseless accusation that management has lined their pockets at the workers expense… I can’t express how tired I am of hearing the same sad song played over and over and over ….

Guess what people this is 2008 not 1975 ….. Our mission is a simple one , get people from point A to point B with their luggage and on time …

In order to do this we MUST remain competitive , this means that it was necessary for Parker and crew to try new things , lowering service levels ETC … if I recall ,were we not one of the first major airlines to offer REALLY REALLY low prices to business travelers ? Yet I don’t hear anyone singing us praise ? Why ? Because many of you are trapped in some sort of idealistic past … where all of the FA’s are hot female flight attendants , you can still smoke on planes and your part of the “elite†class in this country all by sitting in business class …

This is the cold reality … oil is at 130 a barrel , Americans are cutting back their travel , businesses are cutting back their travel or putting their people in coach and flying ISN’T classy anymore , it’s just a mode of transport ..

The reality that I spoke of translates into this “we need to have the lowest overhead and costs for everything “ …This means we absolutely do not WANT a state of the art ,top of the line reservations system , we want what is cost effective for our company …it’s the same train of thought with customer service , we want to do what we can , but we’re not going to throw a free 757 at the PAX because one of the LAV’s smelled funny ..

What you want ART is a return to the old days of us airways , where service was everything and the workers were blinded into another reality where it was impossible for them to bankrupt their own company by demanding everything and the kitchen sink in their labor contracts ..

No thank you art , I’ll settle for our current reality , service is important , but not ALL important and while I’d like to be compensated for the work I do like a rock star , I’ll settle for what is fair …When we follow reality , the flying public gets a competitively priced seat and the workers get to keep their jobs .

Win win for everyone ..

 

[USA320Pilot]

Fly,

I am no fan of mergers because they have a lot of short & medium-term employee pain. However, in this case UA and US may have no other option but to merge with jet fuel prices around $4.00 per gallon.

Unfortunately the companies are the weakest of the legacy carriers and they may not be able to compete with a DL-NW + Skyteam Alliance and a AA-CO-BA alliance + OneWorld alliance, especially with the U.S. government apparently willing to permit foreign ownership of U.S. carriers.

The UA and US E&FA Departments believe the proposed merger would generate $1.5 billion in annual revenue gains and cost cuts. That’s an enormous amount of money in a capital intensive business during a time when both companies are losing millions of dollars per day. And, I believe the merger would likely provide a capital infusion from outside investors, similar in scope to what US and HP obtained in their deal, which would not be available to either carrier as a stand-alone business entity.

Simply put...there may be no other option but for the two business partners to finally merge if the companies and their employees want to avoid bankruptcy, which is why Doug Parker and Glenn Tilton are apparently meeting tomorrow.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[Fly]

Personally, I'd rather see them go out of business.

Luckily, they probably won't be able to get any outside financing with the market as bad as it is.