Us Airways May Want Others To De-ice Planes

[F/AinDay]

Is this an attempt to put more pressure on PA?

Tuesday, September 23, 2003
By Mark Belko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

After more than a decade of using its own employees to de-ice airplanes at Pittsburgh International Airport, US Airways may stop the practice

More airport news

 

[PITbull]

I don't believe it has anything to do with the PA negotiations.

It is again, part of the "plan" to outsource more work to third parties and get rid of more jobs.

Another disregard of the employee sacrifices to save this company; only to lose their jobs. Bet all of senior management VPs stay on though.

 

[wings396]

This in NOT something that you want a bunch of vendor idiots doing for a song. I have Deiced for many years and know what can go wrong if the job is not done to perfection. I guess that now Safety even has a price. I am sure the pilot group will love this one. They better hang out the window and watch every step. I mentioned in another post a while ago about a deicing blunder by a local vendor. They asked us to help them out due to a breakdown of their shoddy truck. When I drove over to let their experts go to work I didn't believe what they were going to do. They were told by the crew that the required type 4 fluid. They figured that type 4 was all they wanted and proceeded to put a fresh coat of type 4 over 2 inches of snow on the wings without any type 1. After I told their Supervisor that this was not going to do the job, he told me that he was from California and didn't know much about deicing procedures. He was running th show, so imagine how well trained his crew was. Some things are better left as is, and Deicing is one of them.

 

[AOG-N-IT]

I don't know if this serves as any actual indication or not? ..but here is somethings I've heard and seen.

What I've seen...Before departing my tenure in PIT , I saw all the Cabs of the de-icing cranes removed. I was left under the impression that this was typical ..and a time to perform routine service on them for the up-coming season. When they were still on , they brandished the USAIRWAYS logo them.

What I've heard... During a routine phone call with a PIT Foreman sunday night...he offered up this out of the blue. "Hey Man" Do you remember the De-Ice pads here in PIT? " Sure I do I replied" My friend stated that the operator cabs had been re-installed this past week ..and they were void of the USAirways Logo..and did in fact have something else on them. I asked if it was an Allegheny County logo?..or that of a private firm? He said he would have to get back to me on this due in part to the distance he was seeing them from....never the less it was most clear that our corporate logo was gone regardless.

Maybe someone else can shed some light on this?

 

[AP Tech]

We have been told that Usairways did not even place a bid on the use of the two deice pads in Pit this year. The lowest bidder and only one was an outfit out of Denver but I do not recall the name. There have been advertisements for de icers in the local papers. Part time and seasonal of course. I have read in our so called contract that mechanics are to do the de-icing but I guess that point is void also! Since the EPA has shut down the Sierra Pad this year and made the statment all de-icing operatins must occur at those two pads only. It kind of leaves us out in the cold!!!!!

 

[delldude]

they do maintenence overhaul of the booms just about up until the cold weather and sometimes in the hangars....as for the logo...have to take a look today and get back.

 

[Harry Callahan]

It was brought up at the union mtg that some utility & some fleet service would be trained to deice..
As for me, I have never done it & want no part of it.

 

[AP Tech]

This year they had an outside firm retro the booms with some type of hot air system. It replaces the type 1 system and is supposed to be much more economical and enviromentaly friendly. It is supposed to be the latest and greatest. I am not sure about the logo's, I don't recall them on the cab's themselves only on the control room and the boom houses. They county came in last Monday and padlocked all the buildiings since they are not ours any longer.

 

[delldude]

well then the leases were rejected too .thats why they didn't bid...hmmm...thanks for the info.
isn't plant maintenece doing the maintenece?l
if U rejected the leases the county would have to get someone else to continue ops.

 

[flyin2low]

It's IDS. $10-14/hr.... Seasonal positions

 

[USA320Pilot]

If US Airways does indeed transfer Pittsburgh Mainline, MDA, & Express assets westward to say Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco, you would not need the North and South De-Ice Pads staffed by company personnel.

Respectfully,

Chip

 

[MarkMyWords]

It is again, part of the "plan" to outsource more work to third parties and get rid of more jobs.

Another disregard of the employee sacrifices to save this company; only to lose their jobs. Bet all of senior management VPs stay on though.

While I do not agree with all of the outsourcing, deicing does make sense from a cost savings prospective and will NOT cost jobs. Deicing is covered using hangar employees and employees on overtime. We do not hire employees specifically for deicing, they are pulled from the operation or brought in on over time.

If you have a mechanic who makes 30.00 an hour and use him on the deicing pad on overtime, you are paying out 45-60.00 an hour. Multiply that by all of the positions that are open on the deice pads and you can see that it is a costly proposal. Those employees that are not there on overtime are generally pulled from the hangar, which delays mtc checks, inspections and other work.

If we can get a company to provide the same level of service for 1/2 the price, then there is a tremendous cost savings to the company and will help to ensure our return to making a profit, thus protecting jobs. Given that we could deice aircraft from Oct to May, that is a significant cost savings.

The one thing I don't agree with is the way things like this just seem to sneak up out of no where and the company continues to deny it. Why not just come clean with things like this and the issue of what will happen to the S checks. Honesty goes a long way.

 

[Pacemaker]

If US Airways does indeed transfer Pittsburgh Mainline, MDA, & Express assets westward to say Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco, you would not need the North and South De-Ice Pads staffed by company personnel.

Respectfully,

Chip

Chip: PIT, Pa, and Al. county are in a no-win situation. You make a good point. There will be no replacement for U, whatever their reason for leaving. How many de-ice pads do they need in Akron, Columbus, and Toledo?

 

[pitguy]

"If you have a mechanic who makes 30.00 an hour..."

"If we can get a company to provide the same level of service for 1/2 the price, then there is a tremendous cost savings to the company and will help to ensure our return to making a profit, thus protecting jobs. "

--I am a topped out Mechanic here and I wish I made that kind of money. It is the "other" airlines that pay that and more. Something like $36 an hour.


--I guess we could take each job here and just cut their pay in half and farm out their work. Heck we probably don't even need employees here just money hungry executives.

--When there is work there are jobs. If you give away work then you give away
jobs.


--Sorry but if we didn't give the house away already I would have been better for agreement.

 

[delldude]

yeah you got it PITMTC.....i heard even at MDA they want to pay nonline shop mech's something like $6.50/hour for wages...all for the responsibilities and legalities that go with the job.
suddenly,WENDY'S doesn't look too bad. :blink: