A FEW NOTES FROM THE LABOR ADVISORY MEETING.......
CEO, Douglas Parker started the meeting out saying that we are making money in spite of ourselves. He said financially, we are doing our job but operationally we are not. He feels we are driving away our customers due to the problems with baggage issues, short staffing and misconnections. The recent security changes have also increased the number of checked bags, which has impacted the operations, as has bad weather. He says they are working on fixing these problems.
The different labor groups all pointed out the fact that PHL is still the main problem in the system as we all did in the last meeting. The lack of communication needs to be fixed between operations and the employee group system wide. The fact that some of the things the labor group brought to the table seemed new to the Board was surprising to us. Doug was asked if there are any plans for a merger, he did not confirm or deny it during the meeting.
The CWA raised concern with the lack of staffing system wide and at the end of the night in many of the ATO's, we have one closing agent :down: . There are instances when flights arrive at the same time, whether they are late or early and one agent is running from one gate to another trying to meet the planes in a timely manner. The CWA feels the Passenger service employees working the gates at the end of the night are subjected to making a choice between keeping the door secure and running to meet another flight. There are also problems with not having enough agents on duty at the end of the night to safely assist with a straight back or wheelchair customer (commit: One agent can not operate a ramp carry off machine and asst. a passenger safely).. The Union asked that the staffing be reviewed in all of the ATO's East and West. The Union also shared some data that was sent by the SEA customer service agents that show how much money we loose each month due to cancelled flights and protecting customers on other carriers. We asked that the company keep a better tally of the losses we experience due to the number of cancellations due to older equipment still being used in many markets and maintenance delays on those aircraft.
The CWA advised the Board that the new Vice President of Reservations and Inventory Services, Brad Beakley, seems to be open to working with the Union leaders and trying to resolve many of the problems the call centers, East and West, have been dealing with for a very long time. We expressed hope that this relationship continues in this positive direction.
There have been more attempts to settle grievances now, since we have been working with Ron Harbinson, Director, Labor Relations-Ground. He has been willing to step in and help us resolve many of the problems before they become grievances, and we wanted to recognize this progress during the meeting with the BOD and encourage more of the same going forward.
