Decision 2004
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We At Aa Have Been Warned!
- Thread starter Strake
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Alaska Air Group to cut 900 jobs
By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
Succumbing to the heavy financial and competitive pressures buffeting the airline industry, Alaska Air Group yesterday announced it will cut 900 jobs, eliminating about 8 percent of its work force.
At the parent company of Alaska Airlines and regional carrier Horizon Air, some of the cuts came swiftly and without warning.
Cuts announced at Alaska Air Group
Total jobs to be eliminated: 900
340: Heavy-maintenance facility in Oakland, Calif., closed immediately
273: Outsourcing of aircraft-interior cleaning (158 jobs in Seattle, 93 in Anchorage; 22 more to be cut in state of Alaska in December).
150: Management positions. Those cuts were announced last month.
60: Outsourcing of ground support equipment and facilities operations (Half in Seattle; effective immediately).
51: Combining Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air positions (30 in Spokane, 21 in Portland)
18: Closing customer-service operations in Tucson, Ariz., and in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (fewer hours for 15 more staff).
9: Closing ticket offices in Bellevue and in Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska.
4: Closing pilot crew scheduling office in Los Angeles.
Source: Alaska Air Group
In Seattle yesterday, 30 Alaska ground support technicians were laid off, and 158 aircraft cleaners learned their jobs will be eliminated early next month.
Alaska also immediately closed down its heavy-maintenance base in Oakland, Calif., with a loss of 340 jobs.
The 900 cuts include 150 management jobs that the company announced it was eliminating last month.
All those losing their jobs are entitled to at least the nine weeks pay and benefits required by federal regulations covering companies of more than 100 employees.
Pending agreement by the unions, the company as an alternative will offer to those whose jobs are eliminated a voluntary severance-incentive plan. This is the same package offered to the managers in August — one that includes a cash bonus and two weeks pay for each year of service.
In a memo to all Alaska employees yesterday, Chief Executive Officer Bill Ayer said the sweeping cuts were necessary to protect the company's long-term viability. The company projects savings of $30 million to $35 million per year from the cutbacks.
"The human cost of that progress, though, is very high," Ayer wrote.
Ayer said the company has to face "brutal facts," one of which, he wrote, is that as the industry moves toward a low-cost structure, "Alaska Airlines remains one of the highest-cost carriers in the industry."
No further layoffs beyond those announced yesterday are imminent, Ayer said, although he would not rule out more cuts later.
"I've concluded that the only thing worse than doing these things is not doing them," Ayer wrote. "The airline industry is full of examples of inaction, with an eventual devastating toll on huge numbers of employees. We must make changes now to avoid those types of drastic actions later."
"Change must be dramatic," Ayer's memo said. "I wish things were different."
Since the airline-industry downturn that came after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, major carriers have been bleeding money and discount carriers have relentlessly eroded their business.
Several major airlines, notably United, US Airways and Delta, are making massive cuts to avoid bankruptcy or even liquidation.
Earlier this week, Delta announced a survival plan that will make drastic changes to its network and slash some 7,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force.
Alaska Airlines has a business model that is something of a hybrid: a major carrier with lower overhead than the largest airlines.
But in yesterday's memo, Ayer said Alaska's "routes are now among the higher yield markets in the country, and we know that new competitors are looking in our direction."
Jamelah Leddy, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen, said the cuts represent a huge shift for Alaska. "It's almost as much of a cultural decision as a financial decision," she said. "Alaska management had been proud they'd come this far since 9/11 without laying anyone off."
While other airlines have cut their work forces enormously in the past three years, Alaska has built up its network and added several hundred positions.
Union leaders, who learned of the cuts only a short time before all employees were told, were stunned.
"We were blindsided," said Eric Weeks, president of Local 14 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents mechanics, ground support technicians and aircraft cleaners. Weeks said the way the cuts were announced undermined Alaska's often expressed goal of fostering a work environment in which employees feel valued.
"Several hundred people were informed that they are out of work today with no prior knowledge. The union was not consulted," Weeks said. "We believe that there were violations of our contract. There will be grievances filed."
Weeks also expressed concern about the outsourcing of maintenance work with the closure of the Oakland facility.
Alaska said the maintenance work will be contracted out to Goodrich Aviation Technical Services of Everett and AAR Aircraft Services of Oklahoma City, Okla. Both Goodrich and AAR are expected to add staff to handle the extra work, Alaska Air vice president Fred Mohr said in a company statement.
"As aircraft technicians, we are concerned by the outsourcing of safety-sensitive jobs," Weeks said.
In 1999, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors expressed concern about the quality of aircraft maintenance at Goodrich. Numerous FAA violations at the Everett facility over a two-year period resulted in $38,400 in civil fines.
But in an interview, Ayer said Alaska had done "due diligence" in selecting its maintenance partners and he had no concerns about the quality of the outside repair shops that now will do all the work.
"We have quality-assurance people and quality-control inspectors there on site that are watching over every one of the airplanes these folks are doing," Ayer said. "We've been doing 60 percent of our heavy maintenance outside to this point. We're just shifting the balance."
Alaska was fined $44,000 in 1999 for maintenance violations at its Oakland facility. The crash of Alaska Flight 261 off Southern California in January 2000 also was blamed on maintenance problems that occurred at the Oakland site.
Of the cuts announced yesterday, about 226 of those affected are in Washington state — in Seattle, Spokane and Bellevue; 340 are in California; and 151 are in the state of Alaska.
Most of the cuts affect behind-the-scenes support staff, with the contracting out of the heavy aircraft maintenance, the aircraft cleaning services and ground support operations.
Alaska is also eliminating a relatively small number of customer-service positions in Spokane and Portland.
And it will close three ticket offices — one in Bellevue and two in Alaska — as well as a customer-service desk in Tucson, Ariz., and a small crew scheduling office in Los Angeles.
Ayer said Alaska and Horizon passengers should be unaffected by the changes.
"It'll be pretty much invisible," Ayer said.
By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
Succumbing to the heavy financial and competitive pressures buffeting the airline industry, Alaska Air Group yesterday announced it will cut 900 jobs, eliminating about 8 percent of its work force.
At the parent company of Alaska Airlines and regional carrier Horizon Air, some of the cuts came swiftly and without warning.
Cuts announced at Alaska Air Group
Total jobs to be eliminated: 900
340: Heavy-maintenance facility in Oakland, Calif., closed immediately
273: Outsourcing of aircraft-interior cleaning (158 jobs in Seattle, 93 in Anchorage; 22 more to be cut in state of Alaska in December).
150: Management positions. Those cuts were announced last month.
60: Outsourcing of ground support equipment and facilities operations (Half in Seattle; effective immediately).
51: Combining Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air positions (30 in Spokane, 21 in Portland)
18: Closing customer-service operations in Tucson, Ariz., and in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (fewer hours for 15 more staff).
9: Closing ticket offices in Bellevue and in Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska.
4: Closing pilot crew scheduling office in Los Angeles.
Source: Alaska Air Group
In Seattle yesterday, 30 Alaska ground support technicians were laid off, and 158 aircraft cleaners learned their jobs will be eliminated early next month.
Alaska also immediately closed down its heavy-maintenance base in Oakland, Calif., with a loss of 340 jobs.
The 900 cuts include 150 management jobs that the company announced it was eliminating last month.
All those losing their jobs are entitled to at least the nine weeks pay and benefits required by federal regulations covering companies of more than 100 employees.
Pending agreement by the unions, the company as an alternative will offer to those whose jobs are eliminated a voluntary severance-incentive plan. This is the same package offered to the managers in August — one that includes a cash bonus and two weeks pay for each year of service.
In a memo to all Alaska employees yesterday, Chief Executive Officer Bill Ayer said the sweeping cuts were necessary to protect the company's long-term viability. The company projects savings of $30 million to $35 million per year from the cutbacks.
"The human cost of that progress, though, is very high," Ayer wrote.
Ayer said the company has to face "brutal facts," one of which, he wrote, is that as the industry moves toward a low-cost structure, "Alaska Airlines remains one of the highest-cost carriers in the industry."
No further layoffs beyond those announced yesterday are imminent, Ayer said, although he would not rule out more cuts later.
"I've concluded that the only thing worse than doing these things is not doing them," Ayer wrote. "The airline industry is full of examples of inaction, with an eventual devastating toll on huge numbers of employees. We must make changes now to avoid those types of drastic actions later."
"Change must be dramatic," Ayer's memo said. "I wish things were different."
Since the airline-industry downturn that came after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, major carriers have been bleeding money and discount carriers have relentlessly eroded their business.
Several major airlines, notably United, US Airways and Delta, are making massive cuts to avoid bankruptcy or even liquidation.
Earlier this week, Delta announced a survival plan that will make drastic changes to its network and slash some 7,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force.
Alaska Airlines has a business model that is something of a hybrid: a major carrier with lower overhead than the largest airlines.
But in yesterday's memo, Ayer said Alaska's "routes are now among the higher yield markets in the country, and we know that new competitors are looking in our direction."
Jamelah Leddy, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen, said the cuts represent a huge shift for Alaska. "It's almost as much of a cultural decision as a financial decision," she said. "Alaska management had been proud they'd come this far since 9/11 without laying anyone off."
While other airlines have cut their work forces enormously in the past three years, Alaska has built up its network and added several hundred positions.
Union leaders, who learned of the cuts only a short time before all employees were told, were stunned.
"We were blindsided," said Eric Weeks, president of Local 14 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents mechanics, ground support technicians and aircraft cleaners. Weeks said the way the cuts were announced undermined Alaska's often expressed goal of fostering a work environment in which employees feel valued.
"Several hundred people were informed that they are out of work today with no prior knowledge. The union was not consulted," Weeks said. "We believe that there were violations of our contract. There will be grievances filed."
Weeks also expressed concern about the outsourcing of maintenance work with the closure of the Oakland facility.
Alaska said the maintenance work will be contracted out to Goodrich Aviation Technical Services of Everett and AAR Aircraft Services of Oklahoma City, Okla. Both Goodrich and AAR are expected to add staff to handle the extra work, Alaska Air vice president Fred Mohr said in a company statement.
"As aircraft technicians, we are concerned by the outsourcing of safety-sensitive jobs," Weeks said.
In 1999, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors expressed concern about the quality of aircraft maintenance at Goodrich. Numerous FAA violations at the Everett facility over a two-year period resulted in $38,400 in civil fines.
But in an interview, Ayer said Alaska had done "due diligence" in selecting its maintenance partners and he had no concerns about the quality of the outside repair shops that now will do all the work.
"We have quality-assurance people and quality-control inspectors there on site that are watching over every one of the airplanes these folks are doing," Ayer said. "We've been doing 60 percent of our heavy maintenance outside to this point. We're just shifting the balance."
Alaska was fined $44,000 in 1999 for maintenance violations at its Oakland facility. The crash of Alaska Flight 261 off Southern California in January 2000 also was blamed on maintenance problems that occurred at the Oakland site.
Of the cuts announced yesterday, about 226 of those affected are in Washington state — in Seattle, Spokane and Bellevue; 340 are in California; and 151 are in the state of Alaska.
Most of the cuts affect behind-the-scenes support staff, with the contracting out of the heavy aircraft maintenance, the aircraft cleaning services and ground support operations.
Alaska is also eliminating a relatively small number of customer-service positions in Spokane and Portland.
And it will close three ticket offices — one in Bellevue and two in Alaska — as well as a customer-service desk in Tucson, Ariz., and a small crew scheduling office in Los Angeles.
Ayer said Alaska and Horizon passengers should be unaffected by the changes.
"It'll be pretty much invisible," Ayer said.
Nightwatch
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Nice response...HAHAHA
scab scraper
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you know i was reading the TW the other day & came ascross the "funny papers" & 1st thing that came to mind was this forum. i hadn't been here in a while so i thought lets look at what kinda funny stuff is going on.
i remember SCABmaster saying sept.13th is the day the NMB will turn ariund it's decision & amfa(PUKE) will get its vote HAHAHAHA guess whay O SCABmaster?
IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!NO VOTE!!!!!! plain & simple so simple that even you SCABS can understand that can't you?????i remember another quote from SCABmaster. he said " i remember one day looking up in the sky & seeing this silver airplane take off, right there i made up my mind (humm SCABmaster has a mind i said to my self) i wanted to work on those air planes. so, here i am a WELDER @ AA"...........a WELDER pushing amfa(PUKE) & another funny thing is all the rest of the SCABs think he is really something why, they even made him vp over loco12 HAHAHAHA wannabesomeoneidontcarewithwhoorwhatjustwannabesomeone. get a life SCABmaster....why not look up some more police blotter stuff..SCAB!!!!!!
hey booby boy, you sotra got "reamed" & lost your cool there a lttle too huh?
yeah enough of this lets get back to the REAL issue.........JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TWU SAVES THEM, amfa(PUKE) FARMS EM OUT OR JUST GETS RID OF THEM!!!
that booby boy is the bottom line JOBS. when it comes to a vote people vote JOBS.
BTW alaska air........need i say more???didn't think so. i think booby boy you are the one who needs to get some. you used to drive Jim Little around?????
WHAT?????????? i am sure you have a good reason for that. one of the "hooded six" sucking up?? looks like you didn't make it as sackman says you better "lap your mule"
sorry but HSS is correct on what a "strake" is & BTW 😉 "strake"
also writes pretty good too!!!!! really like the pix of the 2 SCAB leaders in the yugo...........nice train HAHAHAHAHA.........remember this SCABS!!!!!!!!
TWU/AFL/CIO/ATD=UNION=SCABFREE NO VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!
i remember SCABmaster saying sept.13th is the day the NMB will turn ariund it's decision & amfa(PUKE) will get its vote HAHAHAHA guess whay O SCABmaster?
IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!NO VOTE!!!!!! plain & simple so simple that even you SCABS can understand that can't you?????i remember another quote from SCABmaster. he said " i remember one day looking up in the sky & seeing this silver airplane take off, right there i made up my mind (humm SCABmaster has a mind i said to my self) i wanted to work on those air planes. so, here i am a WELDER @ AA"...........a WELDER pushing amfa(PUKE) & another funny thing is all the rest of the SCABs think he is really something why, they even made him vp over loco12 HAHAHAHA wannabesomeoneidontcarewithwhoorwhatjustwannabesomeone. get a life SCABmaster....why not look up some more police blotter stuff..SCAB!!!!!!
hey booby boy, you sotra got "reamed" & lost your cool there a lttle too huh?
yeah enough of this lets get back to the REAL issue.........JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TWU SAVES THEM, amfa(PUKE) FARMS EM OUT OR JUST GETS RID OF THEM!!!
that booby boy is the bottom line JOBS. when it comes to a vote people vote JOBS.
BTW alaska air........need i say more???didn't think so. i think booby boy you are the one who needs to get some. you used to drive Jim Little around?????
WHAT?????????? i am sure you have a good reason for that. one of the "hooded six" sucking up?? looks like you didn't make it as sackman says you better "lap your mule"
sorry but HSS is correct on what a "strake" is & BTW 😉 "strake"also writes pretty good too!!!!!
really like the pix of the 2 SCAB leaders in the yugo...........nice train HAHAHAHAHA.........remember this SCABS!!!!!!!!TWU/AFL/CIO/ATD=UNION=SCABFREE
NO VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!Too bad you guys are too dumb to even guess what is coming around the bend if we stay with the TWU. You see that $3.1 million and the steady supply of members comes at a price, a price to the members. The cost is that we provide the company the lowest costs out there. As these other airlines are forced to seek out lower costs to match the largest airline in the world this company will simply come back for more. And the TWU will give it. They are already paying us $6/hr less than SWA, do you think its going to come from the line? No, they are going to continue to shrink overhaul by making your conditions worse and firing people for the slightest infraction.Strake said:
The only reasons why they have held out as much as they have with maintenance is because the TWU does not represent any of these third party providers. Otherwise overhaul would already be gone. However when we look at Fleet service we see a different scenario. There the layoffs were much deeper in addition to the paycuts which left their base pay less than it was before 2001. There the work that is lost by AA/TWU is picked up by one of the other TWU represented workgroups (Worldwide, Triangle, Ogden etc)who do the job for minimum wage and no benifits, another TWU brokered "win-win" situation. Those places are mostly part timers, that means instead of collecting 2 hours pay for every 40 hours worked they can end up collected many times that amount. Since it does not matter whether you work 40 hours, 80 hours or only 10 hours you still have to pay the same amount of dues it works out great for the TWU! So despite the fact that the dues rate drops from being based on a $20/hr member to a $5/hr member the TWU still sees an increase in dues and membership, that increase then drives pay raises for the International. So despite our plummeting living standards the International still gets raises!
Look at it this way. Lets say you are a Fleet Service clerk working for AA making $20/hr. The TWU allows the company to farm out your work to Worldwide and you are laid off. You now accept a job with Worldwide for $5.75 per hour, the next year you go up to $6/hr. Even though you have still taken a $14/hr cut in pay, your 25 cent raise fuels an increase in pay for the International!
Is that the kind of Union you want representing you? One that sells out your higher pay rate so they can get more members making a fraction of what you make? One that has a built in system that rewards and protects International officers who screw over their members? One where the company submits authorization cards for representation?
As these clowns revel in the turmoil at AMFA represented airlines they avoid the one simple fact that AMFA has done what unions are supposed to do-they have kept the agreement intact. So when things get better they will get better for the members too. Unlike with the TWU where things will never get better.
With the TWU as things get worse for us, it gets better for them, just look at their Lm-2 on the DOL website!
The key is not to give concessions to match (or in the case of the TWU-beat) the lowest bidder, the key is to organize the workers at the lowest bidder and establish and maintain the rate. The TWU has done this in reverse, they gained representation at the lowest bidders and then use them to drive down rates at all the other carriers! The TWU is not just a threat to mechanics, its a threat to everyone in the airline industry! They hide behind a union logo to destroy all the gains that unions provided for workers!!! Hey lets face it jobs existed before unions, people formed unions because they realized that a job at any price was not worth it, but that is exactly what the TWU has been selling for twenty years! The TWU does not speak like a union, they speak like union busters!
That is one reason why it is so urgent that we join AMFA as soon as possible. Once we go AMFA it will then have the resources to pursue organizing the whole profession. Then we can establish a fair rate for our profession. Once the rate is established company's will no longer have the incentive to ship the work all over the place. Outsource providers will always exist because many airlines do not have the volume of work to make running overhaul cost effective but the larger carriers will. Since AA is the largest out there they will have overhaul.
DECISION 2007
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"That is one reason why it is so urgent that we join AMFA as soon as possible. Once we go AMFA it will then have the resources to pursue organizing the whole profession. Then we can establish a fair rate for our profession. Once the rate is established company's will no longer have the incentive to ship the work all over the place. "
Huh? Are you stating that if we all just unite under amfa, ask for say $40/hr. (fair rate?), then the airline companies will have no recourse but to hire us at that rate vs. outsourcing to Singapore for instance...*knock knock* you in there braindead Booby? Are you on a low sugar diet or something?
Huh? Are you stating that if we all just unite under amfa, ask for say $40/hr. (fair rate?), then the airline companies will have no recourse but to hire us at that rate vs. outsourcing to Singapore for instance...*knock knock* you in there braindead Booby? Are you on a low sugar diet or something?
Nightwatch
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Hey, don't make fun of Bob! It all happens as he states it, in his world.
scab scraper
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WHAT? '07 you don't believe that? WOW, why there must be..at least a 100 of THEM that believe that. so, yeah better sign card!!!!!!!!! & you get to reap all the benifits that all the amfa(PUKE) mechs enjoy......NO JOB!!!!!!
TWU/AFL/CIO/ATD=UNION=SCABFREE
TWU/AFL/CIO/ATD=UNION=SCABFREE
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There is a man on my dock who's daughter got out of high school with an A&P and went to work at AAR in OKC. She was started out in pay at $13.21 an hour with benefits. I called AAR and asked them what they started experienced mechanics at and they said $21.64 with benefit. AA starts experienced mechanics at $12.00 per hour it's 6-8 years down the road before AA has as much invested in a mechanic as AAR and were none competitive. Alaskan Air pays less then AA from start to top out those guy's running the airlines are brilliant. On the other side AA and Alaskan have a lot more in management over head. You will see Alaskan going under in the near future if they are successful in doing this. But again maybe there just doing it to put pressure on the low cost carriers by increasing the demand for contract maintaince to drive the price up. Maybe they already have a buy out offer from one of the big boy's in the near future. You Think?
