Webcase

[wwiiairliner]

I heard the management is proposing to introduce a new "B" scale concept: Rehire a good portion of the people as new hires and get rid of the seniority based pay...

 

[sentrido]

yea. its called the "Mid-Atlantic Airways" plan

 

[airbiiguy]

how is that possible??

 

[Light Years]

With MidAtlantic and Mainline Express they have essentially created a C Scale out of the same highly trained and talented pool, with the exception of those who don't accept the lower wage- whom the company is happy to see go anyway. Theres just a few more i's to dot and t's to cross to where the core business of US Airways- short to medium haul East Coast 100 seat flying- can be perfomed at this new scale or contracted out altogether.

I'm not sure what they can do about seniority. Even without unions, seniority is the key to everything in this industry. Airline employees believe in it wholeheartedly as any other option would open us all up to more abuse and uncertainty from management.

I'm interested in the source of this rumour or any other specifics.

 

[mweiss]

I'm not sure what they can do about seniority. Even without unions, seniority is the key to everything in this industry. Airline employees believe in it wholeheartedly as any other option would open us all up to more abuse and uncertainty from management.

Peer review would be a viable substitute. It would result in a solid darwinistic evolution of the quality of the airline. Good performers should embrace this approach. Of course, it would obviate much of the value-add that unions provide, which is why it's not likely to occur.

 

[sentrido]

It doesnt exits anywhere I know of.

 

[Light Years]

A peer review type of set-up is interesting, but probably not viable, particularly at an airline thats been around forever, and has all sorts of allegiances connected to pre-merger airlines, friendships, union battles, seniority etc. It just wouldnt be an honest system.

Did anyone see the movie View From The Top? Funny movie, but like all aviation movies very inaccurate. When the F/As graduated, they were assigned bases and routes based on thier performance and grades in training. The "best" went to international, the "worst" went to Express. The F/As were competitive in reaching thier goals by being the best F/As they could be.

In reality, you work hard to get the job, and then get out there, sit down, buckle up, and enjoy the ride on the seniority train. You hope people in cars ahead get off at thier stop, and that the train stops to pick up more people behind you along the way. You hope that you're not put off the train when theres not enough room, hope that you're car wont be disconnected and hooked to the end of another, and you hope the whole thing doesnt get derailed by the engineer.

 

[mweiss]

It would be a more honest system than you might think. Sure, there will be people who try to game the system, but with sufficient mixing throughout the system, those effects would typically be drowned out by more honest evaluations.

For example, if you were an AA employee, and you had a choice between giving a good eval to another AA employee who's a slacker, or giving a good eval to a former TWAer who seriously carries weight, it's shooting yourself in the foot to reward the AA slacker. After all, you're taking on extra work for yourself in having to compensate for the deadwood by rewarding the AA slacker.

 

[OldGuyinPA]

how about ..early outs..for the older folks

other than death................

 

[sentrido]

Nice idea, would never work.

 

[mweiss]

Nice idea, would never work.

Explanation of why?

 

[wwiiairliner]

Got confirmation.
They are thinking of using a very similar version of the Airtran contract to create the new "B" scale. The bottom 30% employees would automatically fall into this category and be subject to massive pay cuts. They would also say there is a 60 day countdown on this proposal, if not they will liquidate... They would grandfather the most senior employees, and get rid of the seniority based pay for the "B" scale guys. They believe this could save the company up to $500 millions a year...Good luck to all of us... :angry:

 

[sentrido]

Im speaking just from mechanics point of view.Considering the size of US's mechanic ranks who, exatly would review each other? During any given time period I worked with a practicly uncountable body of peers. Which of that large group would I get to review? Who would get to review me?

 

[Flying Titan]

how about ..early outs..for the older folks

other than death................

I've often questioned why this wasn't the first course of action, particularly given the seniority of the U workforce. Of course, there are significant upfront costs with offering early retirement incentives. Perhaps, CCY decided it just didn't have enough money to make it work.

Personally, I believe early retirement options are the best way to reduce the size of a workforce - labor costs go down, costs of health care benefits go down, sick time should go down, in some of these cases there are meaningful increases in productivity, and you cut costs over the long haul without destroying morale.

 

[usfliboi]

Got confirmation.
They are thinking of using a very similar version of the Airtran contract to create the new "B" scale. The bottom 30% employees would automatically fall into this category and be subject to massive pay cuts. They would also say there is a 60 day countdown on this proposal, if not they will liquidate... They would grandfather the most senior employees, and get rid of the seniority based pay for the "B" scale guys. They believe this could save the company up to $500 millions a year...Good luck to all of us... :angry:

Confirmation from whom? This doesnt sound right to me..... i understand the concept with new hires but not with 30% at the bottom!