Facts? said:
Stormed in at 3am? Sounds a little melodramatic. I've been watching this board for a long time and think the time may be to stop coming here. Too much of the same whining and misinformation being spread. Forums are a great opportunity to communicate things that are going on and give some behind the scenes views of what it takes to make an airline run.
Every thread seems to take on the same tone of what the company has done to destroy people and yadda yadda yadda. Interesting that the same people tend to make the same comments and go back and forth between issues. Good thing there is still such as thing as the silent majority.
For those insightful regulars on this forum that stick to facts and well thought out posts I say kudo's, your efforts are sometimes appreciated. Too bad your thought line gets muddied by those that can't seem to move forward.
If you don't believe me ask any of the posters that use to work in Tampa.
Article
TAMPA -- US Airways abruptly shut down its aircraft maintenance hangar at Tampa International Airport on Tuesday, eliminating the jobs of about 300 well-paid mechanics and related workers.
The airline said it was forced to make the cuts, part of a wider furlough of some 2,500 employees, to survive a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization amid the industry's worst-ever financial slump.
"The challenges we face are certainly not going away," spokesman David Castelveter said.
"With the prospect of war with Iraq and higher fuel prices, and for us to complete a successful reorganization, we need to do this and do it now."
US Airways managers broke the news to night-shift workers during their 3 a.m. break. The layoffs were particularly galling, mechanics said, because they came right before Thanksgiving and US Airways chief executive David Siegel had pledged to keep the hangar open.
"Enough is enough," said Jeff Catlin of Tampa, a 24-year US Airways veteran who decided not to pursue a job at another of the airline's cities or stay past Monday to help close the hangar. "They already ripped out my heart. Why stay around to let them step on it?"
US Airways will shift the heavy maintenance of single-aisle Airbus jets to larger repair stations at its hubs in Pittsburgh and Charlotte, N.C.
Tampa International will try to recruit another airline, most likely Delta Air Lines or Southwest Airlines, to take over the 10-year-old hangar, said Louis Miller, the airport's executive director.
In the meantime, the closing will have a big impact on the local economy, he said. The average salary at the hangar was about $50,000, Miller said, for a total annual payroll in the neighborhood of $15-million.
"The Chamber of Commerce is happy when someone comes with 400 jobs with an average salary of $20,000," he said. "That's nothing like losing this, with an average salary of $50,000."
US Airways will close one other facility: a reservations center in Orlando with 331 workers. The remaining layoffs will be spread among the ranks of flight attendants, airport customer service workers and mechanics over the next three months.
All major hub-and-spoke carriers are laying off workers and struggling financially as fewer people are flying and business travelers increasingly refuse to buy full-fare tickets, said Siegel, who took over the reins at US Airways in March.
"Every mature network airline is struggling with how to adapt," he said in a prepared statement. "Cost-cutting and furloughs are an unfortunate and painful part of that process ... we must take these actions to ensure our successful restructuring."
The nation's No. 7 carrier and third-largest at Tampa International, US Airways was particularly hard hit when air travel plummeted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and failed to fully recover.
The airline has traditionally been saddled with the industry's highest costs because of big labor expenses and its reliance on short-haul routes along the East Coast.
US Airways lost about $2-billion in 2001 and $852-million for the first nine months of this year. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the airline has cut 14,000 jobs -- nearly 29 percent of its workforce.
As part of its application for a $900-million federal loan guarantee, the carrier negotiated about $1.2-billion in annual cost savings from employees, suppliers and aircraft lessors over 61/2 years.
But citing a continued revenue slump, US Airways told creditors last month that it needed to cut expenses by an additional $400-million a year to get the loan guarantee.
Besides cutting more jobs, the airline said executives would meet with unions to negotiate further reductions in benefits and changes in work rules to increase productivity.
The airline's flight attendants' union responded Tuesday that it wouldn't agree to more concessions unless US Airways managers also took deeper cuts in pay and benefits.
"American workers can't continue ... to prop up failing executives," said Perry Hayes, president of the airline's chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants. "Those executives need to share the pain at US Airways if this airline is going to survive."
Rather than fight, many US Airways mechanics in Tampa were ready to throw in the towel Tuesday. Those with the most seniority will be able to get jobs repairing jets at the airline's terminal in Tampa or move to other US Airways cities.
But mechanics like Carlos Deloucas, a 14-year employee who transferred from North Carolina four years ago, weren't ready to move again.
"I cannot leave my family," said Deloucas, 45, who has two children ages 17 and 13 and doesn't know how he will afford to put them through college. "And another move is going to be devastating for them. It's not worth it."
As Kurt Schnell, 46, of Tampa arrived at work at 5:20 a.m., another employee told him not to waste his time bringing his backpack inside.
Management gathered employees in the break room and told them the news. Men grabbed their tools and left. Their faces wore grimaces and their shoulders were tense.
One worker cursed that the layoffs came at Thanksgiving, and Deloucas just shook his head and threw his hands up in the air.
-Staff writer Tamara Lush and researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
IS THAT FACT ENOUGH FOR YOU?
