US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Special Bulletin to Employees From Bruce Lakefield

I found this on justplanenews.com, the "unofficial" US employees site. Is this the "official" spin we've been looking for???

Special Bulletin


Posted by News Staff - Just Plane News.com
12/27/2004 01:31 AM


Dear US Airways Colleagues:

This special bulletin has a dual purpose. I take no joy in writing it. But this message must be communicated.

First off, a big thank you to the thousands of employees – who have gone beyond the call of duty to help our customers during the operational meltdown we experienced over the weekend. While our customers and the news media have understandably focused on the delays, cancelled flights, lost baggage, and ruined holiday plans, I know and appreciate the fact that most of our employees were putting in long hours, doing their best to deal with frustrated, disappointed, and angry passengers. We had agents and ramp workers in Philadelphia working from 6 a.m., to 11 p.m., on Christmas Eve day. We had crew schedulers and OCC staff working double shifts. We had pilots and flight attendants offering to pick up trips. Our reservations and baggage staff were doing their best to handle the heavy call volume, and our Express colleagues have also helped out.

Nevertheless, all of those efforts were overshadowed by the irresponsible actions of a few.

With flight attendant sick calls almost three times higher than normal and abnormally high sick calls from ramp workers at Philadelphia, our network ground to a halt. The weather challenges on Thursday caused by heavy snow in the Midwest put us in a hole that we could not crawl out of on Friday or Saturday because of severe staffing shortages. So we cancelled hundreds of flights, delayed thousands of bags, and irritated our passengers. We are trying to get the system back to normal or near-normal operations today, but that will depend on the cooperation of the weather and all employees.

My guess is that most employees who chose this irresponsible and indefensible path will not bother to read this bulletin or listen to my recorded message. So I apologize if I am preaching to the choir, however, some things must be said.

We are a team. No one part of the company can succeed without the cooperation and support of all other employees. We depend on each other.

Most of our employees and many of our customers were let down by those who chose to abuse their sick leave when we needed them most. We see no signs of an orchestrated sick out, but the impact was nevertheless just as severe.

I have seen lots of “excuses” for why people took it upon themselves to call in sick, such as “low morale,” “poor management,” “anger over pay cuts” and “frustration with labor negotiations.”

None of those “excuses” passes the test. We all have our jobs to do. Taking it upon oneself to help disrupt the operation and inconvenience our customers does nothing to improve morale, management, anger, or frustration. Sick leave is to be taken when you are sick. When people abuse the policy, it only creates more work for those out on the frontline.

Not one person in management has taken any satisfaction from having to initiate pay cuts and work rule changes. We would love to be talking about growth, profits and pay raises. The situation our company faces is one shared by much of the entire industry. We are working hard to save this airline and give our employees options for their future.

Let us not forget who pays our salaries - our customers -- and this weekend did nothing to earn their confidence and future business. For those employees who were venting whatever they are feeling, they have only hurt themselves and their colleagues.

For those few who did not want to do their job, I am dumbfounded by their motivation and rationale. And to the rest of our great employees, I am sorry that so many of you are bearing the brunt of this challenge.

Management and frontline employees from other cities are helping in Philadelphia to shape up the operation. We continue to run extra sections of baggage-only flights to Charlotte to clear out the backlog and get bags connected to their destination. Vendor services are being deployed where possible to help as well. Many people are working hard and those efforts are truly appreciated.


Sincerely,


Bruce R. Lakefield

It's a great start, but it is only words. No action. Now he needs to draft a statment to the general public and get it out there with specifics of how they will not let this happen again. How all of the senior management team will be working over this upcoming holiday weekend to ensure better operations. And that should anything like this develop again -- everyone (and I mean everyone) will be called in to help out.

When will these idiotic union morons figure out that you can't bully a bankrupt company into paying you more money (whether that be in salary, benefits, or whatever)? US Air Management ought to cancel the union contracts (should have done it first thing this morning) and start negotiations from ground zero.

Tell all the employees that they'll continue to earn what they were earning, and those who want to work should show up. Those that don't, and those that called in sick over the weekend, should considered themselves fired. No severance, no un-guaranteed pension, nothing! You chose to put a gun to your head, all we did was tell you that you had already pulled the trigger.

Rip up the contracts. Break the unions. That's the only way to survive. Not killing the unions, as this week has shown, is a sure trip to demise. Break the unions and at least you'll have a fighting chance.

Perhaps you should read the Railway Labor Act. You can't just rip-up union agreements.

Perhaps you should read the Railway Labor Act. You can't just rip-up union agreements.
Perhaps you should read the law - the judge CAN "just rip-up union agreements".

Those union employees will be on the streets soon.

DevilBucsFlyer

^ ^ ^

On several threads, people are suggesting that management in some way can prevent these sick outs. I would genuinely like to know how management could prevent this, or what they can do? E.g. if 60% of the flight attendants call in sick ten days from now, how can they run the line? Are you saying for example, that right now, management should start hiring and training contingency workers who would come in during some sort of work stoppage? Aren't airline training programs usually at least 4-6 weeks? I suppose another option might be to rescend some of the cutbacks but I don't see mgmt doing that.

As far as I can see it, mgmt is largely at the mercy of these people and this weekend showed that. They can't just pull a rabbit out of a hat in 2 hours if a huge number of people call in sick tomorrow, a week from today, etc?

I suppose there could be threat of termination, but then whose to say someone is sick or not. Any crack pot can either get or make a doctors note, and most doctores aren't going to play games they will just provide some documentation of a visit and HIPAA would prevent them from discussing anything about one's medical condition anyway.

So what is mgmt to do? Again there seem to be a lot of people asking for some kind of assurances or guarantees, but I can't see what they could do, and I could see this kind of thing happening again very easily.

On several threads, people are suggesting that management in some way can prevent these sick outs. I would genuinely like to know how management could prevent this, or what they can do? E.g. if 60% of the flight attendants call in sick ten days from now, how can they run the line? Are you saying for example, that right now, management should start hiring and training contingency workers who would come in during some sort of work stoppage? Aren't airline training programs usually at least 4-6 weeks? I suppose another option might be to rescend some of the cutbacks but I don't see mgmt doing that.


Replacement workers have been tried before.... read about Continental back in the mid-1980s with their big bankruptcy. It really didn't go well and took ten years for Continental to pull out of it. Service hit rock bottom, loyal passengers were driven away, and that's not even going into discussion about replaced pilots getting caught driving around with pipe bombs in their cars in the vicinity of replacement pilots' homes.

When will these idiotic union morons figure out that you can't bully a bankrupt company into paying you more money (whether that be in salary, benefits, or whatever)? US Air Management ought to cancel the union contracts (should have done it first thing this morning) and start negotiations from ground zero.

Tell all the employees that they'll continue to earn what they were earning, and those who want to work should show up. Those that don't, and those that called in sick over the weekend, should considered themselves fired. No severance, no un-guaranteed pension, nothing! You chose to put a gun to your head, all we did was tell you that you had already pulled the trigger.

Rip up the contracts. Break the unions. That's the only way to survive. Not killing the unions, as this week has shown, is a sure trip to demise. Break the unions and at least you'll have a fighting chance.

Yeah sure. There are no facts to support that this was a union activity, so lets stop the union bashing shall we? Simply firing people who called in sick, without knowing whether they are actually sick, is disgraceful. Lakefield's coming out blaming the employees for this weekends fiasco, without having all of the facts, is also disgraceful and does little to further the fractured employee relations. The reality is that management should have planned for this and/or had the place staffed appropriately. It is clear that they did not. A few sick calls should not have been enough to cause these problems.

On several threads, people are suggesting that management in some way can prevent these sick outs. I would genuinely like to know how management could prevent this, or what they can do? E.g. if 60% of the flight attendants call in sick ten days from now, how can they run the line? Are you saying for example, that right now, management should start hiring and training contingency workers who would come in during some sort of work stoppage? Aren't airline training programs usually at least 4-6 weeks? I suppose another option might be to rescend some of the cutbacks but I don't see mgmt doing that.

As far as I can see it, mgmt is largely at the mercy of these people and this weekend showed that. They can't just pull a rabbit out of a hat in 2 hours if a huge number of people call in sick tomorrow, a week from today, etc?

I suppose there could be threat of termination, but then whose to say someone is sick or not. Any crack pot can either get or make a doctors note, and most doctores aren't going to play games they will just provide some documentation of a visit and HIPAA would prevent them from discussing anything about one's medical condition anyway.

So what is mgmt to do? Again there seem to be a lot of people asking for some kind of assurances or guarantees, but I can't see what they could do, and I could see this kind of thing happening again very easily.

They can fire those who didn't show or don't seem to be doing their job adequately, and bring back from furlough some of the thousands of employees who are waiting to be called back, have been trained, and have worked for USAirways in the past.

Perhaps you should read the law - the judge CAN "just rip-up union agreements".

This is in fact, far from clear. There are competing laws and no one really knows which is controlling. It has never been litigated and there is a great deal of disagreement about what would happen if it was.

They can fire those who didn't show or don't seem to be doing their job adequately, and bring back from furlough some of the thousands of employees who are waiting to be called back, have been trained, and have worked for USAirways in the past.

Or perhaps stop treating their current employees like sh!t.

PATCO and Ronald Reagan

PATCO and Ronald Reagan


Yeah, but the ATCers weren't supposed to have unionized in the first place, technically, and were prohibited by law from going on strike.

Yeah sure. A few sick calls should not have been enough to cause these problems.

Well more than a few call outs, my friend. I do not think this single point should even be up for discussion.

---------------

I can empathize with both the employees who are ready to throw in the towel and also with the thousands of paying customers who had a right to expect legitimate transportation with their bags to their holiday destinations --- the vast majority of which is with loved ones. :(

Well more than a few call outs, my friend. I do not think this single point should even be up for discussion.(

Why not? It's germane to the discussion. Do you know how many called out?

The reality is that management should have planned for this and/or had the place staffed appropriately. It is clear that they did not. A few sick calls should not have been enough to cause these problems.

ANYTIME management has to plan for absenteeism around a holiday as a normal course of events tells me that the organization is dysfunctional. Attendance is not one of the performance parameters that are negotiable beyond reasonable personal necessity.

For a union representative to say that management should have known that this higher absenteeism happens every holiday indicates to me that his union has not been held to task for pattern absences.

I suspended a person for missing three days over a one month period because all of his absences fell on Bulls playoff games. If it were my decision, I would have fired him.

I trust that US had some type of proviso in their union contract that would deny any holiday premium pay to employees who were absent during the holiday in question if they were scheduled to work. I suggest that they enforce that "no holiday pay" rule to the letter for every employee who violated the company's and the fly public's trust this past weekend.....

..

On several threads, people are suggesting that management in some way can prevent these sick outs. I would genuinely like to know how management could prevent this, or what they can do?


Ok, here is my list:

1. Use a positive approach. A few years ago, SWA had a holiday program where you would be entered into a drawing to win a new Ford Expedition if you had perfect attendance during the holiday period - which I think was from just before Turkey day until just after News Years. And it wasn't just one SUV being raffled - it was a gaggle of em, and they apportioned by employee groups, so the deck was stacked against HQ types. Program wan not perfect, but is an example of being proactive.

2. Set the Example - make sure the culture is one where the senior management team works during all the major holidays and is visible, this includes the flight attendant and union leadership. This is not hard to do folks. It does mean throwing bags on Christmas day.

3. Make sure the rules are well understood - with punishment being swift and deadly. One flight attendant called in sick once, but was not aware that her call from the cruise ship via ship-to-shore was uniquely identifiable. This requires a good rapport with the association (union) so that bad actors are not protected.

4. Do not act like "Old Airline Management" with a carrot and stick and us against them mentality. (See Lakefields most recent comments on how he views employees and does not take responsibility).

Nuts, I give up, the divisions in this work culture are so deep seated, that I worry that they are unrepairable. Matbe we need to go back to the days where at Allegheny and Mohawk, a Captain could fire a flight attendant on-the-spot.

The employee groups have been treated so badly by past management that their behavior is totally predictable, but not justifiable.

What is missing here is the attitude that "We are all in this lifeboat together."

(Rant Off)

It's sad to see that a few malcontents made it so much harder this weekend on the majority of people at US Airways.

This is just the beginning of the mess.

Just wait as days go by and people still don't have their bags. good luck getting through to the baggage call center, the automated system tells you there's no operators available to help and hangs up on you.

Who's watching all those bags that need to get delivered. Just wait until people start filing (valid and false) claims for items stolen from luggage.

When will these idiotic union morons figure out that you can't bully a bankrupt company into paying you more money (whether that be in salary, benefits, or whatever


Funny how they managed to come up with millions of dollars in retention/severance/you-name-it bonuses for totally incompetent CEOs and other "suits" the past several years. Perhaps US execs should learn how to lead by example instead of do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do. And their "beatings will continue until morale improves" mentality won't cut it either. Damned hypocrites. :td:

Many will not agree but I think that it was a gutsy - call them as they are - release. IMHO the right attitude is needed from all levels before our airline turns around. At the very least, this release calls a spade a spade.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6759036/



Interesting story--the video link at the top of the web page contains the story that is in print on the web page itself.....

I think it's a good response - it shows that htey take this seriously. Yes, action is needed, though I think that they need to get their system sorted out before they start acting on individual employees' actions, but this is a good start - they are putting rhetoric out there that makes it clear that they will not let this sort of action pass without calling people out.

When you take a certain job, you acknowledge that you will have to accept certain conditions of that job. I work in an industry where we often end up putting in long hours, usually with no notice - as in, it's 6pm, you are ready to go home or out or whatever, and suddenly you find out you will be there till midnight. I have colleagues who have been called into the office at 3am. And so on. I understand completely that people are angry, there's low morale, and that people are being squeezed in terms of pay and benefits - it's not right, but the industry can't support anything better than that. But in this case, if you have a commitment to work on a certain day, I feel like you'd better be damn sure you are there, and if you are not really sick, it's just shameful to pass it off like you really are. But this is coming from someone who has taken off a half of a day for sick time in the past two and a half years. When you decide you want to work in a certain field, you accept what comes along with it - if you don't like the wages, if you don't like the benefits, if you don't like the work hours, find another job. Don't sabotage your corporation and your customers.