US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - US Airways jobs heading south

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2005/03/07/daily33.html

US Airways Group Inc. is considering outsourcing the jobs of some reservation agents at a Pittsburgh call center to Central America.

The airline (OTCBB:UAIRQ.OB) is looking at foreign outsourcing of the jobs of agents who accept a company buyout offer, a union official told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

US Airways is cutting 785 jobs in Pennsylvania, and 185 workers have taken the buyout, the newspaper reports. The remaining workers have a Saturday deadline to accept the airline's terms, so the outsourcing total could rise.

Other workers will move to Winston-Salem. Previous reports said all US Airways reservation calls would be handled by the airline's facility in Winston-Salem. Officials there offered assistance worth $1.4 million and anticipated gaining 300 jobs.

US Airways spokesman David Castelveter says the incentive package was based on job preservation and not new hires.

Winston-Salem employees have also been offered the buyout package and their jobs could be outsourced as well, Castelveter says.

He declines to disclose the number of employees at the two call centers that have accepted the buyout offer.

The newspaper says the beneficiary of the outsourcing would be Grupo Atento, a Spanish company. It already fields calls from passengers whose bags are lost at a call center in El Salvador. The company also has offices in Mexico City.

US Airways says it hasn't completed an outsourcing deal on flight reservation calls.

The company is still working on an outsourcing agreement, Castelveter says.

A half-dozen managers and reservation agents traveled to El Salvador on Sunday to begin training personnel at Grupo Atento, Chris Fox, president of Communications Workers of America Local 13302, told the Tribune-Review. The union represents reservation and customer-service agents.

Grupo Atento workers in El Salvador earn $2.20 an hour, while their counterparts in Pittsburgh can earn up to $17 an hour, the union told the newspaper.

Virginia-based US Airways operates its largest hub at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. The company hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this spring.



© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.

It looks like more call center jobs than originally anticipated could be headed abroad. According to this article from today's Winston-Salem Journal, there might not be many reservation agents left at the call center there when the dust settles.

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781602031

Highlights:

US Airways may cut work force at call center in half

A larger-than-expected demand for an "early out" package by reservation employees could cut US Airways Group Inc.'s work force in Winston-Salem nearly in half by this fall.

About 56 percent of the airline's reservation staff in Winston-Salem and Pittsburgh, or about 918 employees, applied for the package, according to the Communications Workers of America. The package consists of a payout of up to $20,000 and other benefits.

...

Because US Airways can contract out the work of any employee who voluntarily leaves the company, it could transfer the bulk of the jobs to operations in San Salvador, El Salvador, or Mexico City. David Castelveter, an airline spokesman, said yesterday that the company has not reached a decision on where it might outsource jobs or how many jobs.

...

Choosing the package were 384 reservation employees in Winston-Salem. Their departure would leave the airline with 466 employees at its Hanes Mall Boulevard center, barring other attrition.

"I think the airline likely was caught off guard that so many people chose to take the package in Winston-Salem," Cathy Bumgarner said. Bumgarner, a 22-year employee, said she took the package because she doesn't believe US Airways has a future.

"Many of the jobs of the people taking the early out will be outsourced, and the people who have chosen to remain at the reservation center will be overworked and underpaid," Bumgarner said.

Another 534 employees in Pittsburgh took the package, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. About 1,655 employees had until last Saturday to submit their application for the package.

...

Es no bueno. :(

Actually it should be No es bueno. I use to say that all the time as well "es no bueno." but people in Spain corrected me. ;)

T

When this issue was hot, I stated that I had hoped PA officials would not throw money at US to keep these jobs. There is no doubt that ALL of this type of service will be heading to low cost countries.....although I was thinking more about India or the Phillipines.

PA waved money at US, who didn't take it anyway. They had their minds made up to go offshore. I wouldn't get too comfortable in Winston Salem either, eventually these people will be out of work too.

That's a shame they are taking the jobs overseas. Sure hope they understand English. How motivated is someone making $2 something an hour?

That's a shame they are taking the jobs overseas. Sure hope they understand English. How motivated is someone making $2 something an hour?

Very motivated if the other alternatives are $1/hr at a factory.

Actually it should be No es bueno. I use to say that all the time as well "es no bueno." but people in Spain corrected me. ;)

T

Es muy malo.

¿Dónde está mi trabajo? :(

That's a shame they are taking the jobs overseas. Sure hope they understand English. How motivated is someone making $2 something an hour?

The motivation is considerable. With conditions as they are in these countries, the biggest problem employers have is getting workers to go home! The environment at work is so much better that workers hang around after their shift is over so not to go back to their hut.

That's a shame they are taking the jobs overseas. Sure hope they understand English. How motivated is someone making $2 something an hour?

I would think pretty motivated if that's considered a good wage in their country.

That's a shame they are taking the jobs overseas. Sure hope they understand English. How motivated is someone making $2 something an hour?

If the company up the road is paying $1.90 per hour, you'll see people literally drop everything and head to the $2 per hour company.

Mexico ain't the land of slave labor like China is, but the labor in Mexico is practically nothing when compared to the wages one must pay to a fully-loaded union worker north of the border.

Please, start outsourcing jobs of managers.