Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles - More lay-offs

From JSOnline, 59 more layoffs, beginning end of October:

http://www.jsonline.com/business/56727527.html

Here is the post from the Business Journal of Milwaukee: http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/08/31/daily42.html?ed=2009-09-02&ana=e_du_pub

The only office functions that are going to be left in the old headquarters building will be reservations and marketing. All other functions will be terminated by the end of the year.

A first year flight attendant with Republic earns $8.50/hour, I am not sure why any one would want to work for that kind of wage and deal with the flying public. I guess you get what you pay for.

A first year flight attendant with Republic earns $8.50/hour... LOL..
They start at $17 per block hour

Looks like eventually all Midwest flight crews will gone unless the unions come to an agreement. The talks must be moving at a snail's pace.

flyYX, they will all be gone regardless of how the negotiations turn out. While many on this board are just giddy with excitement over adding routes, etc, many seem to forget what made this airline great in the first place. The employee groups that have been laid off, or are about to be laid off are the majority of the folks responsible for the service that many of you have enjoyed over the years. The flight attendants, pilots, the so-called back-office staff which includes, the SOC staff, Flight Standards and training, Operations Automation, Inflight, are all going to be gone in the next several months. Many of you really don't know how much of the behind the scenes work that has gone on over the years at YX that have kept the place operating. Just ask someone who has worked in SOC that came into work one morning to find out that there were 7 aircraft out of service and the airline was at 90 percent load factor and it was a holiday weekend. They figured out a way to make it work. How about being told that the company was going ahead with Saver Service and just expected that it would work, even though the powers that be were told that on the long haul routes, they would not be able to carry a full load. For the most part, they found a way to make it work. I could go on an on, but suffice it to say, there were and are extremely talented people at YX that exhibited a great work ethic and were the face of the company. They worked tirelessly to give the passengers a great experience. So, go ahead and talk about how wonderful it is that YX is adding back routes and speculate on future of the company. However, please don't forget that the ones who made it truly great are being cast aside for purely economic reasons.

FOX6 in Milwaukee aired an interview last night with Toni Higgins, AFA-CWA Midwest President, who indicated that she is #4 in seniority of YX FAs and will lose her job in December. However, Republic would hire her back as a new employee, with no seniority, at the starting wage.

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-090902-midwest-layoffs,0,5798274.story

All furloughed F/A's are being offered to be hired as new hires and pending the arbitration outcome will have two slots on the list.

Truths,

Very few on this board get it. While the wide seats and meals were great, it was the YX employees that made the airline. Even after the YX model died, circa 2002, many passengers would still rave about the airline because of the employees and their outstanding inflight service.

Most think the YX employees are greedy and are "getting what they deserve" in the labor negotiations. They don't understand that the Teamsters aren't even talking to the YX pilots, all of whom understand and accept they will be working for less should they ever be integrated into the RAH list.

Who cares about new cities? As my mom puts it, "Midwest is junk." The Skywest crews don't pronounce city names correctly (Escanaba), the Republic cabin crews disappear after their one pass through the cabin; its just another airline.

I can't understand why everyone is so "giddy," as you put it, about an airline that has declining quality, is furloughing the employees that built the reputation Bedford is "so committed to reviving," and has no corporate experience actually running an operation. To me, it seems Airtran is more of the hometown airline than Midwest.

When 717s and YX crews are gone, let's see what people think of the airline. For most folks that built YX, the company was their homestead, and they worked hard to make it a wonderful airline. Republic crews have no cultural ties to MKE or Wisconsin-to them this is just a job. That will become evident once the Republic crews are responsible for the product's reputation.

God bless the YX employees. It was a great run that many of the original employees never expected to last 5 years, much less 25. Well, it did because of their hard work. I miss those old DC-9s... IMO, the 10s and 30s were better than anything since, even the 717s.

As for me, after years of going out of my way to fly Midwest, I doubt I will ever fly YX again. First, out of principle, but largely because there are better options...

All furloughed F/A's are being offered to be hired as new hires and pending the arbitration outcome will have two slots on the list.

All of which reinforces my statement that to the RAH FAs, there is nothing special about Midwest, it is just a job. If RAH FA leadership felt YX was different than other airlines, they'd value the YX FA's experience in maintaining and integrating new employees into the culture that set the airline apart. Treating 25 year veterans of an industry standout as new hires speaks volumes about the coming service culture of YX.

I think most of us know that an airline is nothing without the dedicated employees. You can't blame Republic for all of the ills that affect Midwest right now. They are trying to pick up the pieces and put it all back together again. It is the people that ran Midwest before Republic got involved that didn't respond fast enough to market changes. I am happy that the Midwest brand is still around and it has a chance to rebound to what it once was. Let's wait and see what Republic can do before we condemn them.

I think most of us know that an airline is nothing without the dedicated employees. You can't blame Republic for all of the ills that affect Midwest right now. They are trying to pick up the pieces and put it all back together again. It is the people that ran Midwest before Republic got involved that didn't respond fast enough to market changes.

Are you suggesting it was the YX pilots and flight attendants that plundered the airline? Because they're certainly the one's feeling the repercussions of this entire transaction. Meanwhile, the man responsible for driving this thing into the ground sits in FL, $10M wealthier.

I am happy that the Midwest brand is still around and it has a chance to rebound to what it once was. Let's wait and see what Republic can do before we condemn them.

The Midwest brand? You must have meant to say the paint scheme. It will never be what it once was. I'm not condemning Republic, but let's also recognize that the RAH FA and pilot groups have the choice to either integrate YX employees or slough them off. Their actions indicate to me there's no interest in maintaining the YX culture, either in the cabin or cockpit. Bedford is trying to capitalize on the reputation that YX employees built between 1984 and 2006ish, with employees that have little to no stake in the YX culture. IMO, it's not going to work. The paint scheme may survive, but the service culture will be indistinguishable from, if not be worse than other airlines.

Bedford might as well have bought the Pan Am name and painted the E-190s white with big blue "PAN AM" letters on the side. The people who think YX will be the same under RAH would probably buy into the idea that the world's flagship airline has returned. Imagine... "Clipper Service" between MKE and SDF! Now I'm giddy...

Deleted - Repost.

Are you suggesting it was the YX pilots and flight attendants that plundered the airline? Because they're certainly the one's feeling the repercussions of this entire transaction. Meanwhile, the man responsible for driving this thing into the ground sits in FL, $10M wealthier.

When I said the people that ran Midwest before Republic, I meant the CEO and the BOD. I know the pilots and F/A's of Midwest are top notch and would never blame them for the decline in Midwest. The pilot union even pointed out that flying 717's in an 88 seat configuration was not an optimal configuration for sustainable profits.

This should be a wake up call for the few remaining folks left at the corporate office. Frontier will assume all your jobs. Once Jim R. gets his pink slip the pro Midwest propaganda machine will stop. The last two small business networking events I attended should give Republic some concern. When the topic of air travel came up it was clear Midwests days of the carrier of choice in Milwaukee are coming to an end. The people in Milwaukee are very aware of the way Republic is treating the Midwest employees. Given a choice at the same price Southwest and Airtran are a much better airline. Career employees and main line airplanes are more important then Republic may think. Airtran will begin to highlight this in future advertising in the Milwaukee market. I am looking forward to Southwest Airlines Milwaukee advertising this fall.

I am looking forward to Southwest Airlines Milwaukee advertising this fall.


why would "one" be looking forward to an airline advertisment?? :confused: