Alaska Airlines Asks Leaders to Move Luggage
Joe Cortez July 08, 2021
ORG XMIT: WADZ201 In this photo made Thursday, June 11, 2009, an Alaska Airlines airliner is pushed away from a gate at SeaTac Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Alaska Air Group Inc., operator of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, said Thursday. July 23, its second-quarter profit plunged 53.9 percent to $29.1 million as sales slipped 9.3 percent.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
As airlines face a serious labor shortage, another carrier is asking their office staff to help out at the airport. Alaska Airlines is asking managers and other back-end employees to sign up for five full shifts to load luggage on aircraft at their home base of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Although air travel is recovering at an increased rate, airlines are having trouble bringing enough workers back to support operations. Alaska Airlines is taking the situation into their own hands, by asking their office staff to help load luggage on aircraft. Anchorage Daily News reports the airline is asking for the additional work at their home base of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).
Volunteering for Luggage-Loading Shifts Comes With Free Air Travel Pass
According to a memo seen by the newspaper, the carrier is currently contending with a labor shortage. As a result, they are asking their office staff to sign up to take shifts loading luggage onto planes.
“There are gaps in some frontline areas, which are putting strains on the operation,” reads a memo seen by the Anchorage Daily News from airline vice president of strategic performance Brooke Vatheuer. “The expectation is for management employees to sign up for five full shifts.”
The shifts entail one computer-based training, which can take up to five hours to complete. From there, the office team will get on-the-job training for their first shift, followed by four additional luggage loading shifts. In exchange for their work, the employees will get passes to book free flights aboard Alaska Airlines in the future.
The labor shortage is attributed to the nature of the work, as well as the high variety of jobs available in the marketplace. Other employers – including Amazon – are attracting the attention of workers coming back as the COVID-19 pandemic starts to come to an end.
In addition, leadership at McGee Air Services – the Alaska-owned subsidiary for ground services including baggage handling – say there is high turnover due to the physical nature of the job. Former McGee employee Dennis Ferry planned a protest at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to bring attention to the low wages paid by the company, but Mission Local reports he was fired before the action could take place.
Thoughts on the mandatory work is mixed among Alaska employees. While some are excited for the change of scenery, others speaking to the airline anonymously say they are not excited to be pressured to take on the additional work.
Alaska Move Follows American’s Call for Additional Work
Alaska’s call to ask workers to shift responsibilities marks the second time this summer airlines have called upon their back-end staff to help at the airport. American Airlines asked their headquarters employees to take shifts at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to help keep operations moving.
Nearlysober 'Not going there"
There is no labor shortage. There is a pay shortage. Make the pay more attractive than amazon warehouse jobs. Problem solved.
Why does everything posted seem to draw comments like "drvannostren" and "Jackie-414" This is as philly2eroflier commented this is an aviation site not forum for these types of posts the last post sounds a lot like someone at AS more likely ground operations who is unhappy , suggestion find another job.
@Jackie_414-- This is an aviation website. Please leave your deluded politics to other sites.
This is HILARIOUS... 1) So for the ramp agents that you already have "sorry no free flights or higher pay for you". 2) Office workers, many of which are likely to be older, perhaps unfit, or just generally not used to doing any physical work "don't worry you won't get hurt, or perhaps killed by walking into an engine, you'll have 1 day of training!" 3) The people I hear from that work for alaska generally seem to be pretty proud of their employer, it's maybe not as old school as some of the majors. Which makes me question why they aren't the leader in ground handler pay. It might not solve this issue in the short term, but long term it would seriously help. 4) So when check in agents get hurt doing this and call off, will rampies be asked to head upstairs to the check-in? or the marketing office? or wherever? Asking MGMT and the office workers to maybe work some grooming makes a bit more sense to me if there's a need there. Having them go outside for ramp shifts is just a bad idea and will absolutely cause injuries. I'm a ramp supervisor and if I had to go today and load the flights I used to load, I'd hurt myself and that's because I'm not in "game shape". This job takes an EXTREME toll on your lower back, knees and hands. Also I'm not sure if anyone has looked at the fleet for Alaska, but it's one of the most unfriendly to work on. Embraers are awful to load, 737s can BECOME "comfortable" (relatively speaking) over time, but if you're over 5 foot 5 you've gotta crane your neck and kneel, which means you take away a lot of your lifting strength because you can't use your legs. The Q400s aren't so bad, because you can stand, but even then it's still a lot of lifting and we know people don't pack lightly. The airbuses are a non-issue, on your knees everyone can keep their back straight, but how many Airbuses are they operating? This is a decent idea on paper, terrible idea in practice.