Originally Posted by
blueman2
I continue to believe that blaming the unions diverts the discussion from the real issue of bad culture throughout UA. Lufthansa has unions, some of the strongest in the world, yet they provide fine service overall. Southwest has a union, and they provide GREAT service. Delta has a union and provide acceptable customer service. What is different about UA? It is not that they have a union, it is that they have a legacy of putting customers last. Even Oscar, who I really like, showed that employees come before customers when he first reacted to the Dao incident. It was not until he was shamed into apologizing that he begrudgingly said customers deserve better.
Unions are a red herring issue. The real issue, a bad culture for customer service, is far more intractable IMHO.
Agree with we everything you've wrote, except the comments about Oscar.
The intent of his original message was to convey the facts in a blunt and transparent way, which he did. Dao was disruptive, but Oscar got caught being too candid with his employees, even if what he was saying was factual (i.e. it passed the legal team). Unfortunately a perfect storm of sorts hit, and he was forced to publicalpy apologize, which by the way, I thought he did in a gracious, humble, and forward-looking way. That's not easy to pull off all at once.
And let us not forget he is not only was first leader of United in decades who showed, and received back, real compassion and respect from his front line, but also brought together two disparate factions (sCO/sUA) and sold them on a collective destiny in which they are compensated fairly, and can genuinely be proud of. That was no easy feat.
Having your employees come explicitly second (which it seems is a vein popping up here on FT), and/or making the union the enemy of management then implicitly makes the union's representation an enemy of management. This results in employees not feeling motivated, enthusiastic, or respected, leading them to carry resentment/animus towards management and the company, and sometimes regrettably, turning their frustrations inwards towards the customer. Case study in the matter? The UAL of the 2000s or Smisek - treat employees with contempt and a take it or leave (literally) attitude and the results are predictable.