Originally Posted by
mahasamatman
Most companies, United included, don't look past the payroll costs.
I have seen some evidence that UA is at least slightly considering indirect and nonfinancial costs -- like the migration in some stations (and in hubs, for non-agent/non-ramp tasks like wheelchair assistance) from true outsourcing to the captive subsidiary United Ground Express (UGE... which every time I see the abbreviation my brain pronounces it as "Ugly" but I digress) where they can have greater control over service delivery and costs -- which are huge.
As a point of comparison, To have IAM-represented honest-to-goodness United Airlines agents costs $15.33 (for a first year agent) to $33.30 (for a 11+ year agent) in direct wage costs per hour, plus all of the fringe benefits (vacation, sick, healthcare, premium shift/position overrides, etc. ) and there's also the costs and liabilities of dealing with a high longevity union-represented workforce generally. Compare that to UGE where the current IAM contract calls for agents to be paid $10.05 to $14.25 per hour (for 6 months to 10 years respectively) plus much more austere overrides [I actually thought UGE was a non-union subsidiary, but that shows you how much attention I've been paying].
But give me an EX-CON > Any Mainline Agent > UGE > 3rd party ground handler any day. The agents who are directly related to the service being provide hands down are more effective when things go sideways than someone who's not as directly tied to the product.