I agree with you on almost everything you've said , LTRS...

This country is rapidly becoming an industry of service sector jobs, or as I call them "McJobs".......

I cringe to see my cousin "succombing" to working at the Albany, NY Wal Mart. He's 29, and a college grad, and he just started there a few months back for about $7.40 an hour.

Unless he could get into a managers program there real quick, I'd hate to see him stay there for more than 6 months or so...........just get a "foot in the door"...........then try to get a "foot out the door"

I keep suggesting for him to move down to south Florida where his parents live, and where there are more job opportunities.

He does'nt want to "leave his friends" , but since he's now working at the
Wal Mart from 3 pm till midnight, (including one hour lunch, unpaid), that certainly does'nt leave much time for his friends ,does it?!

I read in the WSJ that a huge chunk of money comes out of Wal Mart employees paychecks just to pay their health insurance (much more than their closest competitor) No wonder the turnover is so high !

I'd much rather just see high school and college kids, and older seniors working there, rather than people in their "prime-time" earning years.

Agree?

(I realize that in many small towns, Wal Mart is the biggest employer, and perhaps considered the only "decent" place to work..........) ( I just hope your rents are lower there as well!)

ellen

MikeMpls is correct. While air travel has become more affordable for millions around the country - there are some repercussions (i.e. - pay structures cannot remain the same). Someone is going to have to take a pay cut. The same is true with Wal-Mart, Target and other retail stores. It is a FACT that having those entities in the marketplace (Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, etc.) has driven prices down and thus lifted living standards of all Americans. It is a FACT that you can enjoy a nicer lifestyle (by being able to purchase items that would otherwise be unaffordable.).

Whether its a $79 RT from IAH to LAS on Southwest Airlines (which would have cost $450 before deregulation) or a 42' plasma screen at Wal-Mart for $1799 -- consumers are paying LESS. What does LTRS think about that? Probably that he or she DOESN'T CARE BECAUSE LTRS can AFFORD to pay $10,000 for a plasma screen that was sold by a well-paid and well-trained electronics dealer which offers full benefits.

I agree with LTRS that unions have had an important place in our history. I would remind LTRS that Ronald Reagan was once the president of SAG. Not all unions are bad. Many union members are hard working team players concerned about the long term health of the enterprise because they understand that without its success (and survival) their contract is worthless. By the same toke, not all in management are greedy, evil people. However, in large measure - the consumer wants lower prices and a consistent product. If SWA can deliver, that is where the business is going to go. The current management at NWA is simply trying to adjust for these changing times and in so doing is beholden to old contracts signed when circumstances were substantially different.

LTRS, when i jouned the military i was promosed lifetime medical and dental benefits.i stayed in the military for over 20 years as i liked my job and the eople around me. the benefits promosed me were not delivered as i have to pay for mine and my wife's medical and dental. now with no union to assist me and the promosees{sp} given to me by the goverment not being kept, what am i to do? Strike- illegal, see my congress person,nah he made the rules,so what do you do? by the way military health care is projected to be about $50 billion in the next few years. i pay now and will pay more later.why, i was promosed things by my own goverment that they now cannot keep. please recomend a course of action for me and others in the same boat who did as they were asked but now are getting the short end of the stick.

Since I own my company, my bosses are my customers and I can assure you that they make sure my wages are set by the free market. I can also tell you that all my employees are paid market wages and have full benefits. If my customers could find a more cost effective alternative for my company's services they would. If I could find a more cost effective suppliers, vendors or employees I would. In my case some of my best employees actually make more than I do. It's called the free market and it works great as long as companies don't engage in anti trust and there isn't forced unionism. I think if the airline industry could truly pay on merit instead of seniority we will all see much better service and have more enjoyable travels.

Not to make light of the millions who work at WalMart, but if your cousin could do and wanted to do something else, he probably could find a better job. What is his degree in?

Oops...looks like someone just got owned.

A couple factors working in NW's favor:

(1) Apparent early switch to their fall schedule should make more replacement planes available if they are needed; we might not even be aware of such substitutions if they are done in a timely fashion.

(2) The work slowdown on the part of the mechanics the past few weeks -- the replacements could have some issues and still maintain a better track record than the AMFA mechanics have shown lately.

Problems that cause planes to be taken out of service would not all happen overnight but over several days. Hopefully the replacements will come up to speed as their services are needed; otherwise I would expect to see the effects of the strike as the week unfolds and not much this weekend.

They're putting their fall schedule in and swapping in a lot of RJs in for somewhat larger DC-9s. I noticed this specifically on the MSP-IAD/DCA routes. Sure, schedules may be maintained, but I think a number of people on the shorter hauls (mainly DC-9 routes) are going to be bumped. I guess handing out vouchers is saving more money than we might think?

With the same messianic zeal. Surely he has done something to offend you?

Great research ohmark. This thread has been less about the NW situation and much more about what my fellow Washingtonian who started this would term as class struggle. To think that it was set off by a customer who wasn't even flying the airline in question to any extent is intriguing. I don't think NW will be missing his revenue.

This flyer who HAS been spending significant revenue with the company will continue to do so as long as he can get reasonable performance and truth from the company. It's too early to see if the company can operate a lot of aging machinery but I'm rooting for them.

I walked a picket line for a couple of months early in my life over working conditions, not money. This strike was initiated by a union fighting about money and turf. This union deserves to lose.

I'm walking right through the line at the SeaTac entrance next week along with the agents, pilots, and FA's who are trying to save their company.

Ellen, dear, that's an 8-hour shift with an hour off for lunch just like every one else in this country. The last time I punched a time clock we were only allow half an hour to eat & run before we had to be back at work.

And while perhaps you disapprove of his working a 2nd shift job, perhaps he likes those hours for some reason. Maybe he's even capable of making his own choices in life?

Joe Brancatelli is updating his subscribers every few hours -- it appears that there are more-than-normal delays systemwide today and he mentioned that ontyime performance is 65% at best.

I fly from MSN and NW is the dominant airline here -- there are currently 2 flights on the board:

1745 MSN-DTW scheduled 1:35PM, now 4:10PM (Delayed)
4740 MSN-DCA scheduled 2:30PM, now 3:24 PM (Delayed awaiting aircraft)

This is Saturday. The real test will be tomorrow and Monday. But I've been looking at MSN departures all day and most NWA flights left late.

--Rich

I'm a subscriber to Joe Brancatelli's excellent columns and service. He's doing a good job of tracking NW flight performance at:

http://joe.biztravelife.com/joe.html

Add a 3rd factor to my list:

(3) The ability to offload lightly-loaded flights to Pinnacle & Mesaba.

Good point! (bad news for upgraded elites but at least the flight happens)

My pre-strick NWA experience lately has been that most flights left late even then. So we cant look at delays soley based on strike, it needs to be the percentage late before and after.