UA's Stop-and-Go Plans to "Rebalance" Bases Whiplashes Attendants (per DenverPost)
Aug 4, 2014, 6:38 am
#61
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Posts: 53
Cousin "Bob" has been assistant manager, the #2, at a large supermarket for over 15 years. Ownership just changed for the 4th time so he is getting his 8th boss (THE store manager). "Bob" holds the ship together, he is always asked to stay whenever changes happen upstairs. He's happy but not rich like his brother "Bill" who caved into their parents and became a big time lawyer (partner in a global firm, posted in Paris twice) with two heart attacks, two divorces and just lost his driver's license for his umpteenth DUI.
Aug 4, 2014, 6:42 am
#62
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: san antonio, texas
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Several posters have commented on the conversion of third party employees like Skywest to United employees as a positive sign for Denver's future. Is that historically accurate for UA/CO and airlines in general; the greater the number of mainline employees the more likely a station will prosper?
I have seen in other industries the "disentangling" of third party contracts as the first step in making a bold decision like large RIFs or closure more manageable.
I have seen in other industries the "disentangling" of third party contracts as the first step in making a bold decision like large RIFs or closure more manageable.
Aug 4, 2014, 8:30 am
#63
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Denver
Posts: 451
Wait, pretty sure it's the opposite. Mainline UA employees are supposed to be taking over the UAX transfer bag running portion of work from Skywest, not the other way around. Though they're also supposedly outsourcing the deicing work on mainline planes. But in any case, as far as I understand it, net result is it'll actually be adding more work for the DEN UA rampers. Which will either require added full-time, or adding more employees.
Aug 4, 2014, 9:30 am
#64
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SEA
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ESOP? I couldn't find it in the glossary. ??
Aug 4, 2014, 9:32 am
#65
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Various tier levels of frequent flyer/hotel plans received for bellyaching about minor flaws in the service I received.
Posts: 610
I refuse to fly a 737-900 or commute somewhere to fly anywhere to be on reserve after 28 years, so I will probably quit in the next few years. My wife is gainfully employed (as a high-level management-type, but with a different philosophy than UA management) so quitting is an option for me.
Aug 4, 2014, 9:45 am
#66
Join Date: May 2007
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Aug 4, 2014, 10:17 am
#67
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Aug 4, 2014, 10:28 am
#68
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I will be displaced from the 757 by December. The Airbus flying is also going to be reduced to about half of what it is now. I will bump into the 'Bus, but it is just a matter of time before that comes to an end also. I refuse to fly a 737-900 or commute somewhere to fly anywhere to be on reserve after 28 years, so I will probably quit in the next few years. My wife is gainfully employed (as a high-level management-type, but with a different philosophy than UA management) so quitting is an option for me.
These are structural, wholesale changes brought about by large market forces. Neither you nor I get to change those forces. We are not entitled to lifetime lucrative employment. By this stage you have to think of yourself as Freshairborne Inc, not an integral part of United Airlines, because you have to strategize on behalf of yourself. You can't fly angry because your business is not what it was in 1977. Things change. Keep moving. I got out of TV news years ago and moved on to other endeavors where my skills mattered. You can fly corporate, work for FAA, etc. -- lots of things. But you cannot freeze time or force your own personal agenda on a large corporation and larger industry. A conflict within airline culture that I still do not understand after all this time is fierce personal independence combined with extreme expectations re: corporate care, benefits, and security guarantees. Nobody gets it both ways anymore. I urge you to use your professional powers to craft yourself a great Act II post-United.
Aug 4, 2014, 10:39 am
#69
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 27
It sounds like you're in your 50s. Me too. The business I trained for and came up in, and where most of my professional equity was stored -- broadcast news -- has been falling apart for years. It's as chaotic as the airline business if not more so. In both businesses, by the time you reach our age, your price point and seniority make you eminently replaceable. (If you wonder why TV news makes so little sense today, it's because they lay off experienced producers making $150-$200k and replace them with younger people making $50k-$75k who can't remember who was president before Clinton).
These are structural, wholesale changes brought about by large market forces. Neither you nor I get to change those forces. We are not entitled to lifetime lucrative employment. By this stage you have to think of yourself as Freshairborne Inc, not an integral part of United Airlines, because you have to strategize on behalf of yourself. You can't fly angry because your business is not what it was in 1977. Things change. Keep moving. I got out of TV news years ago and moved on to other endeavors where my skills mattered. You can fly corporate, work for FAA, etc. -- lots of things. But you cannot freeze time or force your own personal agenda on a large corporation and larger industry. A conflict within airline culture that I still do not understand after all this time is fierce personal independence combined with extreme expectations re: corporate care, benefits, and security guarantees. Nobody gets it both ways anymore. I urge you to use your professional powers to craft yourself a great Act II post-United.
These are structural, wholesale changes brought about by large market forces. Neither you nor I get to change those forces. We are not entitled to lifetime lucrative employment. By this stage you have to think of yourself as Freshairborne Inc, not an integral part of United Airlines, because you have to strategize on behalf of yourself. You can't fly angry because your business is not what it was in 1977. Things change. Keep moving. I got out of TV news years ago and moved on to other endeavors where my skills mattered. You can fly corporate, work for FAA, etc. -- lots of things. But you cannot freeze time or force your own personal agenda on a large corporation and larger industry. A conflict within airline culture that I still do not understand after all this time is fierce personal independence combined with extreme expectations re: corporate care, benefits, and security guarantees. Nobody gets it both ways anymore. I urge you to use your professional powers to craft yourself a great Act II post-United.
Aug 4, 2014, 10:52 am
#70
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: SJC
Programs: Southwest, Alaska, United, American Airlines
Posts: 994
1. A combined United workforce under mostly CO labor representation arrangements, with CO-style pay and the generally far more efficient CO work rules (which would have yielded many of the financial improvements that are now being sought through product degradation); and
2. A return to normalcy in management-labor relations, finally ending the imbalance that began from the days of the ESOP.
Aug 4, 2014, 10:55 am
#71
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: SJC
Programs: Southwest, Alaska, United, American Airlines
Posts: 994
I sat next to a pmCO FA a couple of months ago or so. She said the reason why the FAs are the only union employees who have yet to sign a unified contract is because the UA and CO FA contracts are so radically different. She went on to say the UA contract has all kinds of work restrictions insisted by the union but they are paid less. The CO contract has much more flexibility of work rules and the FAs are paid more as a result. Lastly, she really didn't understand why the pmUA FAs wouldn't want something resembling the CO contract but apparently they don't. Not my opinion... just relaying what I heard.
UA is trying various ways to coax enough of the legacy UA oldheads out of the picture so that a new contract can come together more in line with sCO sensibilities, but this article is proof that it ain't easy.
Aug 4, 2014, 12:33 pm
#72
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Aug 4, 2014, 12:55 pm
#73
Join Date: Dec 2003
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(Y)ou cannot freeze time or force your own personal agenda on a large corporation and larger industry. A conflict within airline culture that I still do not understand after all this time is fierce personal independence combined with extreme expectations re: corporate care, benefits, and security guarantees. Nobody gets it both ways anymore. I urge you to use your professional powers to craft yourself a great Act II post-United.
The high salary + benefits, plus seniority perks that accumulate keep people in the job who have no interest in doing the job in the best interest of their employer or the customer...
...Understandable on a human level - but management can't roll with that in this industry and be successful.
...Understandable on a human level - but management can't roll with that in this industry and be successful.
Last edited by 318i; Aug 4, 2014 at 1:02 pm
Aug 4, 2014, 1:34 pm
#74
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It was IAH, so I think it was CO mentality.
Aug 4, 2014, 1:45 pm
#75
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Is this the answer - move more employees and traffic to Houston? United's (Continental's) Houston hub is an armpit that I avoid at all costs. Not only are United's (Continental's) employees in Houston rude, but airport employees in airport shops, restaurants, etc. are just plain rude as well. WHY on earth anyone wants to connect in Houston is beyond me. I'd much rather connect in ANY United hub over Houston, even fly out of my way.