USAir sickout

[TrinidadGT20]

I just wanted to say thank you to the 250+ employees of USAir who staged a "sickout" yesterday and today in PHL. I really appreciated having my flight cancelled and getting stranded due to "crew legalities". What a great way to drive the final nails into the coffin of USAir. It's a good thing I'm not in charge at USAir because all 250+ people who called in sick yesterday and today would have gotten the best Christmas gift ever... a pink slip.

[JEP]

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It's a good thing I'm not in charge at USAir because all 250+ people who called in sick yesterday and today would have gotten the best Christmas gift ever... a pink slip.

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Yes, it does suck that your flight along with many others were cancelled. While it was a rather "strange" occurence, it is very unlikely that any will be fired or could be fired. They may just be sticking it to the company because they may not be here much longer anyway.

[MikeD]

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It's a good thing I'm not in charge at USAir because all 250+ people who called in sick yesterday and today would have gotten the best Christmas gift ever... a pink slip.

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Yes, it does suck that your flight along with many others were cancelled. While it was a rather "strange" occurence, it is very unlikely that any will be fired or could be fired. They may just be sticking it to the company because they may not be here much longer anyway.

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Maybe a bunch of people happened to be sick.....like a flu bug going around.

[TrinidadGT20]

MikeD,

The USAir rep I spoke with today in CLT confirmed this for me. There were indeed approximately 250 people who called in sick deliberately yesterday and today. My PHL-CLT flight was cancelled yesterday (leaving me stuck in PHL for almost ten hours) and today's CLT to MHT flight was cancelled. Luckily I rebooked the later flight before everyone else and then that flight was delayed by two hours while waiting for the required third FA. Also, the sickout (her words, not mine) played a big factor in the luggage fiasco that is occuring. Apparently, quite a few rampers called in sick as well. USAir was actually flying planes full of just luggage to help fix this problem. Unbelievable.

JEP,

I realize the labor unions are very strong but I would still fire the people who called in sick (unless they can prove they were indeed sick, which I'm sure some people actually were). It will be interesting to see what step USAir mgmt will take.

Irregardless, USAir is just about dead.

[WIPilot]

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I just wanted to say thank you to the 250+ employees of USAir who staged a "sickout" yesterday and today in PHL. I really appreciated having my flight cancelled and getting stranded due to "crew legalities". What a great way to drive the final nails into the coffin of USAir. It's a good thing I'm not in charge at USAir because all 250+ people who called in sick yesterday and today would have gotten the best Christmas gift ever... a pink slip.

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I am not sure if my father is one of those...but even if he was...its been the first time my dad has been home for christmas in a few years. If he did get a pink slip over it I guarantee he'd say it was worth it 110% If I was in his position I would have done the same and I bet most people in his position ans circumstances who cared about their family would also. Dont forget that there are two sides to every story...and happy holidays

[kellwolf]

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If I was in his position I would have done the same and I bet most people in his position ans circumstances who cared about their family would also. Dont forget that there are two sides to every story...and happy holidays

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Unfortunately, if you want to work in the airline industry, working holidays is kinda par for the course. Same goes for working theme parks, too. I haven't had Xmas day, Thanksgiving or New Years off in the past eight years. Today we had several people call in sick (one of which actually WAS sick). Wanna know what happened? Those of us that DID come to work got slammed up against the wall repeatedly. Three rampers all day long to work XJT AND America West flights. So, yeah there is two sides to every story. But don't forget your fellow employees and how your calling in sick might affect them. They might want to be home with their families as well......

[WIPilot]

That is a good point. I do understand what you are saying and I am not saying that it isnt a part of the industry but I think there comes a time in your career when the balance between your children/family and your job favors your family before it becomes too late to cash in on some of the priceless moments in life...if that makes sense

[mtsu_av8er]

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That is a good point. I do understand what you are saying and I am not saying that it isnt a part of the industry but I think there comes a time in your career when the balance between your children/family and your job favors your family before it becomes too late to cash in on some of the priceless moments in life...if that makes sense

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I wish i'd spent more time on my career now....

[WIPilot]

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That is a good point. I do understand what you are saying and I am not saying that it isnt a part of the industry but I think there comes a time in your career when the balance between your children/family and your job favors your family before it becomes too late to cash in on some of the priceless moments in life...if that makes sense

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I wish i'd spent more time on my career now....

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for each his own

[TallBoy85]

Now to put a positive spin on the sickout, if a judge needed any ammunition to void a labor contract, this was it. The IAM may actually be responsible for saving US Airways by allowing them to cut ramper pay from $50K a year to $20K a year. At least US Airways is being proactive about correcting the situation. It's business as usual here in Charlotte for the day after Christmas...Philly was a mess though when I was through there yesterday.

Here's to driving the last nail into the coffin of the IAM. Let their tombstone read,
"We enjoyed being sick right up til the judge threw our labor contract to the lowest possible bidder effectively causing us to be justifiably unemployed"

Long Live Airways. That way I can keep my job. Enough of this "kill airways" talk. You aren't solving anything in the airline industry by killing them.

[Kristie]

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I just wanted to say thank you to the 250+ employees of USAir who staged a "sickout" yesterday and today in PHL. I really appreciated having my flight cancelled and getting stranded due to "crew legalities". What a great way to drive the final nails into the coffin of USAir. It's a good thing I'm not in charge at USAir because all 250+ people who called in sick yesterday and today would have gotten the best Christmas gift ever... a pink slip.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not sure if my father is one of those...but even if he was...its been the first time my dad has been home for christmas in a few years. If he did get a pink slip over it I guarantee he'd say it was worth it 110% If I was in his position I would have done the same and I bet most people in his position ans circumstances who cared about their family would also. Dont forget that there are two sides to every story...and happy holidays

[/ QUOTE ]I agree.. if i was working ramp or handling and found out i could make a better wage working at Wal-Mart AND have xmas off with the family.. i'd do the same thing! there's a line in the sand when things really get rough and you have to decide when your going to jump the line and take the risks.

[FlyChicaga]

Good for them. I know I'd be sick to my stomach too if I was getting treated like the employees of US Airways are being treated.

[Bandit_Driver]

Hey you just have to stand up for yourself in this industry. The company sure isn't going to help its employees out. Hopefully, this sends a wake up call to USAir MGMT. I doubt it so they probably will go under in the future.

If mgmt want sick notes from everyone I bet they would receive 250+ Dr. notes....

[mtsu_av8er]

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If mgmt want sick notes from everyone I bet they would receive 250+ Dr. notes....

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I'm certain that most doctors would be sympathetic. I know that I certainly would be . . .

[SteveC]

I don't understand - what is this "sick-out" supposed to accomplish?

[mrivc211]

[ QUOTE ]
I just wanted to say thank you to the 250+ employees of USAir who staged a "sickout" yesterday and today in PHL. I really appreciated having my flight cancelled and getting stranded due to "crew legalities". What a great way to drive the final nails into the coffin of USAir. It's a good thing I'm not in charge at USAir because all 250+ people who called in sick yesterday and today would have gotten the best Christmas gift ever... a pink slip.

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Until your in their shoes, don't knock'em. You don't know what they've been thru everyday. My captain's brother flies for USAir and has been there 18 years. He's 2 from the bottom of the list. 18 Freakin years! and still 2 from the bottom.

yes, they do have an obligation to transport people, however the power of the labor force must be felt. And thats what they were doing.

[Maximillian_Jenius]

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Good for them. I know I'd be sick to my stomach too if I was getting treated like the employees of US Airways are being treated.

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Sorry L1011 but I 100% have to agree with Matt on this one. US AIRWAYS employees have taken the shaft so many times.
They have had to give up so much in consessions and the airline keeps coming back to them over and over asking for more and more. While the big wigs make million dollar bonus or golden parachutes retirement packages for screwing over there employess.
I know that if I went from making a comfortable living of $50K a year to $20K that I'd be "heated" and ready to riot and calling for a strike or anything short of that to get the mgmt. attention that I and my fellow employees weren't gonna take it any longer and that there need be serious changes made post haste.
Which is prolly why they did this during the busy holiday season. Sorry that you missed your flight and were generally inconvienced but I agree wholeheartedly with the sickout and the timing of it.

Matthew

[BobDDuck]

While agree that labor certainly has the right to do something like this, I have to agree with SteveC and wonder what the point was. Generally as labor action such as this is used to either a) pressure managment into meeting demands or b) arouse the publics sympathy or bring publicity (positive) to the issue. In this case it did neither of these things. Labor doesn't really have any demands It is the managment right now that is making demands (wage cuts). Also, this didn't excatly curry favor with the general public. I'm sure most average Joes were not as understanding as the people on this board. Additionally with the company under bankruptcy (err... sp) protection this wasn't excatly a great move in the long term. It may be that the situation is so close to being over anyways that it appeared that it wouldn't matter, but if the labor had any chance of keeping at least some of their current wage levels they just did away with the hope this weekend. No judge is going to think twice about allowing the company to look for cheaper help when the current help isn't reliable. A slowdown of anysort (sickout included) is a valuable tool for labor to have but in the current situation I don't think it was well applied. That said, I wish all the USair employees the best of luck with getting through this.

Ethan

[tonyw]

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Long Live Airways. That way I can keep my job. Enough of this "kill airways" talk. You aren't solving anything in the airline industry by killing them.

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Let's see. Overcapacity is killing the airlines, so if you take one of the airlines out of the mix, what happens?

Hmmm, me thinks capacity goes down, correct?

Nope, wouldn't solve any problems at all.

[aviategw]

This doesn't feel like an organized 'sick out', but rather more like a frustrated population of employees who know the end is near. A couple of good points already pointed out in this thread back this up, i.e., no objective, and no positive effect on public perception.

My philosophy: Generally, people will do what is in their own best interests. Given the current situation, the perceived imminent demise of USAirways, the employees recognized that a day's worth of sick pay, plus the ability to be home on Christmas, was worth more to their own self interests than coming to work that day.

Where USAir management failed in this situation was in the perceptions that have obviously been fostered amongst their employees. If the employee population feels that they are better served by not coming to work, regardless of the consequences, then management has failed. With no employee support, the objectives of the organization, any organization, can not be accomplished.

Treatise on employee relations: Make people want to come to work.

(The worst way to do this is to try to motivate people with money. Bad for the bottom line on the statement of income, bad for the morale of the people who work for that company.)

Motivate people by making the objective of the organization the objective of the people. If the people meet their objective, the organization meets its objective.

Leadership. You don't need a corner office with a wall of windows to be a leader. You don't need to drive a shiny Mercedes to be a leader. Your don't need to have a great golf game to be a leader.

To be an excellent manager, you need to be a great leader. The CEO of a successful airline should be a pilot. He or She should fly a regular line flight at least once a month. Also, that person should work a late shift as a gate agent at least once a month. IF this person requires an office, that office should be the smallest cubicle in the building that is the farthest from any window. That person's reserved parking space should be the farthest from the building.

These are all signs of a great leader.

[flyover]

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yes, they do have an obligation to transport people, however the power of the labor force must be felt.

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That's all well and good, just keep in mind that when labor takes it out on customers, as a way to get even with management, history shows nothing good comes of it. I remember a few years ago how every time I'd run into a United crew they would brag about their "Summer of Discontent" in which they caused so many cancellations. They were so proud. It was only a year or so later that they wished they could find any support from the public or politicians. In DC they had worn out their welcome since constituents were telling their representatives, "screw United and their unions and the horse they rode in on".

The customers are your business and your career. If you don't want the career just quit, don't screw up your customer's holidays. Just my 2 cents.

[mtsu_av8er]

Well said, aviategw.

[flyover]

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Treatise on employee relations: Make people want to come to work.

(The worst way to do this is to try to motivate people with money. Bad for the bottom line on the statement of income, bad for the morale of the people who work for that company.)

Motivate people by making the objective of the organization the objective of the people. If the people meet their objective, the organization meets its objective.

Leadership. You don't need a corner office with a wall of windows to be a leader. You don't need to drive a shiny Mercedes to be a leader. Your don't need to have a great golf game to be a leader.

To be an excellent manager, you need to be a great leader. The CEO of a successful airline should be a pilot. He or She should fly a regular line flight at least once a month. Also, that person should work a late shift as a gate agent at least once a month. IF this person requires an office, that office should be the smallest cubicle in the building that is the farthest from any window. That person's reserved parking space should be the farthest from the building.

These are all signs of a great leader.

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I don't know about the CEO being a pilot, there are many critical jobs at an airline. BTW Delta had a CEO that came from the pilot ranks and who also was an early ALPA organizer. Those were the good old days.

Everything else is spot on and well said. Southwest and Jet Blue come to mind.

[tonyw]

A while ago, a couple of college professors did a study and found that there was a highly positive correlation between companies that were on the "best companies to work for" list and stock performance.

Tells you something, huh?

Treat your employees well and make them want to come to work and go the extra mile for you and gee, think they might make a few customers or clients happy? Think they might make those people spend a little more money with you?

I don't know why more management "geniuses" don't get that.

Hell, John Tenney's still sucking up to Mesa management after getting some flowers from them many years ago.

[Androol]

If you look at the labor unions point of view, they claim that every year around the holidays, there are higher occurances of sick calls. It is just this year, management has spread things too thin, they had no way of covering the normal holiday sick calls.

Another thing that speaks volumes, apparently from some reports, you could not find any high level supervisor or management at any USAirways station for the three or four days around this mess. Seems to me that when things are at their busiest, you'd want more of these types, not less. I guess being home with the families instead of taking care of their customers was too important for the managers and supervisors.

Lastly, with all Airways management has done to it workforce - destroying pensions, slashing pay, cutting benefits, thousands of layoffs - that many of these people just decided that the job was no longer worth being away from family on holidays.