NWA AMFA officially on strike!!

[Resume Writer]

While this sounds like such a simple premise, don't you think this has been thought of, and tried, and tried and tried again? How many times has EVERY airline tried to raise fares, only to find one airline or another not go along? Then everyone has to back off the fare hike. This has been the same story for years.

Yet everyone says..."Raise the fares. Then you can pay everybody what they are asking, your profits will go through the roof, and everyone lives happily ever after."

If it were only that easy then the airlines wouldn't have lost tens of billions of dollars.

Yank, I hear you. I did a stint in yield management and am very aware of the 10,000 fare changes that occur each day. However, the business man does not fly for price. They fly for convenience and are willing to pay a premium for that convenience. Raising fares by $18 (someone in another thread did the math) would take care of keeping the jobs. Now, if $18 is going to break someone, then they have no business flying.

Now that I PAY for airline tickets, (yes, it stinks!), I fly for the convenience of the schedule and number of stops that I have to make. I am willing to pay more to have that. My time is money.

In my business, I understand the story of competition. There are probably 3,000 resume writers in the U.S. alone. I compete with them on a daily basis for clients, in addition to resume writers on an international basis. However, I do not "lower" my rates because they charge less.

I compete on service. I market my product that way, and if people cannot discern the value they will receive with personalized service versus filling out a "form," then I do not want to work with them. I also compete on the my knowledge base, my relationships with HR and Recruiting folks, my previous HR background, my expert knowledge of the interview process and the research I conduct on a daily basis. People are willing to pay a premium for that.

There are also resume writers that charge WAY more than I do. Everyone has a niche market.

If the airlines were to raise their fares, and communicate with their people that service is the number one priority in raising those fares, then I think there would be a different ball game being played.

These are just my thoughts from being in this industry for almost two decades and in my own business for the same amount of time. Customer Relationship Management and Development is the name of the game.

Kathy

 

[Pilotbob3]

While this sounds like such a simple premise, don't you think this has been thought of, and tried, and tried and tried again? How many times has EVERY airline tried to raise fares, only to find one airline or another not go along? Then everyone has to back off the fare hike. This has been the same story for years.

Yet everyone says..."Raise the fares. Then you can pay everybody what they are asking, your profits will go through the roof, and everyone lives happily ever after."

If it were only that easy then the airlines wouldn't have lost tens of billions of dollars.

guess which airline was 90% of the time the one spoiler for the other airlines trying to raise fares??????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Andy]

guess which airline was 90% of the time the one spoiler for the other airlines trying to raise fares??????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm. I see a red tail. Bowling shoes. Compass. crap, i've got No idea Who you could be tAlking about.

 

[FoxHunter]

Ok, now that the strike is on...how long is going to last before a resolution? Any guess? I am not privy to any details but is this going to be a 1 week strike or several months?

It appears that they never will be back. FEIA went on strike against EAL in the early 60s....I flew with one of the strikers in 1974, said he was still getting letters from the FEIA requesting money to fight the lock out, he had bounced from nonsked to nonsked. It was never settled. The last EAL PFE retired as a DC10 S/O at FedEx only a few years ago. He had come to FedEx same as I did, Seaboard, Tigers.

 

[Carl_Spackler]

I don't think it a pay rate issue. NWA can pay replacements more, but with out a pension and the same benefits, it will cost NWA much, much less.

Why should airlines raise fares? That might actually cause them to make a profit. If they are losing money, that strengthens their position of cuts. Try telling an employee group that they need to give up money if the airline is turning a profit.

I don't like the raising fare arguement to solving this problem. If they raise fares $18 for the mechanics, then raise fares to help the pilots, customer service, cleaners, etc. pretty soon the fares would double.

It's the same principal or argument that local governments make.. wanting to raise the sales tax by 1/10% for some project or to save some program. Give it time and those 1/10% increases start adding up and you are paying 15% sales tax.

 

[FN FAL]

Yepp, you've got it straight.

How many typical readers will figure that out?

It's all about union busting.

 

[Lear70]

NWA Management spent $100 million to train replacements, yet they are seeking a $176 million pay give back???

That's a one-tme $100 Million training cost against a $176 Million PER YEAR cut in pay AND benefits.

Further, they are asking for a 26% pay cut, which would make the pay for the MX techs go to about $26 per hour instead of about $37 an hour. Yet, they are paying $32 an hour for replacement MX techs, plus housing costs, which I am certain equals more than $37 an hour.

That's a wopping $6 difference per hour, and they are not paying the replacement MX people benefits to go along with that. Comparing pay rates is only half the battle, work rules are EVERYTHING as any union pilot can attest to.

Further, comparing the NWA MX Techs to SWA MX Techs is like apples and oranges. The NWA MX Techs work on several different types of aircraft, have to have more certifications, etc. Interestingly enough, the SWA MX Techs make more on average than the NWA Techs. Not taking anything away from SWA people, but I find it odd the pay differentation.

Actually, it takes very little to turn a wrench on an airplane. Only the supervisors have to be checked out on the aircraft specifics, the rest barely have to have an A&P license - the supervisor can sign it off while a "tech" turns the wrenches "under observation". Not like the pilot world where each aircraft is a different signoff for EVERY pilot.

It amazes me how management will step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Raise the fares and you can keep your people AND make money!!

Now there I agree with you 100%.

For the record, I think it's abhorrent what NWA management is doing to the mechanics and I think they make a fare wage for their craft with what they offered Northwest.

I think the only thing we've learned here today is that

a.) Northwest WANTS to lock out the mechanics, probably to enter bankruptcy under plausible reasons,

b.) The union groups won't stand together, but will hang separately.

Sad, but true...

 

[COpilot]

It's all about union busting.

Yeah it sure is... And they just Busted NWA ALPA! Not even a wimper from the pilots with the National Union leader flying for them.

I hope someone gets a picture of Duane crossing the picket line to his airplane?

It'll look great on the cover of next months ALPA magazine.

 

[Caveman]

Two thoughts:

First of all, this quote once again shows that newspaper hacks don't know squat about what they are writing about. "The strike was the first major labor disruption in the airline industry since 1998." What was CMR in '01? I guess a net loss of around $1B doesn't count.

Second, if the NW pilots and flight attendants are gonna cross the picket lines I hope they'll at least fly to the letter of the contract and the standards manual. Fast walk taxi's, write up EVERYTHING that's legitimate, two engine taxi, etc, etc. Do NOTHING to help the company at all and completely ignore the scab mechanics as much as possible.

Whatever happened to unions supporting each other......

 

[Dodge]

Second, if the NW pilots and flight attendants are gonna cross the picket lines I hope they'll at least fly to the letter of the contract and the standards manual. Fast walk taxi's, write up EVERYTHING that's legitimate, two engine taxi, etc, etc. Do NOTHING to help the company at all and completely ignore the scab mechanics as much as possible.

Whatever happened to unions supporting each other......

It's called "saving my retirement". Good point on following the manuals to the letter.