UPS to lay off 100 pilots

[browntail]

Here is a company that just made 3.2 billion dollars and just cant seem to make the airline work. Any airline out there today will come up with any excuse to screw labor. UPS makes more than Fed-ex and Southwest yet they are the only ones cutting people out of this group. Contract negotiations are currently going on! MMMMhhhh could these two be related?

UPS to lay off 100 pilots
By Joshua Hammann, Associated Press, 2/7/2003
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) United Parcel Service will lay off 100 pilots by this fall, the Independent Pilots Association said Friday.

According to Capt. Bob Miller, the president of the Louisville-based pilots association, 19 UPS Airlines pilots were given 30-day notices on Friday. Another 81 pilots will be let go, Miller said.

UPS spokesman Mark Giuffre said the company is looking to complete the process by September.

''This decision is really based on two key issues,'' Giuffre said. ''The more modern aircraft only require two pilots. The older aircraft needed three pilots and that has created a surplus for us.''

The other issue is decrease in shipping volume, Giuffre said.

''We didn't really feel that this was a necessary step,'' Miller said. ''Domestic (service) has been a little flat but international has been going very well.''

UPS and the association, which represents 2,520 UPS pilots, has been negotiating a new contract since October 2002.

''This will have some bearing on the negotiations,'' Miller said. ''It's another issue that comes into play.''

The pilots' contract falls under the National Railway Labor Act and does not expire, but reaches what is called an ''amendable date,'' when provisions are subject to change, on Dec. 31. It's not uncommon for contract talks to continue for years past the amendable date. Strikes can be authorized only as a last resort.

Giuffre said the layoffs, which the company has been considering for months, have nothing to do with the current contract situation.

''Over the last year and a half the economy has been relatively stagnant,'' he said. ''We've been working with the union closely to try to minimize this impact. We do not take a decision like reduction in staff very lightly.''

 

[bart]

Where did that $3.2 million come from? They have several business segments and my guess is that money came from their ground business and their overnight business does not have the demand to support their current capacity. Did you research that income figure to find out what segment generated it before you asserted they are screwing pilots, or like a parrot is that the only words that can come out of your mouth when pilots are laid off? Business people make business decisions. Mob mentality leads people to get rather paranoid and come up with ideas that people are out to get them because of their group identity.

 

[Huck]

like a parrot is that the only words that can come out of your mouth when pilots are laid off?

Hey Bart - do us a favor, will you. Print out this thread and stick it in your logbook. Give yourself about ten years, and read it again.

Assuming management always makes decisions based solely on economic reasons is as dangerous as assuming pilots always operate out of a paranoid mob mentality.

Labor negotiations are the hardest hardball there is. If you never go through them consider yourself lucky.

 

[WrightAvia]

Hey Huck...

Please tell me that there are no plans (rumors) to slim down FedEx mainline flight crew staffing?!!?

I don't think I'll ever have a good shot at getting in, what with the large amount of good quality pilots competing for any of the few new slots at FedEx, but as a professional working at the feeders...I do enjoy my flying job there and the job security...so I really don't want to hear anything about layoffs at FedEx.

Loads have been down a little bit at the feeder level, but it always gets slow this time of year.


anyway...good luck.

 

[Brownshoe]

Hey Bart,

Check the figures again. It was 3.2 BILLION.

 

[mar]

Truisms

For Bart:

True: Sometimes pilots (read labor) can have a mob mentality.

The corollary is that sometimes management can behave like thugs.

Anybody who knows anything about UPS and the history of their relationship with their pilots knows that UPS considers their company a trucking company *first*.

As far as management is concerned, they just happen to have some airplanes and some pilots. They don't consider themselves an airline.

These are hard times friend and the UPS pilots on the street deserve a little more than such a flippant attitude.

 

[browntail]

"They have several business segments and my guess is that money came from their ground business and their overnight business does not have the demand to support their current capacity. Did you research that income figure to find out what segment generated it before you asserted they are screwing pilots, or like a parrot is that the only words that can come out of your mouth when pilots are laid off? "


Hey Bart can you read!!!!! Like brownshoe said, it was 3.2 billion. Also, of course I researched my numbers. The international flight segment is where most of the money is made. It is the fastest growing and most profitable part of the company. The domestic side still makes plenty of money, however it does not have the expansion that international does because of China. Your ground side quote is the biggest smoke screen about this company. The brown truck delivering your ground packages makes no money for this company. If it was not for the airline division, this company would of been gone a long time ago.

When I have more time available I will be glad to post the numbers so everyone can see just how much B.S. this job cut is. This one is pretty easy to see that it is an attempt at messing with the union. The funny thing is, this just fired up a lot of guys that are normally laid back. It has made the union stronger! They just keep stepping on their own -----!

 

[h25b]

Bart sounds a little misinformed...
Lets just chalk his/her comments up to simple ingorance and move on and be thankful it's not contagious.

UPS is obviously trying to rattle some cages by this move. Hopefully, the Union will get these pilots back on the job soon by refusing overtime and negotiations. Good luck to those guys. This is really a shame, I used to jumpseat with UPS frequently and never ran in to a more professional and friendly group of pilots. It speaks volumes about the management of this company to reward such professionalism in such a way.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

I dont think Bart made an ignorant statement. He was stating his opinion, chill out a little. Furloughs suck, but there part of the business, if you dont want to deal with this go fly in the military like Im doing. That is of course if your of mil quality.

 

[av8instyle]

don't start that crap again!

That is of course if your of mil quality.

Dude-total flame bait.