Labor Advisory-BOD committee meeting report
April 27, 2009
IBT/CWA Passenger Service Association
Labor Advisory-BOD Committee meeting-April 8, 2009
Attending for the IBT/CWA Association was Velvet Hawthorne, Association Chairperson/CWA Staff Rep. and Dan Smith, Co-Chairperson/IBT International Business Rep.
Doug Parker opened the meeting stating that "There was not much on the agenda for the board to approve at the April 9th meeting. We are in a different revenue environment. We have seen a 20% decline in revenue, yet we are doing better then most of the other legacy carriers since we have less international travel then most of them. Higher percentage of our business is domestic travel, which is helping us. Oil prices are down which offsets some of the ancillary revenue. It has been hard to forecast due to volatility. The employees are doing a fantastic job with the on-time departures, and our baggage handling complaints are down."
Robert Isom stated that "in the 1st quarter we made a great turnaround, but our competition is getting tough."
The IBT/CWA Association raised the following issues during the meeting; Allowing the Short term disability-Colonial life representatives to have access to the membership in the workplace. The company is not interested in allowing them to come into our break rooms to answer questions and hand out information to us so we can make an informed decision enrolling in this plan. This individual STD plan, which was set up through the IBT, since we are not offered one through US Airways, is now going to be offered to both the East and West IBT/CWA Association members. It is being rolled out to the Passenger service employees in the next few weeks. The Company is not interested in getting involved in payroll deduction at this time for the STD payment plan either. The Company did not agree to reverse the decision on giving the insurance reps access inside the workplace. The alternative will be to set up off-site meetings with Colonial Life near our work locations.
We discussed the micro-management of the membership in both reservations and airports. We expressed how the agents constantly feel pressured at work due to on-time performance goals and the need to meet adherence goals. We want to offer the customer better service, which in turn costs us some precious time during our busy day, but we don't want the company to just focus on the on-time issues and the numbers, we feel they are loosing sight of the delicate balance of customer service and a reliable product. We were assured that there are tools being set into place to help us do both, with the gate readers and the new streamlined boarding process they are training us on in the next few weeks.
There was also a request to review the Buddy pass costs since the price of Oil during its peak was the main reason for raising the fees. The final answer was really a conflict between Doug Parker and Scott Kirby. Doug agreed it was solely for the increased costs of Oil and Scott stating the loss of revenue is why they are not lowering the fees now. We don't know if the company will consider changing the rates based on the discussion we had. The other Union reps at the meeting were also interested in seeing those fees lowered.
We also had a response sent to the leadership of the Association on the workbrain issues that were raised in the last labor meeting. A report was sent out to each local leader and a review of the company's response to specific problems will be posted on the cwa.net in the next few days.
A meeting to review the staffing model for the airports was held with the operations and labor managers the following day while we were in Phoenix. Attending that meeting was Barb Tobin, Pres. CWA Local 13301, John Hanson, President, CWA Local 1171, Frank Spencer, Area VP, CWA Local 2252, Dan Smith and Velvet Hawthorne. CWA Local 1171 President John Hanson is composing a report from that meeting and it will be posted on the cwa.net site as soon as it is completed.
