I was on the Premier Exec line today and got into a long discussion with an UAL employee who would not give up on the fact that all UAL's problems were the result of bad top management, and that the "lowly" employees make no mistakes.

Hello....time to wake up and understand that INDIVIDUAL employee attitudes do matter, and that add up to being a pretty ugly scene for UAL as a Company.

While it is true that top management has screwed up, ALL employee groups share the blame for greed.

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Is it an entry-level employee's job to philosophize on their employer's macroscopic business strategy?

AFAIK, no.

 

Maybe it's also time to assist other customers rather than spend time philosophizing with disgruntled Premier Executives?

 

Guess what, I agree with that employee. United has many good employees, and its share of bad ones as well. But overall direction and strategy comes from the top -- and that has been sorely lacking for a long time.

For starters, why has everyone been asked to sacrifice financially EXCEPT the people who control the lion's share of any airline's costs -- the people financing and selling the planes?

 

Unfortunate as it is, the management levels that are blamed will probably only suffer bruised egos.

And that is nothing compared to the real daily pain the rank and file are going through now, which could worsen.

Nonetheless, the continuing union and employee finger pointing sure seems like head in the sand thinking. Why they cannot pull together to save their company and plan to get even another day is beyond me.

 

Even though I'm sad that the mechanics didn't accept the package, I understand why they didn't. United's labour unions in the early 90's gave huge concessions, and they never got even another day. The employees who own worthless stock in exchange for their salary are probably still bitter. Let's not even talk about the USAir debacle in 2000... Unfortunately they do not realise that this vote will make their stock even more worthless, and the airline unable to qualify for the ATSB loan.

In reality United's problems started way before 2001, it had its beginning in the early 1990's. Unlike other airlines, United had horrible leadership in the 1990's so this ill will was never properly rectified

 

Is it possible that the government is not happy with the employee owned business and the unions?

 

tfong007...Great shot over the bow!!!!

When it's always somebody else's fault, unfortunately, nothing gets fixed.

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UAL has many problems.

1) Restricting CSR's abilities to make business decisions and "handcuffing" them by allowing the CSR's to make virtually zero ( 0 ) decisions to assist passengers.

2) Just how many VPs (and supporting staff) does UAL really need. IMO, 81 appears to be a little high. However, this is pre-Tilton figures and may be obsolete now. One can only hope.

3) Further alienating the top tier flyer in the system. Go ahead UAL, continue to take away the perks that 1Ks enjoy and feed them a line of BS while your at it. The pathetic reason to shut down the 1K rooms and that bogus usage percentage is an insult to your best flyers. Also, eliminating the same day change fee waiver is a dumb idea.

4) Turning a deaf ear to the Premier constituancy is a recipe for distaster.

5) I am sure I can come up with more as well as the readers can.

UAL, if you wish to survive, you had better begin listening to the people who fly with you and offer something to keep us. IMO, UAL is focused on taking away things that the Premiers want. Take away too much and see the Premier rank and file switch carriers. When this happens, good luck in looking for new work because UA will become the latest in the chapter of Eastern and Pan Am.

[This message has been edited by RobotDoctor (edited 12-02-2002).]