Originally Posted by dawgdriver

Thanks Starcheck, much appreciated.

I am one of many, possibly most, that have our applications out but I'm supporting our union until my phone rings. I have been here almost 7 years and thought this place was going to be my last. It used to be a great place to work. Unfortunately about four years ago, everything changed. The executives got short-sighted and greedy. They went out and hired a bunch of bright eyed young MBA's who knew nothing about running an airline. The execs gave them unlimited authority. Coincidently, at the same time, former Northwest airlines Middle management types were on the street and looking to spread their employee hostile philosophies around the industry.

Together, these two groups were given their marching orders: maximize profit at all cost. Our CEO's philosophy of "investment-grade" stock drove a specific profit target that used the 'expense' side of the equation as the controllable element. Knowing what the potential revenue would be, the target became the expense--regardless of the impact to the operation, its employees, or its customers. All department heads were given a budget which was 'top down' driven and forced to make do. The accountants were in charge and management soon became a distant entity. Communications have all but ceased and the management/employee relations have become hostile.

Since then, the operation has eroded to the point of utter chaos. Despair and frustration have driven constant turnover and, in the interest of keeping expenses down, many that left were not replaced, leaving fewer to do the work (except 'cost analysts', whose ranks have swelled). If there was an effort to replace lost managers, the reputation of this company and its meager salaries ensured we weren't able to attract experienced, trained (quality) people. The latest managers hired up from the ranks have been nothing short of a laughing stock. As would be expected, company profits (and our workload) soared, while our W-2s shrunk dramatically.

All this results in an operation that is resembling of an airline that just opened its doors. Its like building a new house by hiring inexperienced, untrained and unmotivated help off the street. Every day the learning curve is vertical, costly mistakes are repeated, and nothing works. If a fix is implemented, the cure is worse than the disease. The only real experience out there is the pilot and he has had every bit of authority taken away. If people try to speak up or help, they are ignored or labeled as trouble makers. Management knows best, do your job and shut up.

Many on this thread have logically questioned the veracity of these stories. After all, how can such a profitable airline be run this way? It can't, at least not for long, and our 'leaderships' experience at ValuJet should tell them that. Unfortunately, they still place the blame elsewhere and continue with the exact same practices that killed those people in the Everglades.

While currently blinded and arrogantly basking in the bullet-proof $120 stock they've removed "integrity" from our set of core values. Interestingly enough, at the same time they re-named us a "travel company" (to distance themselves from the operation), they also removed ownership of the aircraft and placed them under Sunset Asset Management LLC. 'Defray, Deny, and Distance' appears to be the only philosophy these two learned from ValuJet.

Sadly, even a new contract will still involve the same incompetent and greedy management team. Much like now, where they have ignored a federal court order of status quo, and the FAA. they will continue to ignore the contract. Until new management takes over the company, it will always be a disaster of an operation. Many have recognized that and are leaving. Management hopes to replace the never-ending vacancies with their new approach of attracting bushy tailed pilots seeking the allure of being virtual street captains. That plan, like others, will also fail when these guys detect the familiar taste of fools gold and follow the rest of us out the door.

Our CEO has often claimed a preference for building airlines to actually running them. Perhaps he should just get out of this business altogether. His philosophies are absolutely ruinous to this profession and industry. In order to keep pace in the ruinous race to the bottom , traditional strong career airlines are being forced to follow suit with massive outsourcing and 'unbundling', and severe budget cuts.

Standby, coming to a theater near you.