Enjoyed the article. I thought Oscar's initial moves were hopeful and in the right direction, but was not sure if they genuinely signaled a change or were just platitudes. I didn't know that Oscar immediately sought out guidance from Saint Gordon after stepping in. This plus the change in atmosphere at Willis is a great sign that he means what he has been saying. Oscar may not ultimately become a Sainted CEO, but I think it is pretty clear he is going to be a big step up from the depths of Hell.
Jetlink, your post reminded me of something that always makes me chuckle when I read these forums. A lot of folks moan and groan about management incompetence.... and in nearly the same breath say things along the lines of 'they are evil geniuses who are playing us'. Does anyone else see the contradiction here? I don't really think most folks in management are consciously evil and I tend to think a lot of the seeming incompetence is due to the sheer complexity of our operation. For example, when I look at all of the contractual requirements for pilot meals depending on time of day and flight time, I think "of course someone along the way is going to drop the ball occasionally". But, boy some folks will sure delay departure or file PDRs over really petty stuff as if Willis did it on purpose and doing so will force them to fix it pronto. The more complex our work rules are... the more opportunity for things to get mucked up (esp paychecks, grrrrr)... and thus the more folks are given a reason to complain... followed by bitterness and nitnoid fixes in the contract... fixes which then get dorked up again in practice. Kind of a vicious circle, hmmm? Maybe good leadership at Willis can help us escape the vicious circle, but when contract negotiations do open someday I hope we try to help ourselves.