Originally Posted by
Andy
What you want to do is featherbed - that's a sure way to cripple an employer in today's business environment. It creates two problems. 1) it makes the company less profitable because the cost per labor hour rises (this is due to nonwage costs associated with each employee) and 2) your idea of low credit hours during good times actually increases furloughs during bad times. Ever wonder why Southwest hasn't needed to furlough? Because the credit hour hogs reduce their time during lean times.
Andy, I know you don't mean any malice but to your first point.....that's the same rationale that you and I heard from some of the 1995 hire Captains telling us 2000 hires as we were getting furloughed in January 2003. I heard exactly what you wrote and it really got under my skin. They usually followed it with "don't worry, we'll make this a better place by the time you come back" or "we'll be a lean, mean fighting machine when you get back."
We came back after two rounds of concession under the bankruptcy contract flying for the LCO. Remember the LCO that took us down to 10 days off and 95 hours a month? That was lean. As lean as you can get. And we still got furloughed again.
Your point seems disingenuous to me. I think I know enough about you to think that isn't your intent. But that's how it comes across.
To your second point, Southwest hasn't needed to furlough simply because they are a better run company that historically maintains a good relationship with their employees and doesn't feel the need to blame those employees when things don't go well. They also don't have hundreds of RJ's doing a lot of their flying.
Our contract doesn't cause furloughs. A bad economy mixed with bad management does.