They tout it, but it's not really the way they try to portray it. People are motivated by many different things. Fortunately, at Delta we have a lot of people who take pride in what they do and get self satisfaction out of a job well done. But when you look at some of the bad customer service we've experienced (necessitating today's announcement of sending all the CSA's to "charm school"), I think it can be chalked up to a lack of motivation mainly caused by frustration with being spread too thin and paid too little. Someone else said, "it's all about the benjamins." Well, yes it is. And that's a concept our management needs to embrace if they truly want to have world-class customer service.

 

Cool. Thanks for straightening me out I read the slide quickly (and therefore wrongly).

 

Isn't he a senior?

 

DAL88, you have a valid point, but the reality is no matter what you pay someone, they need to care. Money can fake compassion, but only so far.

Edit: You also make a valid point about gate and ticket counter staffing. I have seen one agent try to work a delayed WB, and I really felt for them. It was a no win for them, but they did they best they could.

 

My pleasure. The reality isn't thrilling, and the retrospective between 2007 and 2011 is depressing, but the 2010 - 2011 comparison is not as heinous as it sounds. I'm not saying that in the context of RJ's or scope, simply in terms of whether we're losing a lot or not from today: it doesn't look like what we announced amounts to much. The overwhelming majority of the cuts in the chart were those that might have caused a furlough the winter before last.

What's kind of noteworthy in the webcast is how much Bastian is selling labor peace, and our "relationship". I hope he sells it well, because he's going to need to pay higher delivery fees soon. "There are no open contracts" he says. For a fee, that might remain true.

 

Yes, that was interesting. I think this mgmt. team wants to be able to quantify the costs going forward, places a high value on that, and our contract is no exception. I would expect the company to exchange early openers in order to keep the Wall St. surprises to a minimum. This enterprise is has too much cash flow and too much importance to too many parties for it to all come to a grinding halt for a contract battle with the people who make this all happen.

SWA did this several times over the years, and Wall St. loved it.

 

Right.

...and I don't think they will want to operate under the more restrictive aspects of new FT/DT regs in 2013, without getting the benefit of the more advantageous sections. I don't see long negotiations, which makes preparation all the more important, and it also gives us more opportunities to negotiate sections of the contract that are not as much on everyone's radar as payrates.

 

Absolutely. That's definitely my work ethic. But I've seen the other too many times over a lot of years... both at Delta and at TWA. When you pay people too little, there will always be a significant percentage that will become unmotivated and jaded. I've never seen this translate into anything other than poor customer service. Ultimately, you can't get around the fact that you get what you pay for.

That's another part of the problem with an excessive cost cutting bean counter mentality. But this one can be overcome to some degree by better compensation. It won't always help when an individual is impossibly overwhelmed with too much to handle. But you will see a lot less of the rudeness, etc. when employees are well compensated and treated with respect.

Bottom line... when it's all said and done, I think Delta's "employee compensation slash and burn fest" they had in bankruptcy (and still maintain much of today) has HURT the company way more than it has helped.

 

Slow,

I respectfully disagree with you (and agree with georgetg).

All of us, every single one, make mistakes.

I can't understand why some people (or organizations, businesses, governments, etc) simply can't say "I was wrong".

Why not admit mistakes were made and lessons learned?

We know mistakes have been made, and by denying that, ALPA loses (more) credibility, at least with me.

 

Did anyone else catch that a Delta ALPA guy was there with Ed?

Ed Bastian said, "We also have Doug Ralph (sp), Doug is a a representative of Delta Airline Pilot Association. We continue to have a great relationship with our pilots and glad Doug's here in support". It's around the 1:39 mark.