LuvJockey

Same as it ever was...

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU

They've been saying the same thing for years and simultaneously been naming new vice-presidents of pencil sharpening. No pay cuts unless they declare bankruptcy, and there is no pension fund to grab for themselves so I doubt that it'll happen.

You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

marcal

This is an interesting observation. I don't work for Southwest but was an intern there in 2002. One of the things I remember clearly was a check Greg Crum had framed on his office wall. I asked if it was his first paycheck and he said it wasn't. It was a check from a period of time in the 70's that the entire company VOLUNTARILY did not cash in order to help the airline with a cash-flow situation that could have led to their demise. I may have some of the facts twisted as he told me the story 10 years ago, but the point is, the culture that SWA had in the 1970's/1980's/1990's was that the company took care of it's People and in turn the People took care of Southwest. I believe the next few years may be a period of time in which the People will need to take care of Southwest.

I hope the People department has continued to hire the people that are emblematic of their previous values but am concerned they have not. I have had this concern since I was a regional FO(post internship) and noticed that everyone wanted to go to SWA b/c it paid the best and had the best time off, etc, etc. They ALWAYS wanted to go to SWA(funny I don't remember people dying to fly for SWA pre-9/11).

THOSE ARE THE WRONG IDEALS TO WANT TO WORK FOR SWA. The folks that WANTED to work for SWA pre-9/11 for the most part wanted that 'culture'. They wanted to act silly for pax, and hand fly airplanes, and drink the southwest juice(not saying this in a bad way at all). They wanted to bust their a**es to make it the best company and it didn't hurt that they had the most persuasive and smart CEO the airline world has ever known.

If the people dept has hired appropriately, the People of Southwest will take care of their company after the company has taken care of them for so long. My concern is that enough people with the wrong values(see above) may have snuck in and that would be too bad.

I don't work at SWA but it was a fun time of my life that I experienced and I hope they continue to succeed.

gloopy

Why should they impose baggage fees when they can get their stooges to sponsor bills to make baggage fees illegal?

gloopy

Yeah OK. So are you talking about SWA people taking a compensation cut someday, if, in the extremely unlikely event it came down to either that or shutting the doors?

Or are you talking about SWA people taking a compensation cut when the company has billions in the bank just to preserve some kind of edge over others so they can underbid everyone and keep the growth coming?

I have no doubt that if came down to liquidation or a pay cut, the SWA people would give back to save their company. Then again, if it came down to that, SWA would file for Chapter 11 anyway and get concessions regardless. But you sound like you're cheerleading for SWA employees (and I think we can safely assume you especially mean pilots) to give back during a period of relatively little to no financial danger just to help subsidize low ticket prices to poach customers off the other airlines that are saddled with those bloated employee compensation schemes? Is that about right?

marcal

I wouldn't say I'm cheerleading for it, especially right now. I just believe that if and when push comes to shove and SWA finds themselves in a more precarious financial position based on competition from 'supposed' leaner new-legacies, the real test will be if the people at SWA fight with management or work with them at the end of the day. My belief is that the employees that personify what the SWA culture was about from day one will voluntarily do what it takes for the better of SWA. That is what I believe the people department has been trying to filter through over the past 30+ years. If Herb Kelleher had written a note like this in 1974, the entire company wouldn't cash their checks for two weeks. Today? I don't know. This sort of is what my previous point was above about people wanting to be at SWA b.c they pay the best, etc. and not because they really truly wanted to be a part of the SWA culture. It's easy to fake it and I truly wonder how successful the PD has been filtering those out that truly wouldn't mesh with their culture.

But in all honesty, I only spent 3 months there 10 years ago so this is really just my own opinion. I hope it never gets as far as cuts, nor am I advocating them. Best of luck.

forgot to bid

I guess Marcal one would wonder if GK asks for "assistance" from the employees if it'd be viewed as posturing in this day and age whereas Herb would've only asked if truly needed?

You can't blame any employee group these days for cynisim given managers are put in place not to drive companies but rather stock prices. It'd be nice to go back to where the motivation was company profit not trading profit. It'd do us all good if every airline was run that way.

Frankly, I hope nobody takes a pay cut at any airline.

tsquare

Dude.. you have issues. it's just not that funny.

scambo1

Swoon.

In adultland, you learn a lesson. It goes like this: You can LOVE your company, but it is INCAPABLE of loving you in return.

I hope you never have to live in adultland.

tsquare

I never heard about the not-cashing-the-check thing before. Very interesting. Ya'll know that the DAL employees chipped in and bought the company a 767 back in the 80s don't ya? "The Delta Family" was on life support when I arrived, but there were still many of those folks around that were involved in that, and they STILL (when I was hired) thought DAL could do no wrong. Even in the face of draconian paycuts from Ron Allen's 7.5 initiatives, they were still ready to pony up their paychecks. So this kind of employee loyalty is pervasive in probably ANY company out there. I think that DURING tough times it will show in a pretty large number, but AFTER those tough times when management teams are handsomely rewarded and employees are "right sized" that we all finally get it. THEN is when you truly see whether the culture will survive as it was in the good old days. GK is in an unenviable position. Not that I feel sorry for him, but he is at the helm when the company is going to have to change.. and not in a small way.

LandGreen2

How ironic:

I wonder what the total bill for their "Bags fly free" campaign has cost them? I see prime time "silly" commercials during football games, planes repainted with arrows pointing to the baggage compartments, billboards....and now add the cost of LOST revenue.

Seems like this $$ could have been better used buying pizzas for the revenue management guys as they brainstorm ancillary ideas.

Hopefully the pilots will be smart enough to demand GK to eat crow with his ad campaign before accepting wage cuts to subsidize his attack on legacy carriers looking for legitimate sources of revenue.

The guys who should be irate: AirTran guys who got thrown under the bus by SWAPA and the Co. Herb must be heartbroken to see what is just beginning to evolve at his "creation".