Labor relations turns ugly at Southwest

SlumTodd_Millionaire

SlumTodd_Millionaire

Most Hated Member
The TWU is going hardcore. This ad is in today's USAToday:

TWU-Local-555-ad-November-2014.jpg
 
nabbyfan

nabbyfan

Well-Known Member
I worked at SWA as a ground ops Sup for over a year..... Was a member of the TWU before that. The top of the pay scale for Ramp agents is $26/hr with generous OT available. Our top ramp agents at my station all pulled in over 100k last year. If you look around, very few airlines even have their own ramp personnel and for a bunch of people that are Only required to be able to pick things up and put them down somewhere else, they are paid very well. Seeing the Union slam their own airline's performance with bags, when the bag numbers are almost solely a product of TWU membership because Covered Work grievances start flying the second a Sup touches a bag, is weird.

Look at what other airlines have as far as ground handling contracts. SWA is near the top and is one of the few places where you can legitimately make a career out of being a ramper. The people there won't know what they have as far as a job for unskilled persons until it's gone.

I'm out of SWA and currently in the FAA Academy but it still just kind of irks me to see this
 
C

cime_sp

Well-Known Member
But....but....but....they painted that heart on the bottom of the planes for you. You should be grateful. (sarcasm)

$100k for a top ramper??? Holy sheite Batman!
 
Screaming_Emu

Screaming_Emu

Joe Conventional
nabbyfan said:
I worked at SWA as a ground ops Sup for over a year..... Was a member of the TWU before that. The top of the pay scale for Ramp agents is $26/hr with generous OT available. Our top ramp agents at my station all pulled in over 100k last year. If you look around, very few airlines even have their own ramp personnel and for a bunch of people that are Only required to be able to pick things up and put them down somewhere else, they are paid very well. Seeing the Union slam their own airline's performance with bags, when the bag numbers are almost solely a product of TWU membership because Covered Work grievances start flying the second a Sup touches a bag, is weird.

Look at what other airlines have as far as ground handling contracts. SWA is near the top and is one of the few places where you can legitimately make a career out of being a ramper. The people there won't know what they have as far as a job for unskilled persons until it's gone.

I'm out of SWA and currently in the FAA Academy but it still just kind of irks me to see this
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That's the way it should be. They're fighting to keep it that way.

In the United system just recently went through a "hey, let's fire everyone who has made a career of this and hire some terrible ground handling company to come in for cheap."

Every single one of those stations went from fantastic to an absolute mess. To quote a passenger waiting for his gate checked bag in Detroit "what do they have, temp workers out there?"

I've also had Toronto take almost an hour to turn a 50 seat jet even though everything went as planned (ie, no maintenance, weather, etc).
 
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nabbyfan

nabbyfan

Well-Known Member
Screaming_Emu said:
That's the way it should be. They're fighting to keep it that way.

In the United system just recently went through a "hey, let's fire everyone who has made a career of this and hire some terrible ground handling company to come in for cheap."

Every single one of those stations went from fantastic to an absolute mess. To quote a passenger waiting for his gate checked bag in Detroit "what do they have, temp workers out there?"

I've also had Toronto take almost an hour to turn a 50 seat jet even though everything went as planned (ie, no maintenance, weather, etc).
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I 100% agree.... When you look around the airport I worked at there was a clear difference in the kind of people that had jobs at Southwest versus a contract company. They are good jobs, and SWA is a great company to work for if you're going to do airport work. I just wish the people that worked there understood how good they have it. Most of my friends don't even believe some of the stories I have dealing with the TWU. Putting an ad in the paper blasting your own performance is just dumb IMO. At least at my station, we had hired over 40 rampers from Jan 1- when I left in October. I can't speak system wide but staffing wasn't really an issue for us. Getting the employees to stop abusing sick and kincare calls was though
 
bksslc

bksslc

Well-Known Member
nabbyfan said:
I worked at SWA as a ground ops Sup for over a year..... Was a member of the TWU before that. The top of the pay scale for Ramp agents is $26/hr with generous OT available. Our top ramp agents at my station all pulled in over 100k last year. If you look around, very few airlines even have their own ramp personnel and for a bunch of people that are Only required to be able to pick things up and put them down somewhere else, they are paid very well. Seeing the Union slam their own airline's performance with bags, when the bag numbers are almost solely a product of TWU membership because Covered Work grievances start flying the second a Sup touches a bag, is weird.

Look at what other airlines have as far as ground handling contracts. SWA is near the top and is one of the few places where you can legitimately make a career out of being a ramper. The people there won't know what they have as far as a job for unskilled persons until it's gone.

I'm out of SWA and currently in the FAA Academy but it still just kind of irks me to see this
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As a current SWA ramp rat, I agree it's not a bad place to be overall

But, as far as covered work goes, the company agreed to those terms. If management staffed the ramp properly, it wouldn't be an issue. Supervisors know they can't do covered work, yet they do, and should be grieved for violating the CBA.

Also, saying the job simply requires picking things up and putting things back down is kind of like the guy wo says Pilots only need to know how to push buttons. Is it a relatively easy job? Yes. But you know it's a little more involved than your overly simplistic notion of just picking stuff up.

I see nothing wrong with this ad. We have been in negotiations for over 3 years now with a management team who lately has refused to even make counter proposals. I applaud the 555 leadership for this.
 
e6bflyer

e6bflyer

Well-Known Member
Standard contract negotiation rhetoric. I am glad they are doing it, though. Someone needs to turn the heat up on management and it looks like the TWU is getting the job done.

In the past, goodwill between employees and management has meant equitable contracts and handshake understandings. That has eroded, and now you have a much more confrontational labor relationship. The company is trying to take a hard line stance in an era flush with cash. Had they settled these contracts two years ago, they probably could have done a lot better for themselves and done right by their employees.

Our rampers are the best in the industry, and the company should be putting a premium on that. The Midway Meltdown is a perfect example of what happens when you cut staffing to the bone. Unfortunately, you have two bean counters calling the shots. The only thing that is going to get management to settle our contracts is investor pressure.
 
Groundpounder

Groundpounder

Quitter
bksslc said:
As a current SWA ramp rat, I agree it's not a bad place to be overall

But, as far as covered work goes, the company agreed to those terms. If management staffed the ramp properly, it wouldn't be an issue. Supervisors know they can't do covered work, yet they do, and should be grieved for violating the CBA.

Also, saying the job simply requires picking things up and putting things back down is kind of like the guy wo says Pilots only need to know how to push buttons. Is it a relatively easy job? Yes. But you know it's a little more involved than your overly simplistic notion of just picking stuff up.

I see nothing wrong with this ad. We have been in negotiations for over 3 years now with a management team who lately has refused to even make counter proposals. I applaud the 555 leadership for this.
Click to expand...

This is why I'll never understand unions. Someone decides to help make the process work better, and therefore give a better product to the customers, and they have a grievance filed against them.
 
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