CAW Talking to Westjet?

[Rotten Apple #1]

Employee morale firm, says WestJet

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 6d3e263414

Gina Teel
Calgary Herald


Saturday, September 20, 2008


WestJet Airlines' recent removal of its fuel surcharge could help bolster employee loyalty, and comes at a time when the Canadian Auto Workers attempts to launch a union drive at Canada's second-largest airline.

"Something like this (the end of the fuel surcharge) really does energize our workforce and our brand . . . and make WestJetters proud of the company," said Bob Cummings, WestJet's executive vice-president of guest experience and marketing.

Earlier this month, officials with the CAW, a 250,000-member national union, said they were in preliminary discussions to launch a union drive at WestJet, after receiving several phone calls from the Calgary-based carrier's employees.

The main issues were around scheduling, wages and pensions -- which WestJet lacks.

WestJet has said there's no indication its employees want a union at this time.

But John Aman, director of organizing for the CAW, said Friday the process is "still full bore ahead for now."

"We haven't released any cards yet, we're just building the support in the workplace currently," he said.

Cummings said WestJet is already a great place to work, due to its compensation and work environment, and the company will stand behind its full package any time.

"We feel pretty good going forward that we have a great model and it works for employees," he said.

The average non-management salary at WestJet is $43,000 a year, with participation in the profit-share plan equating to an average 18 per cent increase in pay, based on salary.

Over 80 per cent of WestJet's 7,300 employees own shares in the company.

Richard Bartrem, WestJet's vice-president of culture and communication, said the company's salaries are in line for the industry.

Piled on top of the basic wages are profit-share twice a year and the employee share purchase plan, he said.

"You mentioned we don't have a pension plan in place but if you look at the richness of the employee share purchase plan, when we benchmark that against other companies across North America, the overall program that we have for our employees is one of the richest in North America, certainly within the top five," Bartrem said.

Barry Prentice, former director of the Transport Institute in Winnipeg, said the union will likely have a tough time making inroads at WestJet.

WestJet's young workforce is the kind of group that's typically hard to convince to change.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the WestJet people probably take a certain amount of pride that they're not in any kind of union," Prentice said.

Two previous attempts by other unions to organize WestJet flight attendants, in 2003 and in 2006, failed.

gteel@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[Troubleshot]

Removing the fuel surcharge will boost employee loyalty????? That has got to be the biggest pile of bullshit I've heard come out of Bob and Bartrem's mouth yet. Sounds to me like they are unsure on where the employee group stands on the CAW and happiness in general.

[invertedattitude]

Invertted, care to back any of your nonsense about cut backs with facts or is your girlfriend the only one with the really inside scoop??

Fish

No I won't because they still took place, she now makes less money than she did 2 months ago due to cutbacks... I know the company doesn't call them cutbacks, it was more of a thinning or whatever wordplay you want to put on it, she wasn't the only one obviously it affected many small bases.

I also want to make it clear that regardless of how mad some of you get at something that doesn't actually affect you, bad things do still happen at WestJet to some of your employees, that's a fact of life and it won't get any better as the company gets bigger, the same would/has to any company as it grows.

It doesn't change the fact that WestJet is still a fantastic place for one to work

[invertedattitude]

You're in YQM, right? I can appreciate your opinion coming from someone who is dating (or engaged or married) to a WJ employee but you're perspective is one of interpretation. Nobody is "being screwed". There have been some changes that were very, very poorly implemented and Westjet has acknowledged that, thanks to the feedback from employees (via PACT) and Management. If your "other" has been affected somehow by structural changes (which is what I'm assuming is the issue?) I'm well aware of what's going on within PACT to deal with the issue.

I do appreciate your response CanadaEH, I don't mean to come off as irritated as I obviously sound. It puts me in a strange position when I'm the one trying to explain to her why certain things are happening when I'm on the outside looking in, there isn't exactly much communication to the affected employees but that's not WestJet's fault any company I've ever worked for has been much worse in that department.

Obviously since I work at a good job, and she still works the impact for us has been minimal at worst, but for other employees that rely on their WestJet pay as a main source of income that kind of a "change" could make a large impact on their daily lives. It's more about the principal about how it is/was handled from the companies standpoint which bothered us. Given WestJets impecable history of honesty with their employees and even the community at large, it would have been nice to cut through the BS and just say the reason why it's happening, it's not as if these people don't know the real reasons... it's an insult to them on a professional level not so much financially.

I also want to add again that PACT given it's unique place in todays working envrionment does a fantastic job of representing it's employees, it does seem however that quite often it ends up being a reactionary force rather than precautionary.

[Adam1100]

I have been represented by the CAW and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless maybe you are lazy dumb incompetent and suck at you job. if you don't fit into that category they take your money and hold you back

[Tim Tam]

I have been represented by the CAW and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless maybe you are lazy dumb incompetent and suck at you job. if you don't fit into that category they take your money and hold you back

Well then, since you said so.

I for one would like to hear what the CAW has to say. Can't hurt. We have nothing to lose by listening to this, or any other union. We are all big boys and girls, we don't have to make any rash decisions. Take the info, go back to our war rooms, and take any valid points to PACT and go from there. We have a great open dialogue with the Big Wigs, this type of discussion can only solidify it right?

Your thoughts?

[MCLOVIN987]

Invertted, care to back any of your nonsense about cut backs with facts or is your girlfriend the only one with the really inside scoop??

Fish

No I won't because they still took place, she now makes less money than she did 2 months ago due to cutbacks... I know the company doesn't call them cutbacks, it was more of a thinning or whatever wordplay you want to put on it, she wasn't the only one obviously it affected many small bases.

I also want to make it clear that regardless of how mad some of you get at something that doesn't actually affect you, bad things do still happen at WestJet to some of your employees, that's a fact of life and it won't get any better as the company gets bigger, the same would/has to any company as it grows.

It doesn't change the fact that WestJet is still a fantastic place for one to work

The only reason the SL role was eliminated in places like YQM was because the Agents at the stations asked for it. Their feedback at every turn was that SL role was forced on them during the last reorganizing and that stations like YQM didn't want it. They had their own preference to share the responsibility associated with the role amongst all team members.

Had they wanted to keep the role, it would have stayed.

[aroundthewing]

Employee morale firm, says WestJet

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 6d3e263414

Gina Teel
Calgary Herald



"Something like this (the end of the fuel surcharge) really does energize our workforce and our brand . . . and make WestJetters proud of the company," said Bob Cummings, WestJet's executive vice-president of guest experience and marketing.


gteel@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008

OMG!!

[Rotten Apple #1]

OMG!!

Agreed. Nothing against marketing folks, but WTF? Energize me? What am I? Some kind of marching-band bunny?
Oh well, Me fly airplanes. Me know nothing about press release stuff.

[Four1oh]

Glad it's not just me. Yup, I'm glad we're able to drop the surcharge, but that's about it. Nice to hear the price of fuel is finally dropping.

[invertedattitude]

Invertted, care to back any of your nonsense about cut backs with facts or is your girlfriend the only one with the really inside scoop??

Fish

No I won't because they still took place, she now makes less money than she did 2 months ago due to cutbacks... I know the company doesn't call them cutbacks, it was more of a thinning or whatever wordplay you want to put on it, she wasn't the only one obviously it affected many small bases.

I also want to make it clear that regardless of how mad some of you get at something that doesn't actually affect you, bad things do still happen at WestJet to some of your employees, that's a fact of life and it won't get any better as the company gets bigger, the same would/has to any company as it grows.

It doesn't change the fact that WestJet is still a fantastic place for one to work

The only reason the SL role was eliminated in places like YQM was because the Agents at the stations asked for it. Their feedback at every turn was that SL role was forced on them during the last reorganizing and that stations like YQM didn't want it. They had their own preference to share the responsibility associated with the role amongst all team members.

Had they wanted to keep the role, it would have stayed.

Like I said before, wordplay.


I can assure you none of those agents who were SL wanted the position removed, and those people never heard anything of the like from other staff, and for the record there still are SL's. This wasn't a removal of a position, it was a thinning of the position.

[express]

CAW: Piss off
Anyone who wants CAW: Piss off

[express]

KAG,

perhaps you should get your facts straight. i can't believe you actually blame ALPA for Jazz management misleading you about the 1st and 2nd year pay during your interview.

i thank ALPA every day as i know i never have to fly with ice, fly overweight, fly a broken aircraft, fly tired, fly sick, violate the CARs or CLC

i know i couldn't say the same before i worked for an ALPA airline

i hope you can say the same

What a bunch of BS. I'm not in a union and I don't fly under those conditions either. To think that you can thank ALPA for this is really ignorant and misleading to those that don't know any better. Keep your BS in check. I actually don't mind ALPA and they have done some good things in the past for the profession overall but this goes a little far.

[express]

I looked up the CAW site and typed WestJet into the search icon provided. Personally, I think a union would really hurt the people at WestJet. CAW doesn't care about companies and quite frankly, i don't think they care too much about the people it supposedly represents either. Visit the site and see for yourself caw.ca

Here are some quotes on previous issues.
Here's what a member of CAW had to say on earlier issues:

On jetsgo's demise-

"Even much-copied WestJet has reached the limit of its success; it, too, is now piling up losses in the face of the overexpansion and ruthless fare-cutting which it itself spawned. Jetsgo's demise will fatten WestJet's bottom line for a while - but it is obvious that other fools will soon tread where others tried (and failed) before them, and the entire utterly useless cycle will start again."


This next one came from an article titled "Canada's Top Ten Cheaters"

"Canada's airline industry has been a financial killing field since deregulation in 1987: not a single airline has demonstrated sustained profitability, and dozens have gone bankrupt. Some argued WestJet was the exception; I was always doubtful. This company is now foundering on the same rocks of reckless overexpansion and ruthless competition that destroyed those before it.

And as WestJet starts looking less like a winner, its business plan will start falling apart like an old jetliner. Consider its low-wage employment strategy. One way WestJet kept its people happy while paying them little was through discretionary profit-sharing payouts. But these have been cut by 60 percent - a loss of $600 income per employee over the first six months of this year."
This next one is long, sorry:

by Jim Stanford, Canadian Auto Workers
No. 116. February 17, 2006

How to Tell if You Really Own the Company.

Call it a tale of two airlines. WestJet reported another disappointing quarter last Wednesday, and its shares plunged. Two days later, Air Canada reported a $258 million annual profit - the biggest for any Canadian airline in 8 years. Grappling with espionage lawsuits, executive turnover, and slim profits, WestJet's lustre is fading, while a revitalized Air Canada seems poised to once again rule the skies.

There's another interesting contrast between the two airlines. Air Canada is heading into wage bargaining this spring with its unions, where it will have to share some of those profits - and gradually repair the labour relations damage lingering from its 2003-04 restructuring. Down at the non-union WestJet counter, however, no-one knows what kind of raise they'll get this year. The company does not pay across-the-board increases; every employee's pay depends on what the boss thinks of their personal performance.

WestJet also has a rather unilateral form of profit-sharing: a chunk of pre-tax profits that's paid out (at the discretion of the board of directors) in annual bonuses. This year's payout has not yet been determined. Last year's amounted to $2.9 million - $725 per full-time worker, or 35 cents per hour. Since 2000, as WestJet profits flagged in the face of overexpansion and killer competition, profit-sharing bonuses per head have shrunk by 93 percent.

WestJet workers can also console themselves with the fact that they "own" the company - at least according to the company's current ad campaign. These spots feature WestJet workers doing extraordinary things, because they are purportedly the airline's "owners." Most offensive is the one showing an attractive WestJetter who's just spent two days chasing an equally attractive customer who forgot his cellphone on the plane. She sold his jet-ski in the meantime (for more than the asking price), and seems almost ready to offer sex, as well. For anyone who actually earns their living trying to keep demanding customers happy, this scenario is as insulting as it is idiotic.

WestJet can't say what proportion of its shares are owned by non-executive employees (purchased from their own salaries, matched by a company subsidy). The 4300 workers certainly own under 10 percent, maybe less than 5 percent. That's dwarfed by the 15 percent stake held by the 9 men who sit on WestJet's board.

And, like other shareholders, WestJet workers have taken a bath of late on this "investment": the share price has tumbled almost 50 percent in two years. Thanks, but no thanks. Working for Air Canada is no bed of roses. But the non-owners there make a much better wage, and at least they know what they're getting paid.

I doubt that many WestJetters swallow the paternalistic claim that they actually own the firm. After 10 years in business, and still no pension plan, singing those cheery on-board ditties must definitely be losing its charm. But just in case anyone confuses tokenism with true empowerment, here are ten good ways to determine whether - like the Remington man - you really do own the company you work for:

10. The company limo pulls up en route to the annual shareholders' meeting - and the driver asks you to fill it up with regular.

9. You love the view from the top-floor executive suite, especially at night - which is when you empty the wastebaskets up there.

8. The company presents you a unique, personalized business card. You punch it into the time clock every morning when you get to work.

7. You ask the receptionist to hold all your calls - and she says, "What calls?"

6. Your quarterly dividend cheque reads, "Amounts under $2 will be neither refunded nor collected."

5. The real boss belongs to the Canadian Club and the Dominion Club. You belong to Club Z and Costco.

4. You have a corner office, all right: the security hut, right in the corner of the parking lot.

3. Fifty percent of your dining and entertainment expenses are tax-deductible - as long as you keep the Tim Horton's receipt.

2. You don't have monogrammed cuffs on your shirt. But you do have your whole name ("Billy") embroidered right there on the pocket.

And here's the Number One way to tell that you don't really own the company: After a lifetime of service, your executive retirement package is called the CPP.

A version of this commentary was originally published in the Globe and Mail."




"

Great Post. Exactly. They want our number's for dues. Not much else. They know nothing about our company and our industry. Go F**** OFF I say!!! Bunch of NDP supporting weirdo's. We think things through a little differently out west.

[Four1oh]

Canadian AUTO Workers... pretty much sums it up. The only workforce they're interested in actually representing is Auto workers, and we've recently seen how well that all worked out.

[Rotten Apple #1]

Express, they once supported the NDP, but your point is taken.

GERRY NICHOLLS

Special to Globe and Mail Update

August 23, 2006 at 12:31 AM EDT

At its recent convention, the Canadian Auto Workers union officially severed its political relationship with the New Democratic Party.

It was hardly a surprising development. The former allies, after all, had been feuding for months; earlier this year, the NDP officially expelled CAW boss Buzz Hargrove from party ranks.

What is surprising, however, is why the CAW is cutting off the NDP. It's all laid out in the CAW convention paper, In the Eye of the Storm: The CAW and the Re-Making of Canadian Politics.

Are you ready for this? According to In the Eye of the Storm, the CAW is cutting off ties with the NDP because New Democrats are too right wing. Yes, that's right, Canada's official socialist party, the party led by social activist Jack Layton, is not left wing enough for Buzz Hargrove.

[express]

...they are firmly still encamped together. Don't kid yourself. There's probably a webcam out there in someone's smoke lodge to verify it.

[Clint23]

So there they are, the big three in dire straights, asking the government or handouts, and what does the president of the CAW say? "We don't see this as us being the problem," Mr. Lewenza said, adding he would "absolutely not" accept any further cuts after losing tens of thousands of jobs in recent years. "We've suffered our share of pain."

http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popula ... ?id=967581

So...he would rather see all three go to dust than to protect the industry and the jobs that can be saved, this guy must be smokin' rope! . Glad he didn't get anywhere with WJ.

Cheers

[BLZD1]

I have been watching the congress and the 3 big bosses, UAW boss hearings today. They all said the union has already gave concessions to the auto companies in order to match the other companies employee costs. I do not see the employees salary or pension as being the problem. I have bought 2 domestic cars in my lifetime. Both pieces of sh..! I have bought overseas cars because of their residual value, gas milage and reliability! Until the big 3 stop pushing trucks and crap on us they will never be profitable. Look at Honda they are introducing a new car this spring that falls between the Civic and the Accord. It will be a hybrid and it should cost around 20 000 dollars. Show me a domestic car that can compete with the overseas hybrid car. GM is going to offer this new volt car that most people will not be able to afford in 2010. Do not blame this on the employees. The American BOD at these companies are sucking money out of them left right and center and the Governments are sitting back and watching. Corporate Greed. Just like Air Canada and the Canadian government. This is why we need unions!

[Flightlevels]

I agree in this case.I'm sure over the years there was nickle and diming to some extent, but BLZD hit the nail on the head with the products aspect. Management was or is more to blame imho.

[skyhigh]

Good points but I think its a combination of both. Poor product quality matched with over inflated wages for the unionized factory workers. Compared with the lower salaries of non union shops of Honda, Toyota e.t.c it just drives up the cost per vehicle which means less profit. Don't really like the idea of thousands of Canadians with families out of work either but the harsh reality today is that they might have priced themselves out of their high salaried union jobs.

[express]

Trucks Rule!!!

[Four1oh]

Back to the original thread, there hasn't been a peep out of the CAW regarding westjet since their little press release.

[Rotten Apple #1]

I think the CAW was merely engaging a tactic the Americans attempted in the Vietnamese conflict: lob in a few artillery shells and see if anything moves.

Obviously nothing did here, so on they moved.

That, and the fact that the speed of the decline in the economies worldwide has focused their energy on matters elsewhere.

As for blaming the unions or unionized workers on the ongoing travails at the Big 3, I'm not sure that's the case. Southwest's workforce is highly unionized and they seem to be coping.

Corporate management and the management of the unions were both willing to sign agreements that hamstrung the nimbleness of the company. And the employees were content to sign agreements secure in the opinion that "Hey, management agreed to the conditions, it's up to them to make money regardless".

No, ladies and gentlemen, while the above parties make logical targets, they obscure the real culprits hiding in the mist:

The Boomers. The Baby Boomers. Yup, that's them.

And now they've taken their money out of the market and it ain't coming back anytime soon, at least not until their heirs get their hands on it following the reading of the will.

Boomers and greed.

[WJ700]

First the Boomers have to plug up the public health care system, drain the CPP, and then we'll be rid of them in a seas of their debt,