Originally Posted by
Climb150
That's done by implementing policies and programs that benefit employees and turning up to company picnics. It has nothing to do with day to day ops.
Pretty close to certain, the MEC isn't especially concerned with picnics.
The thread has led this SLF/attorney to change my view, to some extent, of Kirby's situation and his response to it. With the line having suffered a significant operational setback from what started as summertime weather problems, Mr. Kirby landed in a no-win situation. On one hand, the CEO of so major a corporate entity must be aware of the lightning-fast "optics" problems that characterize the social media age. But on the other hand, pretty clearly the Ops Center people weren't waiting around for him to show up with a whistle on a lanyard and a clipboard. So the "optics" can be nonsense really, but in the arenas in which they play out, that is beside the point.
No matter what he said about flying home on a bizjet, those looking for criticism would pounce. Maybe that's why he took a shot at the FAA, as a preemptive try at diversion. If he went to Denver to show the company flag in Operations, what would that say about how the Ops Center was functioning up to that point? In any event, and I'm not trying to recast Mr. Kirby as a second iteration of the late Richard Ferris, the facts of this situation do seem to feed quite nicely into the MEC's bargaining position.
Maybe somewhat related . . . I recall hearing from a veteran American captain an anecdote about Robert Crandall, then CEO of the airline, visiting the flight deck. I asked the captain, did Mr.Crandall engage in conversation about the avionics, or the weather, or the aircraft's overall quality from the aviator's viewpoint? No, the captain told me ...... he wanted to know about skiing and snow conditions at some of their mutually favorite places.