Management And Pilots Should Read This!
 

Labour disputes are back on the agenda around the world as pilots attempt to claw back the wage concessions made after the last recession. But as the
familiar labour rituals are played out, could it be time for a more fundamental rethink of
how pilots are engaged with the business?
It could all be summed up by a single
image - a long line of Cathay Pacific pilots trooping to a mass union meeting. What
started a year or so ago with labour action at the US majors has since gone global. While
a few eyebrows may have been raised at the extent of the action (and certainly at the size
of some of the settlements), this round of pilot wage negotiations is not much different
from any other. Pilot unrest has, it seems, become accepted as an inevitable, if
unfortunate, fact of airline life. Perhaps it is time to step back and ask why?
The pilots wending their way to strike meetings are not, after all,
the disenfranchised workforce of some smokestack industry fighting with their bosses to
raise the minimum wage. These are highly paid and, for the most part, highly motivated
professionals, with stable careers and in command of some of the world's most advanced
technology. It is hard to think of any other professional group which so regularly
punishes its employer with strike action. In fact, it is hard to think of a blue collar
workforce in the recent past which has been so consistently militant.
The desire for better pay and conditions is, of course, the
presenting problem. But in reality the issue goes much deeper. Pilots hold a deep-seated
suspicion of airline management, built on years of mutual mistrust. You do not have to go
any further than the online pilot chat rooms to feel the level of bitterness about decisions taken above.For its part, airline management has been tempted to see pilots as
an unpredictable and difficult group of individuals.
In part, the problem is institutional.Wage negotiations are stuck in
a rigid cycle which invites confrontation. Pilots make wage concessions in the bad times
only to claw them back again in the good. The game on both sides is to give as little as possible. The mechanics of the negotiating ritual are also rigidly laid down and even occasionally involve intervention from government.
Airline structures too do not help. While to the outside world
airlines may look like modern creatures, those that work in them know that they can be as
monolithic as any smokestack factory. It is put well by Jospeh Schwieterman, who directs
the Chaddick Institute at Chicago's DePaul University:"The idea of changing from a machine-shop culture has got to come centre stage. Airlines are still like factories, where people punch in on a time clock and follow very detailed rules." He adds that there have been few sustained efforts to make airlines "a more intellectually engaging place to work".
To be fair to smokestack industries, most of those have already
taken on the message of cultural change and moving beyond the work-to-rule mentality. Some airlines too have started to change - even the once doggedly unfashionable American
Airlines allows casual dress for office staff. But to engage pilots in the business will
take more than a change in dress sense.
Pilots are, almost by definition, absentee workers, distanced from
the rest of workforce. The closest that many come to an office is the pilot briefing room.
No wonder that, as a group, they have tended to develop a finely honed locker-room mentality.
Not only that, while pilots may have highly developed professional
skills, few have any commercial experience. Their view of the airline therefore tends to
be heavily skewed towards its operational rather than business needs.
There have, of course, been attempts to bring pilots in from the
cold. Employee equity plans have been much in fashion, but recent history would suggest
that they are not the answer. Both United and Northwest Airlines launched pioneering stock plans in the mid-1990s, but they were also hit by the opening strikes in the latest wave
of unrest. Even supporters admit that the schemes have rarely been tried except in
desperate circumstances when the alternative was bankruptcy. Neither do these engender the
sense of belonging and participation in the business that is required.
What is needed is a more radical rethink of how pilots are engaged
in the business. Opportunities for regular contact with other managers, or even external analysts, will help more than any number of in-house newsheets - often viewed as no more
than management propaganda. One model could be to start viewing pilots as home-workers,
connected to the office by IT as in other industries.
Business education too could help with a more rational understanding
of how and why decisions are made. Pilots also might be included in making those decisions rather than left to work on conspiracy theories.
Above all, pilots and management must learn to trust each other.
Airline alliances are a case in point. Unions have pressed ahead with their own defensive crossborder action groups. Meanwhile, executives dare not even talk out loud about alliance synergies in the cockpit for fear of union reaction. Facing such fears may hold
its risks, but maintaining the status quo is almost certainly storing up trouble ahead.

Yep

That about sums it up.

The "T" word..in a nutshell.

Perhaps I could add the following question all drivers should ask themselves.

Q: What do you do for a living?
A1: I work for XXXXX airline OR
A2; I am an airline pilot and I fly B747,777,737...A340,330,320...

Which answer would you give??

I know many who used to go for A1 ...I suspect more and more are opting for A2.

There is another point which is being missed here. Pilots are now being worked to the limit of their legal duty hours, and sometimes beyond into discretion. Where would they get the time, the energy and the inclination to spend extra time going to meetings which are conducted at the convenience of office staff?

Furthermore when I am working I am physically out of touch with anyone who would need to contact me, even in an emergency. This is the most inconvenient aspect of being an airline pilot, not the other reasons which are often quoted by those who do not do the job. Responsibility and the studying required for the job are accepted by us all as what we are paid for.

QAww - all valid points - but the same could be said for all airline employees across many airlines. Having worked in several other industries before arriving in this one I have seen good and bad management practice and good and bad industrial relations. For such a technologically advanced industry as ours what I find bizarre is how dickensian the industry is in its management of people -all of its people. More enlightened industries have learned that the way to beat your competitors and deliver consistently high standards of service across your business is by taking your people with you, both in body and in spirit. That requires respect, good communication and team-work to achieve a commonly held vision of what the company and its people stand for. Sounds like b*ll**ks I know but people are not robots, and money is not a prime motivator for those who have sufficient of it to live on comfortably. What most people seek is to be valued by colleagues, customers and their employer, to have a say in how the company is organised and run and to feel that they have a stake in the future of the business. To achieve this the airline industry must come out of the dark ages and start managing people as individuals and not as units of production. No signs of that happening right now.

-------------------------------------------
Pobody's nerfect.

Very well said, fishbed.

Very well said indeed Fishbed.

A company, in any industry, has to look at all of its staff as crucial and necessary team members, and not as a necessary evil.

Any company with low employee morale will never succeed. Maybe they'll see some small gains during the fat times but in the long run, forget it.

Fishbed,

You're spot on when you say that poor (man) management is not confined to aviation - it is a British disease.

Changing the subject, I've just noticed where you're from. Is the Hop Sing still open? I last went there 30 years ago when I was at Sleaford Tech!

I've worked for non-union airlines (VERY profitable ones BTW) and strong union airlines (also profitable). Without a labor contract the rules can be changed at managements whim and at anytime -- AND THEY DO. With a contract, there are known rules that both management and the workforce must follow. Even then often times they break the contract and say "if you don't like it, grieve it" with an army of lawyer behind them.

In this industry, you'd have to be nuts to want to work for a non-union airline. I'm sure there are a couple of exceptions, but certainly not many.

[ 21 November 2001: Message edited by: Roadtrip ]

The trucking industry has experienced all the same problems, alienation, lack of contact, mistrust, heavy organizing pressure. (However, unlike pilots, drivers could leave one employer and obtain a signing bonus and essentially equal earnings potential from another employer.)

From my view, the trucking industry has been able to satisfy many of the endemic problems with two relatively simple actions.

Trucks now carry satellite communications devices, which can receive and transmit internet-generated messages from drivers' families. As well, drivers can interface with home office regarding pay, benefits, and to offer complaint.

Secondly, most truck lines have appointed driver ombudsmen. These people are trained in effective communication, and are charged to take the driver's side in any dispute or in resolving complaints.

Even though neither action affected pay or working conditions, turn-over and confrontation are greatly reduced in companies that have taken these actions.

What I find a very good quote is:
Wage negotiations are stuck in a rigid cycle which invites confrontation. Pilots make wage concessions in the bad times
only to claw them back again in the good.

I don't disagree with much that has been said here, but those of us that fly in the U.S. are a generation of pilots that have been raised with Icahn, Lorenzo, Crandall, Wolf and Ferris. Very few Kelleher's around indeed. That being the case we are a very suspicious bunch. Any meaningful change in this business has to come from the very top, and quite frankly,I don't see it.

My own oft-repeated views are simple.

First, trust between all parties is an absolute priority. It doens't matter how good (or bad) people's conditions are, as long as there's consistency and fairness any negative aspects can be overcome. Southwest Airlines is a perfect example of a company where that mutual trust and respect exists.

Next, everyone should benefit from the good times and share in the bad - which is why I'm a strong advocate of employee share schemes in which everyone from the Chairman to the teaperson should be a member, on equal terms.

Finally, we need to get rid of that outdated anachronism - the seniority system. No other industry in the world has it, and as tmusser pointed out that without it you can move companies and maintain (or improve) pay rates and conditions.

OK, so we all know what the problems are; and we have a pretty good idea what the solutions should be. So let's do something about it rather than just talking! :rolleyes: :eek: :rolleyes:

Yep, let's set up a company with 44 L-1011s!

I agree with much of what has been said on this topic. Moreover, I have worked in management in another industry as well as other airline operational areas on both sides of the Atlantic. I currently fly with a small (but growing)US domestic airline which, @ the moment is non-unionized. Without doubt, trust on all sides is crucial to provide long-term harmony & fiinancial success - on BOTH sides. Work rules are fine but only if both sides respect them. With a contract, you are more orless bound by them. Yes, some of the wage awards in recent years have been obscene. Now some of those carriers are paying the price. Whatever happened to compromise?
Indeed, there are few CEOs like Herb Kelleher, Richard Branson et al. who value their employees and treat them as individuals not just some number.
If you have a look @ a recent copy of Airways magazine, there is an excellent article about airline managment styles and labor relations which should be compulsory reading for everyone. Finally, a qoute from one CEO: "It's not labor unrest per se that encourages unions on to the property but bad management". Enough said...... :confused:

Guv.
Rumour has it that you once ran an airline. Were you able to apply your utopian ideas there? Perhaps you could enlighten me on how you would run a company like, For example AA, with 14000 pilots 30000 flight attendets and an overall staff count of around 125000 without seniority lists or unions.
This has all been tried before. Remember Peoples Express? The reason things are the way they are is that despite obvious problems it works. It has worked for the last 60 years and I would wager you that it will prevail for 60 more.

Guv,

let's try another time.

Why you don't join some high-perspective-management-forum where you can find people like you, discussing your nice and advanced ideas of running airlines?

Cheers,

Fly safe & enjoy life.

Fishbed, point taken, but what about the doctors and nurses, who have just as much responsability, with peoples lives and work 70+ plus every week, not every month.

The industry has changed, its not the same, and unfortunately, will never be.

Jockeys are going have to get used to being fully utilised, its going to be a fact of life and an industry norm, accept it or not, its up to you.

I agree with what Fishbed says, and I believe we need to be managed differently. If we are going to be working more, then perhaps we should first look at working more effectively i.e deploying people more efficiently, having fewer people criss- crossing the country on their way to do a sector - that happens a lot in my company. We are looking at new IT software which should make us more effective with what we've got, and also improve our quality of life with better rostering.

We need to bring changes to management techniques: how many of your airline management have MBAs? If we're going to have to work more, then we need the quality of life at work and around work to be better. Slim down the paperwork, use IT instead, so you can communicate from remote areas with modern gismos on palmtops. What about salary incentives for having to live in an expensive area? Want me to work more? Give me some help to live in the expensive SE of UK so I can be at work more often without it being so intrusive on my free time.

We could make better use of our captive audience, ask a marketing bod how much he'd like to have 300 people looking at screens for many hours. There's money to be made there. I'm a pilot, but I want my company to survive, and make lots of money. My cabin crew are our sales people: the first thing they sell is a safe operation, but do they feel valued enough to sell more?

If we want to be valued more, we've got to add value to what we do. I reckon the airlines are in the dark ages where managment is concerned. That's not necessarily the fault of individuals - they need some new tools. Sorry, but not all "new management speak" is garbage, we've got a lot to learn.

Good observations.

Alexb757: I read that interesting magazine article and it suggests that USAirways was only managed by Wolf and Gangwal in order to sell it to Untied, I mean United. These two corporate "leaders" had supposedly never created a back-up plan, but their immense personal pay/stock contracts were never in jeopardy. Guys who have been CEOs sometimes say, well they charged the "going rate" for experienced airline CEOs/presidents. Is this true?

By the way Alexb757, do those pilots on the anonymous 737s which go to "Dreamland" from LAS, stay long with the company?