October 2006
Once upon a time,
I had the greatest job, in a great industry, working for a great airline in a great city. Those days are now so long ago, I can barely remember them. I just would like to share what it is like to work in one of the stations that didn't make the cut under Northwest Airlines restructuring plan. Our Northwest station in Cincinnati (CVG) will be closed October 23, 2006.
Do not feel sorry for us. We do not look for sympathy or pity, but perhaps there is some relevance to the story that is unfolding here and in roughly seventy other stations across the Northwest system. We have been expecting that this day would come since the airplanes struck the towers on September 11th 2001. A few of us even thought about it happening well before that. That this day is almost upon us now is certainly not a shock to anyone.
As the ending unfolds the Northwest Airlines has shown a cavalier disregard for the people involved whether they be employees, passengers or even those people who will ultimately replace us. This will not surprise anyone who has been following the saga of Northwest Airlines over the last few years. Our station once had 54 employees prior to the year 2000. Between September 11th and the current concessionary contract that has led to the outsourcing of our station we have averaged roughly 35-38 employees. Over the last few months our current staffing has dwindled down to 21 employees on payroll as we get closed down. Three of these people are out on OJI -Injury unable to work and as of today, and three others are on light duty as I write this.
This gives us 15 "healthy bodies".
People here are breaking under the stress whether it is mental or physical.
Often there would be times where there was only one agent working upstairs at night or only two people scheduled to work outside. Many times there were more open shifts than warm bodies working because there was just nobody left to call to come in. That we are able to provide any level of service without incident is miraculous. This may meet the standards of what Northwest believes is adequate service; it simply does not meet our standards here.
One of the things people need to understand is that while Northwest may have forsaken the employees of Cincinnati, these employees here never gave Northwest less than their best efforts. Many people across the system may find this fact distressing but we did not slow down or let up. We did our best not to let the impending station closing effect our stations performance. While very few of us gave Northwest Airlines any extra effort during this time, we still continued to do the job as well as conditions would allow. It would have been easy to delay flights or create problems and allow the station to spiral into utter disarray. This did not happen here, because the people here are professionals. Our allegiance has not been to Northwest for quite some time, rather it has been to the poor soul standing across the counter who had the misfortune of buying a ticket on our sorry-ass airline. We may make jokes about our employer, and we have a sense of gallows humor towards the company, but we manage to do the job no matter how hard Northwest makes it.
The amazing part of the story, CVG has been essentially operating without a manager since early spring. Our manager saw the writing on the wall and left to take another job with the company. The inmates have been running the asylum since then, this station has been essentially on autopilot for the last six months. A manager from another station oversees our efforts on an occasional basis. Our exposure to Northwest management nowadays is limited to usually only once or twice a week and only for a few hours at the most. This station is currently profitable according to our "interim manager", who says he regrets he has to be the one to close the doors. We have to believe what the interim manager tells us about this place and we assume this is the truth.
Our interim-manager is not really a bad guy, but as he assures us he understands our plight, it is clear to us that he cannot.
There is simply no way someone who is in their thirties can understand what its like to lose the job that someone else has had for more than thirty years. Most folks here measure our time in durations of decades; the average time is more than 20 years most or all of it spent right here. Few people hold jobs for decades in one location anymore. In this regard, I doubt many people can really understand the loss the folks here feel. As he handed out the lay-off notices just maybe it was affecting him, he left without handing out notices to second shift seeking instead to return to his safe haven. His station is remaining open. The notices were left for the ticket counter supervisor and ramp lead to finish handing out. Perhaps he did not want to have to confront any more of the sadness or anger; maybe he was in fear for his personal safety. Hopefully, it was not just another day at the office for him.
Our replacements are going to work for Pinnacle Airlines, as vendor employees, they will earn $6.85 an hour to start and then be bumped up to $7.45 after a brief probation period. They will eventually top out at approximately $11.00 an hour. One of our CSA's has taken the job to be the new Pinnacle manager; two other of our stations employees will join the Northwest transition team and train our replacements. Other Northwest employees from across the system have also lined up to join the transition teams set up to replace us during the station's change to the vendor personnel. There are people who will say that the resentment of these people is not justified and that they simply have no other choice.
I will not be counted among them.
These people will profit at the expense of others who have been eliminated and their actions will help lower the bar in a beleaguered industry. While I do not advocate harm being brought to them, or retaliation of any kind, in my mind this is an unforgivable course of action. Sure we all knew this day was coming, but their actions are especially reprehensible given the fact that people with whom they have worked for decades are now being uprooted or facing economic hardship due to the loss of their careers. Their actions advance the restructuring plans of management and this helps defeat the cause of working people.
Here and across the system some people tried everything to fight the inevitable, to make the case that this station and others like it should remain open. Advancing the point that the people that work in this industry have value that exceeds their pay scale. In contrast, the individuals who take these types of positions are working to ensure the success of Northwest's plan, fighting for Doug Steenland's vision of an outsourced Northwest, and making it a workable reality. Eventually the working people in this industry will have to stop enabling the management of these airlines, because in the absence of a collective stand there is no "bottom" in wages or in working conditions. Airline employees will continue to pay the ultimate sacrifice, like the people in Cincinnati, and seventy other cities where stations are being closed. Either relocate, continue to work for less, or lose everything without a fight.
Some of the finest people I have met in my life worked here in Cincinnati for Northwest Airlines, and they made the impossible happen on a regular basis.
Some of these people will transfer, some will find other jobs, and all of them will eventually move on with their lives. Do not pity these people because they will do well in whatever task they confront. I know this because I have seen them in action. Feel sad for Northwest Airlines for the loss is truly theirs. Feel sad that they are willing to throw away people here and across the system like they are garbage. Feel sad for those who continue to work in the airline sector that continues to crumble and places so little value to the people who have given the better part of their lives working in it. Pray this troubled industry finds a way to stabilize. Pray for the other working people about to face the corporate razor.
What is happening here is happening in roughly seventy other places around the Northwest system, it is happening at other airlines and in other industries. Please understand that the most depressing thing about our story is that it not special, and our problem is not unique.
Fairy-tails have happy endings real life often does not.
If I am wrong on this tell me why, or send your comments to:
aloosecannon@fuse.net
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The Loose Cannon's views are not affiliated with any group or organization they are provided as only a point a view. Everyone is encouraged to be well informed and develop his or her own opinions. What readers do with the information provided is completely their own personal choice.
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