For more information, please contact media@theairlineoilspin.com

Site Questions Airline Industry’s Subsidies, Inefficiencies and Demands for Loophole in Oil Speculation Legislation

***www.TheAirlineOilSpin.com***

Los Angeles – As the U.S. airline industry attempts to use “oil speculators” to draw attention away from the chronically low passenger satisfaction rates and an array of new fees, a new online source, www.TheAirlineOilSpin.com was launched today to encourage the public to see through the industry’s spin on the issue.

The site is a project of the Reaching Higher Coalition, a growing alliance of community groups, passenger rights organizations, clergy, elected leaders, and airport workers who are committed to improving standards in the U.S. airline industry. TheAirlineOilSpin.com will function as an information source and forum to discuss and learn about the airline industry’s role in exacerbating their oil-related dilemmas, while at the same time benefiting from massive public subsidies.

While the airline industry has promoted multiple pieces of legislation that would place limits on some types of oil speculation, many of the bills supported by the industry include loopholes that allow the airlines themselves to continue speculating. At the same time, the industry has benefited from more than $8.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies since 2001, according to a recent report, Shortchanged,[1] while passenger satisfaction levels and job quality standards for airline service workers have remained low.

The site also discusses the ways in which the airlines have failed to prepare for increasing oil prices by continuing to fly older, less fuel efficient planes, unlike many of their competitors in other parts of the world.

In the coming days, the site will ask visitors to send a message to Congressional Leaders, urging them to tie additional support for the airline industry to improved standards for airline passengers and workers.

“J.D. Power and Associates reported that airline passenger service is at a 3 year low and it is no wonder when airlines are creating a ‘race to the bottom’ for front-line service workers who perform critical safety, security and service roles,” said Lily Wang with the Reaching Higher Coalition. “Whether we’re talking about carrying their legislation or doling out more subsidies, Congress shouldn’t be doing any more favors for an airline industry that appears to show such contempt for the American public.”

TheAirlineOilSpin.com will provide news and commentary on the airline industry’s position on oil speculation and what the industry has failed to do to minimize the effects of high fuel costs on passengers and industry workers. Information about the site will be sent to subscribers and contributors of www.HowWasYourFlight.com, an online source for passengers aimed at raising awareness and improving standards within the airline industry.

For more details, visit www.TheAirlineOilSpin.com.

New Report Urges Conditions For Airlines Subsidies, Major Improvements In Job And Passenger Service Quality

Study Finds Airline Passengers and Workers Have Been Shortchanged While Airlines Received Nearly $8.5 Billion in Subsidies Since 2001

Experts Say Taxpayer Dollars Must Be Tied to Better Jobs, Security and Services

LOS ANGELES - A new study released today by three California groups finds that conditions for passengers and workers have eroded while airlines have received nearly $8.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies since 2001.

“Shortchanged: How Airlines Can Repay Taxpayers for Billions in Subsides by Improving Jobs, Security and Services” shows that the airline industry has benefited from enormous taxpayer support yet has failed to provide a fair return on the public’s investment, creating poor quality jobs and providing inadequate security and services for passengers. The study concludes that despite the industry’s current financial crisis, it is essential that major subsidy recipients such as American, United and Delta along with other airlines take measures to address these issues - both to improve safety, service and job standards as well as to ensure the long-term health of the airline industry.

“Taxpayers have invested billions in the airline industry but we’re getting shortchanged because airlines are not providing good jobs for workers or good service to passengers,” said Carolina Briones, Research Director for Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and lead author of the report, which was co-released by the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) and Working Partnerships USA. “It’s true that the airlines are facing financial challenges right now, but they must do more to improve jobs and ensure a high level of passenger safety and service.”

In addition to the estimated $8 billion received in federal assistance since 2001, the airlines have also benefited from an estimated $487 million in state and local subsidies in California alone, including tax exemptions and low-interest bond financing. The most direct subsidy to the airlines after the 9/11 attacks came in the form of cash grants totaling $4.6 billion, issued with virtually no strings attached. The largest single grant went to United Airlines ($774 million), with American and Delta following closely behind with $694 million and $636 million, respectively.

“Our state is facing a major budget crisis, and tax exemptions for the airlines here in California are estimated to cost more than $800 million over a 5-year period at the state and local level,” said California Assemblymember Lloyd Levine. “If airlines expect continued taxpayer support, they must do more to improve jobs and services to passengers.”

“Shortchanged” urges the airline industry to provide a fair return on the public’s investment by providing middle-class jobs and ensuring quality service and passenger safety. According to MIT Professor Thomas Kochan’s research on the industry, improving employee compensation and labor relations will ultimately lead to greater airline productivity and profitability.

“By pointing out the range of public resources supporting the airline industry, “Shortchanged” makes it clear that the public has a right to demand that its resources be used not to subsidize substandard and potentially risky employment strategies but to build the workforce quality and fair working conditions needed to meet the public’s expectations for safe, reliable and efficient service,” said Kochan, a professor of management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. “I hope this report serves as a wake-up call both to the public and to government policymakers. It is time to get on with the job of rebuilding our airline industry in ways that work for all who have a stake in it.”

“Shortchanged” shows that despite receiving billions in taxpayer subsides, the airline industry has failed to invest in its workforce or provide quality service and security to passengers. Traditionally, the airline industry has offered middle-class jobs that enable workers to provide for their families, receive health care when they need it, and retire in dignity. However, during the last few years, the airlines have severely eroded wages and benefits by outsourcing critical duties and cutting compensation for in-house employees.

Airline cost-cutting and contracting out of critical duties without adequate standards have, in turn, jeopardized security and passenger safety. These are workers who check airplanes for suspicious or dangerous items, assist passengers with disabilities and the elderly, transport baggage and clean the airplane cabins. The 2008 Airline Quality Rating report gave the industry its lowest scores since rating began nearly two decades ago.

“We are often short-staffed on certain flights,” said Carolina Franco, a wheelchair agent at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). “We’ve been told that’s because the airline’s not paying for full staffing. Short-staffing means that if we have a passenger with rolling luggage, we end up pushing the wheelchair with one hand, and pulling the bag with the other. This makes it hard to control the wheelchair and is dangerous for the passengers and us.”

A 2007 survey of airline-contracted workers at LAX showed that airlines were not providing adequate services to the elderly and to passengers with disabilities because of equipment problems, lack of training and understaffing. Workers reported that public health was threatened by inadequate cleaning of airplane cabins.

The report also urges federal, state and local officials to take action to raise standards for job quality, security and service quality in this industry. Noting that few strings have been attached to the billions received by airlines in taxpayer subsidies, the study recommends that government programs which provide subsidies to businesses should contain public benefit requirements ensuring job and service quality.

“In order to provide high-quality service to passengers, airlines need to invest in their workforce by providing adequate training, fair wages and family health benefits,” said Briones. “This will improve security, safety and service while providing quality jobs to thousands of workers.”

“Shortchanged” is available at www.shortchangedreport.org.

Tracing their history back to the tradition of the Pullman porters during the railroad era, skycaps used to be decent-income jobs for African Americans who supplemented their meager wages with tips - enough to buy their own homes and send their children to college.

Today, that reality is becoming more like a dream for skycaps across the country, according to a Los Angeles Times article.

“This used to be a solid job where guys could make a decent living,” said Howard Mcgee, 64, of Los Angeles who has been a skycap at LAX for eight years. “But with rising ticket prices, more baggage fees and increased security, it is getting harder and harder to make the kind of money we used to make.”
…

Skycaps and union officials who represent airport service workers estimate that the earnings of the typical skycap have dropped 35% to 50% during the last several years.

Meanwhile, they say, the hours some skycaps work per week have been cut from 40 to less than 25, forcing many to take second jobs. In addition, US Airways plans to phase out the use of skycaps at LAX and other airports.

In California, local and state elected officials are stepping in to protect the income of the skycaps.

The Los Angeles City Council and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have directed their attorneys to research measures that would protect the incomes of skycaps and other airport service workers, such as wheelchair attendants. No action has been taken yet.Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who requested one of the studies, said the effort could result in ideas similar to the city’s protections for wages and tips earned by hotel workers.

“The airlines are nickel-and-diming passengers, and the people who try to make a person’s trip convenient and pleasurable are losing out,” Hahn said.

Click HERE to read the full article.

photo by superciliousness

How Airline Outsourcing of Passenger Services Compromises Security and Service Quality at LAX

Executive Summary
Full Report ]]> http://www.reachinghighercoalition.org/?feed=rss2&p=39 http://www.reachinghighercoalition.org/?p=32 http://www.reachinghighercoalition.org/?p=32#comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:50:47 +0000 admin http://www.reachinghighercoalition.org/?p=32

“I don’t know how I would have raised my family and provided for their schooling if things were the way they are now.”

My name is Henry Watts. I’ve been a skycap at LAX for 20 years. I provide service for Northwest Airlines.

I’m proud to have raised 4 children and been able to provide them with a decent standard of living. I was able to do that because, as a Skycap, I received tips from many passengers. I don’t know how I would have raised my family and provided for their schooling if things were the way they are now.

When the signs about the $2 fee first went up, passengers were coming up to me and saying, “I’m so glad you’re getting what you deserve.” They thought it was all coming to us and they didn’t realize that in fact, we’d had our income cut in half!

A family of five will come up, with two bags each. That’s ten bags. They’ll give me $20 and thank me for my service. All of that goes to the airlines now, before it would all go to me.

The airlines just keep tacking on fees and fees. A lot of passengers are now saying, “I’m not giving the airlines another cent! I’ll just check my bag inside. Of course, this just makes the lines longer.”

Everything is just getting more and more expensive. But when you’re a contracted employee working for the airlines, you have to struggle for every dime. The airlines can always invent new fees to add on to passengers to stay profitable, but when I go to the gas station or the grocery store, how am I supposed to keep my budget? It’s time for somebody to balance the scales.

Early Wednesday morning, service workers at LAX and SFO airports handed out sanitary cleaning wipes to passengers in the airline terminals, telling them that they deserve to know about the challenges they face that prevent them from properly cleaning the planes. According to workers, chronic understaffing and a lack of proper equipment are some of the key barriers to cleaning the planes well. Some report having to work without proper cleaning supplies, often cleaning bathrooms with only water because they have no disinfecting cleanser. Others report that, when planes are behind schedule, they are not given enough time to properly clean the interior.

“It’s kind of sad that we have to give cleaning wipes to passengers,” said Marta Sanchez, a cabin cleaner at LAX. “But, when we are understaffed and are not given enough time to clean planes properly, then we think that passengers should know about it. The airlines can do a lot more to improve passenger services and airport security, while at the same time make these good jobs for our families and our communities.”

Service workers informed passengers that airlines need to improve cleaning and other services by providing appropriate equipment and training, decent wages, and family healthcare for workers.

According to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates, the airline industry has experienced a rapid decline in customer satisfaction, bringing ratings to the lowest level in three years, due to declining quality of customer service rather than high fares. The study makes a direct correlation between poor customer service and dwindling job quality.

“Across the airline experience, from check-in, to the flight, to deplaning, passengers are being affected by the ramifications of carriers making staff cutbacks and have expressed that per-formance and attitudes of airline staff are suffering,” said Sam Thanawalla, director of the global hospitality and travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “In this unstable industry environ-ment, it is critical that airlines invest in their employees as a means to enhance the customer experience, as there is a strong connection between employee satisfaction and customer satis-faction.”