So, I figure I’ll just start explaining the whole work situation on my own blog, rather than having the topic tie up conversations on other people’s sites.

For the most part, work has been good…very few complaints. Some of the hiring decisions have been awful (simply, the people in charge of personnel don’t seem to understand that, just because you interview someone, you don’t HAVE to hire them), but the vast majority of the completely unqualified people have left of their own accord, so it hasn’t created too much of a long term situation. The only other recent decision that caused some serious issues was the schedule change, specifically, the way in which it was handled. We all bid on the shift we wanted, and it was supposed to be chosen on a basis of seniority…thing is, in a few cases, it clearly wasn’t, which of course led to the senior employees in those cases being (understandably) more than a little pissed off and confused. Where this really created problems was when a lot of people ended up working shifts that absolutely flat out sucked. Going from having a 3 day weekend every other week to working 5 days a week, where your only days off are Monday and Tuesday, is pretty much garbage, ESPECIALLY for those people who have families who they now barely see.

As I said, though, my biggest problem was with the way this whole change was implemented. There was no explanation EVER given to us. Nobody ever told us why this was necessary, or even when the new schedule would be put in place (in the end, we were given a whopping 3-4 days notice, which is ridiculous, especially for those whose entire ‘work world’ was being flipped upside down like something The Mask would do to Caledon before Hercules finally remembered to put on the fucking ring). No explanations, of course, breeds nervousness and confusion, which in turn breeds gossip and conjecture. There had to be a half dozen different versions that I heard of what was going to happen and why, all of them totally different from one another, and all of them completely wrong. This bullshit went on for two weeks, and could have been avoided in the first place if we had simply been told what the Hell was going on. So, I did a little research, found the email addresses for the people in charge of human resources at the corporate level, and told them what I thought of their implementation plan (or total lack thereof). I was actually pretty polite about it, which I was somewhat proud of, but I just felt like somebody should tell these geniuses the sort of havoc that their own lack of care was causing. Whether anyone gave a shit, I don’t know.

Anyway, I let my crewmates know what I’d done, and it sort of spread a little from there, with a few more people finding out about it. (In retrospect, I should have gotten more people onboard beforehand, and could have attached a little more weight to my original missive by being able to slap a few more names on there, but whatever).

Now, a few more changes have come down the pipeline. First off, uniforms. the company we were using was useless…we got our thermal coveralls in Edmonton in the middle of last month (they kinda missed the boat there), and there have been supply issues the entire time the contract between them and ATS has existed, from what I understand. So, they switched to a new company. Trouble us, they also changed the rules around the uniform purchase. Used to be, we put down a deposit, which we get back whenever we leave. Now, they take that deposit and send it to the new company, and instead of getting it back, we keep the uniforms. Why in the Hell would I want a bunch of clothes emblazoned with an ATS logo if I no longer work there? That’s just stupid! And, again, it’s not so much the actual change, it’s the fact that this was implemented behind our backs, with no mention of any sort of change happening in the policy. So, a few of us sort of spurred quite a few employees to simply not sign the new agreement. Unfortunately, the staff everywhere else just signed the fucking thing like a bunch of sheep, so we sort of hit a point where it was either “Sign it, or you don’t get your new uniform, and you can’t work without it.” So, sign it I did, with a bit of an addition, which was as follows.

Signed in protest of the change in deposit policy which has been implemented without any discussion with those of us actually affected by it. Either this company is so destitute that it needs to keep the whopping $150 it got from each of us, which hardly inspires confidence, or it’s just a pathetic money grab. either way, nice. (I then signed again after that).

Anyway, I guess several other people did something similar, and we were told that, well, gosh, the higher ups might get their feelers hurt (okay, we weren’t told exactly THAT, but you get the gist of it), to which my response was something along the lines of “Too fucking bad. They feel that’s inappropriate, they can suck my ass.” and walked away. Seriously, they decide to start changing the rules on everybody, but, oh, yes, my protesting their decision is what’s inappropriate. Yeah, okay, eat my fucking balls.

Then we reach the final move. At the same time the schedule changed, the nights shift manager transferred to Calgary. So, one of the Ops Co-ordinators moved in to the vacant spot, which created an opening for someone in Ops. (A quick ex0planation…the ops co-ord takes care of the detail work…assigning people to work specific flights, who’s driving, who’s in the bagroom, etc., and is also a kind of liaison between us, Westjet Cargo, and Westjet. The shift Manager is a level above that, dealing with more of the ‘big scale’ issues for their shift.) The job was posted…amongst the requirements were a minimum of a year’s experience on the ramp, and the proper tickets to push planes and work the de-ice truck (either driving or in the basket), which also means that person holds a Radio Operator’s Certificate.

Obviously, while the interested candidates were being looked at, someone needed to fill the gap. Eventually, someone was chosen by the new shift manager…who has only been with the company a month and a half longer than I have. there was some grumbling about this, especially since this person basically got the temporary job because of their friendship with the new shift manager.

Well, the decision was made to permanently make this person the nights ops co-ordinator, even though they do not meet half the criteria. She was chosen over several people with a LOT more experience, and who met every qualification. And, in a result that everyone BUT management predicted, all 3 of those people have given their 2 weeks notice (can’t really blame them). So, in 2 weeks, we will be down 3 of the most experienced crew leads working day shift. Also, in the next couple weeks, the flight load is increasing, as airlines add seasonal flights to their normal schedules. As it was, ATS was looking to move a couple people up to crew lead positions…now they’re going to need a LOT more people to do that full time, which is of course going to trickle down and create holes everywhere else. In short, an absolute fucking mess.

What all of these little things have in common is a complete and blatant disregard for how any decision affects the people who actually have to do the work. In fact, nobody high up seems to give a flying fuck about that. All we’re given is more corporate speechifying about ‘sacrifice’, and all that other bullshit. It’s pretty easy to tell people THEY need to sacrifice when the person making the speech isn’t being asked to change anything.

Anyway, because I’ve opened my mouth a few times, I sort of feel like people are looking at me (amongst many others, it must be said…I’m hardly a lone voice in the darkness on this stuff) to be a little more vocal, and for the first time in my life, I’m a little hesitant to do so. It’s one thing to mouth off when the only repercussions to whatever you say/do will come down on your head. It’s another thing
entirely to mouth off when the repercussions of what you say/do could end up having a direct affect on A LOT of people who didn’t actually say/do anything themselves. It’s a very, very strange situation, one that I have never really found myself in before. I dunno, in truth, I can’t remember the last time I worked for a company where the top levels seemed to have such a complete disregard for all the peons who are enabling them to live high on the hog. the whole thing absolutely stinks, and I certainly plan to be my usual vocal self over these things…in what capacity I will be my vocal self is still undecided, I guess.