Delta asks employees to work for free.

[SofaKingLiberal]

This was just reported on Countdown.


Clean for pride, not pay, Delta asks staff
The troubled airline, which is trying to keep down costs, hopes to spiff up its fleet with free help from employees.
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
Published April 20, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bankrupt Delta Air Lines has cut thousands of jobs, slashed salaries and considered abandoning its pilots' pension plan to stay in business.

Now, the nation's No. 3 airline is asking some 50,000 employees to volunteer to clean aircraft at night on their own time. Their reward: a free T-shirt, reward points good for merchandise and a chance to show their pride in the airline.

Employees will pull four- and eight-hour shifts to clean interior windows and walls, "scrape stuff from tray tables and floors . . . if there's gum on the floor," said spokesman Anthony Black. Cleaning lavatories is part of the drill, too. <snip>


http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/20/Business/Clean_for_pride__not_.shtml

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. I see the Delta execs are celebrating the fine holiday.

Where do they buy their stuff?

[kurth]

2. How about the CEO and his staff cleaning the lavatories for free too

[babylonsister]

10. My husband just said the same thing; follow the CEOs! nt

[joeybee12]

3. Good Lord! I thought this was from The Onion!!!!!!

This is appalling, to say the least.

[electron_blue]

4. this is weird

it almost seems like they're just trying to change the whole expectation of the work force, and not just looking to save money - you know, to see if they can condition people to get used to giving more w/o taking.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. This has happened before.

Some company (I think an airline company, car company, some big industry) asked their employees to work for no pay.

This happened a year or two ago, and I can't remember what became of it.

Somebody on DU's got to know.

[Pool Hall Ace]

5. Wow, what balls.

[leftofthedial]

6. T-shirts? How about giving them increased equity in the company?

fucking capitalist bastards. "Pride" and "Team" are one-sided coins to owner bastards.

[Blue_Tires]

8. there's going to be a lot of half-assed cleaned planes in the near future!

i know my heart would not be in it....

[JuniperLea]

9. That's the worst PR/ER I've heard in some time! n/t

[DeadManInc]

11. I believe I would have to tell

them to go fuck themselves for free, and shove his t-shirt up his ass!

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Show pride in the outfit that is beating their brains in? I think not.

[Berry Cool]

13. Next step: refuse to have employees clean the planes at all

unless the passengers on a given flight, by vote, agree to pay extra to have them cleaned... :puke:

[mike_c]

14. I would volunteer to work every shift...

...that CEO Leo Mullin volunteered to work, and I'd work just as hard as he works. Every single shift.

[frit006]

16. cheapos

[ncrainbowgrrl]

17. Welcome to DU, frit006!

I totally agree! How cheap can you get?!

[napi21]

27. Mullin is gone. Left over a year ago with a BIG , BIG bonus!

Now it's Gerald Grinstein. I think my son said he was a VP at GM when they did massive layoffs and screwed their workers. Delta employees have been afraid of his radical tactics ever since he came.

[fishwax]

15. the management team and other top execs will be first in line, i'm sure

:shrug:

[LostinVA]

18. This is illegal -- courts have found against companies

for this, including Wal-Mart. You can't ask employees to "volunteer" to work... I would also think this would really be against union rules.

[Left Is Write]

19. Good night! I heard this earlier and thought it had to be a joke!

[Raine]

20. Haw haw haw my repug cousin works

for Delta, wonder how he feels about this??? I'd ask him but because of our differences we never speak anymore. I would love to see him doing latrine duty. :rofl:

[NaturalHigh]

21. It's time for a major boycott of Delta.

Let them know that we'll consider flying Delta again when they cut the execs' pay by 60% and treat their employees with some respect. What a bunch of arrogant bastards to even ask for something like this.

[Neil Lisst]

22. what next? pay only in script you can spend at the company store?

there's probably a song in that

[marions ghost]

23. i would not want to fly

on an airline run by crazy people. The CEOS have lost it.

[Qanisqineq]

24. I've done something similar at a job

In college I was working at a restaurant and every so often they'd have a a really thorough cleaning. Don't get me wrong, the place wasn't nasty or anything but moving big items around to wash the floor underneath them, cleaning the offices, things that didn't need to be cleaned daily. They'd have a couple nights of it and people would volunteer. It was working for free but there was pizza and loud music, most of the volunteers were college age and it was almost kind of fun.

I don't know that cleaning a cramped airplane would be much fun though.

[marions ghost]

25. might get some

high energy college kids to think it was fun. Otherwise it's exploitation of the worst kind.

[LostinVA]

26. And it's illegal

[napi21]

28. I doubt it's illegal if they "volunteer". n/t

[marions ghost]

29. that my guess

there are legal loopholes or they wouldn't even try it. In general Laws Favor Business in America.

[LostinVA]

30. Let me check -- I though a court found against Wal-Mart for this

I know for sure they've been sued for it.

Because, it's still asking people to work for free... ie you can't volunteer at your place of employment. Unless you're Exempt, of course...

[napi21]

32. As far as I know, the situation at WM wasn't voluntary.

I recall several stories of employees being locked inside the store, after they had clocked out, until they finished the job they were working on. THAT of course is illegal!

[lonestarnot]

31. WTF?

[TahitiNut]

33. "Airline Without A Pilot - Leadership Lessons/Inside Story of Delta's ..."

Airline Without A Pilot - Leadership Lessons/Inside Story of Delta's Success, Decline and Bankruptcy
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977207617/ref=ed_oe_h/104-2692281-1566317?%5Fencoding=UTF8

The book examines the leadership decisions by each of Delta's 7 CEO's and its Board of Directors. It then highlights the decisions that built a highly profitable company for decades and those that have brought it to bankruptcy…and draws universal leadership lessons from them.

It is also about a remarkable group of people. As the book shows, Delta employees and retirees have been shining examples of commitment to its heritage - Service and Hospitality From The Heart - even when constrained by ineffective leaders. Part of the tragedy is the price they are now paying and will be paying for that ineffective leadership. The book is co-dedicated to the thousands of Delta employees and retirees who love what Delta once was and hope the current leaders have what it takes to restore it.