Originally Posted by congowings

The information from the chief pilot’s hotline was so predictable it disappoints. No effort to veil the intent of dividing this group was employed. It was like reading from “Negotiations 101”.

“As a matter of good business practice, we have had to adjust our flexible network to meet customer demands. Ultimately, this has resulted in reduced flying and an overstaffing of crewmembers.” - JB

Negotiations 101 – ‘Show that it is a lack of ability, not lack of desire, that leads you to refuse them. Showing that you cannot fulfill a request is a good way of refusing, as the other person then cannot persist. In dealing with such tactics, the first decision you must make is whether it is a tactic or a genuine situation. If it is genuine, you have a problem to solve, rather than a tactic to overcome. If the objection is genuine, you must try to look for an alternative that meets your needs as well as theirs.’

So, if the objective of the company is to cut $54M from the air division budget & they decide against IPA’s suggestions - then it can be argued that their real intent was never the amount, but the desire to renegotiate the contract.

“Rather than proceed directly with a furlough, we invited the IPA to discuss cost saving alternatives that would help us mitigate the need for furloughs and minimize the impact to our people. While some have possibilities, several of their proposed measures are not viable. For example, the union’s retirement proposal appears on the surface to result in significant cost savings. However it does not account for all costs associated with an early retirement package. We would like to reach an agreement with union leadership so that our proposals can be presented to crewmembers & we can determine exactly how many people are willing and able to volunteer. Only after we get that number can we work with the union on a final determination about the true cost savings from the volunteer programs.” - JB

This statement neatly covers two tactics: 1) ‘Positional power: using tactics to pressure you to negotiate against yourself, make unneeded concessions, or even give concessions after the negotiation has concluded. These tactics are employed to position the other party into negotiating with themselves. Placing the other party into a position where they are the ones making concessions, many times unnecessarily. AND 2) ‘In extreme cases the company may direct management to play one group of employees against another to generate disunity (e.g. one department against another, etc.).’ Or in our case, junior/young versus senior/old.

The fact that the company is using the threat of furlough brings into play the popular tactic: Stress & Confusion: 1) ‘Increasing stress leads to a point when we go from seeking the best solution to the problem at hand to seeking a solution just to reduce the stress. Herbert Simon called this 'Satisficing'.’ AND 2) ‘Confusion is used in many persuasion techniques as a way of destabilizing the other person. There are many written and unwritten rules of conversation and interpersonal communication. People expect you to follow those rules. If you break them, they will quickly become confused. So manage the other person's sense of control by changing those things that make them certain, able to understand and predict the things around them. This can be done by making things uncertain and inconsistent.’

While I do think it is believable UPS is slightly overstaffed at the moment, especially considering the fleet being flown by management - it is a stretch to imagine that the air division would run smoothly come peak without the present numbers, especially if the economy begins to turn around. But it wouldn’t be the first time UPS was behind the power curve.

One line stood out the most: “While the well-being of our employees is paramount . . .” - JB

Considering the source, it would be laughable if it wasn‘t so sad. So remember, tactics work, but once they are recognized as tactics, their effects are reduced, or eliminated.

Originally Posted by UPSFO4LIFE

Basically we(IPA) were told in March that there was a possibilty of a formal furlough notice to be put out on June 1st. They(UPS) said they needed to cut about 54 million from the budget and they claim that furloughing 300 pilots would achieve this goal. The IPA has met with the company for several week and have come up with the 54 million and then some in savings without a furlough. This was done by pilots willing to take leave, retire, job share and so on. See earlier post where last night the chief pilot stated that the cuts proposed by IPA were not good enough and there is no agreement in place at this time.

Basically we are in a holding pattern at this point until UPS tells us next week that they are not interested in any deal with the IPA unless they get consessions from us. That is not going to happen, so many people like me are just waiting for the formal announcement of a furlough. How many will go is anyones guess at this time.

Originally Posted by Vykus

My name is Michael McCoy and I produce a weekly Aviation News and Technology webcast called FlightPod Television.

As a pilot myself, I know that there have been a lot of questions and discussion on the issue of furloughs at UPS.

In almost every conversation I have with other pilots regarding our profession, the topic of your pilot group inevitably comes up and everyone is wanting to know what's going on.

Not out of nosiness but from a genuine concern for our fellow pilots and our industry as a whole.

I am wondering if there is a way I could get some specific information as it relates to the "letters" and "recordings" from management to the line pilots regarding furloughs at UPS.

I go to great lengths to insure that the information I put out is factual and not "crew room rumors". That's why I am looking to you for the official word on where you guys are right now.

I understand that you also are wondering what will happen, but I am looking to shed some light on this issue to the pilots outside of UPS.

Thank you for your time and consideration. If you would like to make this correspondence confidential you can email me at

[email protected]

Thanks again,

Michael McCoy