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Atlanta Line Maintenance:
Let me start off with these positive comments.
ASA has the potential to be the best regional carrier in the world for a variety of reasons from my perspective.
We have a modern fleet of CRJ aircraft - We have a large maintenance facility in a great low cost area of the country - We have a staff of very dedicated Line Maintenance personnel with a extensive background of aircraft experience.
Mass chaos is how I best describe from day to day the workday for the maintenance department.
The problem:
We lack the manpower on a daily basis to deal with the workload -
We lack the experience due to an ever changing staff of mechanics. This is the core of the problem with ASA. It is sad because ASA has been in business for 30 years and the average seniority is less than 10 years, this should raise a red flag with management and any new employee looking to come aboard.
Why does a company that has been in business for 30 years have this revolving door of employees?
From my perspective I have been on board with ASA a little over 2 years. I have seen at least 25-30 mechanics leave for a variety of reasons during this timeframe:
Lack of Pay - Desire to move closer to family - Desire to work for the major carriers - Three line mechanics terminated for failing to get engine run within a short period of time even though there was no structured training program for them to get the qualification - Ten to Twelve Mechanics left for Pinnacles Airlines, they took a pay cut because of dissatisfaction with ASA, they work out of an office on “D “Concourse here in Atlanta. These guys were knowledgeable, hardworking and a very professional group of mechanics. Good people is how I describe two of the twelve I have personally worked with.
So we have years of experience walking out the door and the company excepts this as attrition and has no plan to retain this experience, and in some cases has pushed good employees out the door this has been going on for years.
ASA could be the greatest Regional carrier in the world it’s now up to the employees to help make it so by bringing some stability to its work force along with the protections that are needed so that good employees will become senior/experienced employees with the goal of making ASA the premier company that other Air Carriers or Companies will want to obtain our business.
We need a Union that will provide the stability and protections which will help keep good employees with ASA and presently the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is knocking at our door to give us this helping hand. Let us move forward today to obtain representation for the Mechanics & Related employees so that ASA will become one of the best Regional carriers in the world.
Atlanta Line Mechanic Marvin McCall – Licensed A&P Mechanic since 1979
