Letters, We Get Letters About Life in the SPP

We've recently been contacted by some people out in federal TSA land. They are worried about their airports' showing interest to go private and they are worried about their futures. One thing they want to know is if it's true there are no shift differentials at SFO, as reported at this blog. It seems that the differentials are an important part of their overall package.

Well, they are correct to worry and to start asking questions. John Pistole has been hinting that 10% higher costs in the SPP is not cost-effective in his eyes, which might give TSOs hope that Pistole will reject SPP applications. But in Washington, Pistole will be an army of one with that kind of thinking. In Washington, 10% is within reason. He's likely to lose in the long run (as planned by Obama's good pals in labor, of course). The possible exception is small airports where the contractors can't cut essential staff and claim enough efficiencies to pocket the difference.

Our new contacts have honed in on a very important detail. Where's the differential? It must be implemented, and it must be factored in!

The Upcoming Promotions

According to the information we have received the promotions for the CTX Supervisors and Leads will be announced prior to the effective date of the new shift schedules.

How about announcing them prior to the new shift bid days? Give the people who might have an opportunity for a better schedule(because they moved up a few slots because of the promotions) a better chance.

This is an easy and painless way to show some appreciation for the workforce that has helped make this company what it is today! Show some good will.

Can I have a pair of diamond ear rings with that bracelet?

What's a manager to do with too much time on their hands? Some would go to the SCC and randomly pick checkpoints to see if they can find anyone doing anything they shouldn't be doing. Others may choose to play Hearts or Spades or surf the net. Perhaps they would just make a run to the Tanforan mall to pick up a new pair of shoes.

Well, that's the dilemma that faces Dena Crawford on a daily basis. Since she has so little to do, after all, there are only four managers in the training department, she has decided to start a home business. Oh wait, not a home business, but a home business ran at work.

Crawford openly solicits people whenever they go to the training lab to buy jewelry. If that isn't enough she's using trainers in the lab to help her. How, you might ask? She is having trainers run down to the checkpoint to tap people out specifically so they can go to the lab to complete a transaction.

How is it that Ryan Yee has been allowing this to happen all this time? Why does he continue to protect the ineptitude of this manager? Mindy Pengel might be wise to have IT pull Crawford's email records to see if she's using company email to help run the business as well. Hell, if Crawford has the cojones to send trainers to do her work, then it wouldn't be any surprise that she's using company email. After all, her buddy Yee will protect her to the death.

Must we state the obvious? Ok, we will! This manager is making anywhere from $75K to 90K a year. She gets parking privileges at Terminal 3, just like all the other managers. She has a cushy job that rarely does she ever have to work past 6PM. Yet she can't find enough in her day to fill the hours? How about creating some adequate training initiatives for the work force? Let us not forget as well, that indirectly, she is being paid by all of our tax dollars! We're PAYING her to run her own business while she's on the public dollar. If she is that incapable of finding 8 or 9 hours of productive work to do in a day, then we think it's time that she be terminated. Because, it's obvious that her position is not needed.

A walk down memory lane

People tend to live in the moment. We all generally have short memories as well. But that's where people like us step in. With the re-emergence of Barbara Alvarenga, we figured it would be a good time to refresh or just inform people of some rather recent history.

About a year and a half ago, Covenant Aviation Security posted a job posting for "Certified Assistant Manager." The MIT's at the time, and a handful of supervisors were ultimately cast in that role.

So what was a "Certified Assistant Manager"? Much like the Floor Supervisor, MIT, Jr. Supervisor, Assistant Training Manager, Director of This, Deputy Director of That, it was a Covenant Aviation Security creation. That is, there is officially no such position within TSA.

A "Certified Assistant Manager" was essentially an ATSA (Aviation Transportation Security Act) certified supervisor given a managerial title and all the duties that went along with being a manager. However, in TSA's bureaucratic ways, they busted Covenant Aviation Security for this position while doing one of their audits. Why, you might ask? Well, the problem was that the "Certified Assistant Manager" was listed on the TSA books as an STSO. They were not listed on the books as a manager. What that meant was that TSA was paying for this position out of the same budget that is set aside for all ATSA certified personnel. Where if it was an official Covenant Aviation Security manager, that would have come out of CAS's own budget.

What to do, might you ask? CAS's solution to the problem was simple. They told the "Certified Assistant Managers" at the time that they could either be demoted in title and pay by becoming the CAS created position of Floor Supervisor, or they could find work elsewhere. Naturally, they all gracefully accepted this praise worthy move and gladly accepted the demotion.

Oh, but it gets better. Covenant Aviation Security dangled a promotion in front of these newly designated Floor Supervisors. They dangled the Assistant Terminal Manager promotion to get many of them to take this position. Just in case you did not know, the Floor Supervisors are all salaried STSOs. Not that regular STSOs have a lot of opportunity for overtime, there is at least a chance. These Floor Supervisors have no chance of that. In other words, they have to work actual overtime if their Over Lords deem it necessary without having to pay them overtime rates.

These demotions all took place in November of last year. Lo and behold, in January of this year there was a job posting for Assistant Terminal Manager. The fascinating thing about that job posting was that it was only opened to Floor Supervisors. In this regard, Covenant Aviation Security kept to their word. "Go Floor Supervisor and we'll keep you up there for promotion."

February, March, April, May passed. Nothing. Not a word. Not a peep. Whatever happened to that Assistant Terminal Manager promotion? No one knew. Tick, tock, tick, tock. By now, most everyone had completely forgotten about the promotion. Hell, the Floor Supervisors themselves probably forgot as well.

And then, a little over two weeks ago word leaked out that Barbara Alvarenga was back as the new Assistant Terminal Manager. Well., golly gee willikers! So THAT'S what happened to that promotion! Donnie Filbert brought back his old United Airlines buddy!

The question that remains and should be continued to be asked is why has Filbert been allowed to bring back an absolute incompetent person? Why is Mindy Pengel allowing this?!

We know it might be easy for some of you to dismiss this story because it has to do with STSOs. But we shouldn't be. This is not some atypical thing that Covenant Aviation Security does. This is THEIR Standard Operating Procedure. The lesson to be learned is that if they're willing to do something like this to their STSOs, they're willing to do that and more to the rest of us. And they're wondering why morale is so low?

Fool me once

The topic of conversation these days seems to be what is going on with the baggage supervisor promotion. The official word from Donnie Filbert is that the interviews concluded just this past week.

Those that are paying attention know that's utter BS. Someone had the guts to ask Mindy Pengel precisely about the promotion. She had the audacity to ask this person if the promotion should be based heavily on things such as attendance, work ethic, etc. or on the interview. Well, duh!

That was when she passed the buck to Filbert who responded that this promotion is going to be his responsibility to see what's going on with it.

Here's the real reason for the delay. Gerardo Sanchez is out of the picture currently. The PR reason for being out is he is back on jury duty. Those that have served on jury duty know this is highly dubious to be called back two or three weeks after supposedly already serving. So that right there is extremely suspect.

The reason Sanchez is out is because he has been suspended pending an HR investigation. Several people have been called in to HR for interviews regarding Sanchez. We don't know exactly the reason for the suspension or investigation we just know that Covenant Aviation Security is trying to keep a tight lid on it.

Of course there are possible numerous reasons for the investigation, since Sanchez has done numerous things over his tenure to warrant it. We will wait and see what happens.

As usual, stay tuned here for the latest info that Covenant Aviation Security doesn't want you to know.

A little less conversation, a little more action please!

Mindy Pengel had two meetings with supervisors Thursday and Friday. Odd, considering that Wednesday would seem more logical since that is the overlap day for most supervisors. Not much was discussed, apparently. And no other managers were there.

The intent was to discuss the low morale at Covenant Aviation Security. Ok, excuse us for patting ourselves on the back a little, but Pengel would need not look any further than this blog to get a sense of why the morale is so low. Why would she limit her scope only to the supervisors? Yes, they certainly have reasons to be pissed (hey, how is that Barbara Alvarenga move working out for you Floor Supervisors), but they're not the only ones by any stretch of the imagination.

Speaking of Alvarenga, look for her welcome back message from Herr Filbert in today's CAS Info. Yeah, she doesn't need to look very far to get a sense, does she? Why has she allowed Donnie Filbert to bring back someone who was an absolute disaster when she was here previously? Especially when there are probably a dozen or so supervisors that could easily fill that position with poise and complete competence.

It's just more of the same crap! The more things change, the more they stay the same. And it seems we're trying to revert back to the original days of chaos and dismay. Woo hoo!

If Pengel truly wanted to get a sense of why morale is low, she'd be talking to us. She'd be asking for our blunt and brutally honest assessment, and she would be prepared for the slings and arrows she'd ultimately receive. But, let's not forget that Pengel is steeped in the law enforcement culture where there is a definite chain of command and those at the top only interact with those at the bottom in a purely superficial way.

So no, we don't think she really wants to know. We don't think she cares. If she cared, she would have fired Filbert four months ago when those bid lines originally came out. Everyone and their brother knew that Filbert's brilliant idea for those schedules in March weren't going to work. Even managers told him they weren't going to work. And what happened? Well, you all know what happened.

So let's go back and ask the poignant question once again: WHAT DOES A MANGER HAVE TO DO IN ORDER TO BE TERMINATED?!

Find Mindy!

Reports are coming in that Mindy Pengel has been MIA for at least three weeks. She's reportedly on vacation but some are starting to wonder if that's really the case. It's also odd that she wasn't at the Labor/Management meeting on June 24th.

So where is she? One can only guess. Perhaps she really is on vacation. But her absence lately is noticeable and seems to be longer than what a normal vacation length would be. Who knows, maybe she'll pop up in the next couple of days to give Donnie Filbert his walking papers? Ahh...one can hope!


UPDATE: We can all rest easy. Someone posted on FB that Mindy has in fact, been spotted on at least three separate occasions last week. She was seen sporting a bright, neon green cast. That might explain why she's been absent for so long.

Question of the day

This should really be the question of the week, month, year. What do managers at Covenant Aviation Security have to do in order to get fired? How many times are they allowed to screw up before Mindy Pengel or Gerry Berry says, "Enough is enough!"? We should continue to ask this again and again until we get a satisfactory answer. I know what we all have to do in order to get fired, what about them?!