A Look at what's going on inside the ATS world

V OLUME 5 – ISSUE 3 INSIDE ATS OCTOBER 2 012 A Look at what's going on inside the ATS world. That Was Then and This is Now A Message from Sally L...
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V OLUME 5 – ISSUE 3

INSIDE ATS

OCTOBER 2 012

A Look at what's going on inside the ATS world.

That Was Then and This is Now

A Message from Sally Leible

I have said this before, have you? I’ve changed my view of some things over time. Sometimes, it is a change in perspective and sometimes it is just change itself. We find ourselves in a changed environment now. The airlines have done a very good job at being disciplined with their “capacity control”. This simply means they do not want empty seats on flights. They have also been very creative with what has traditionally been called a user fee model. This model implies that if you use it you will pay for it and if you don’t use it, you won’t. Think about fees for checked bags, special seat assignments, food and wi -fi onboard, etc. The list continues to grow. The list has now grown so extraordinarily that it is a significant component of the entire revenue for an airline. While the revenue picture for the airlines is encouraging, the overall projected economic growth is still anemic. Additionally, the cost of fuel is a constant threat to airline profitability. Where does ATS fit into this picture? We have always competed well; however, the competition and pricing pressure is the worst I have ever seen. Times have simply changed and ATS is forced to look inwardly at cost containment and cost reduction. To this end, we have embarked on “Changing the Course” to ensure that ATS will continue to be the service

provider of choice; from both a cost value and quality of service. To do this successfully, we must change the course ourselves. We are openly soliciting any suggestions on opportunities to reduce costs, eliminate waste and/or identify new revenue streams. Please send me your thoughts at I [email protected]. have already received great suggestions from our field and corporate staff. I know the closer we get to the source of work being done, the more creative we can be. We must be able to win new business and retain current business on price, which means we can no longer rest solely on our great reputation for safety and excellent service. That was then and this is now.

Sally A. Leible, President & COO

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

That Was Then and This is Now

1

Charter Season - HOU

2

Wing Tips YYC - American Airlines

2

Station Spotlight - COS

3

RSW Champion Award Winner

5

Wappelhorst Fun Walk

5

Employee Appreciation SNA

5

LAS Honesty & Integrity

6

Webinar Training

6

ATS NEEC

7

Canada - Employment Equity

8

United Way Plane Pull YWG

9

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Charter Season - HOU HOU welcomed the Minnesota Vikings on August 30th as their first charter of the 2012-2013 football

season. The Texans sent the Vikings flying after their 28-24 victory. Thanks HOU for your professionalism with handling the Vikings. Congratulations Texans!

American Airlines - Wing Tips YYC Wing Tips YYC added above wing services for American Airlines on September 24th. The YYCWT employees were grateful for their kind, patient and funny instructor Wallace who assisted with the raising of $60 toward the Mustard Seed Foundation. The classes supported “Blue Jeans Friday” which allowed them to wear their jeans to class for a $3 donation. “The Mustard Seed Calgary is helping homeless men and women rebuild their lives.” This was an important charity for Chris Richardson, the founder of Wing Tips. Chris passed away in June 2012.

Left to right back row: Wallace Gibbs (AA trainer from Dallas, TX), Marina Varga, Vinayak Mittal, Hoy Peng Koh, Kamaljit Dhonkal, Rita Singh Mala, Sandi Janice Fry, Herbalyn Smallwood Rumble, Jun Cui and Veronica Runnett. Left to right front row: Prab Tiwana, Melody Johnson, Samantha Van Arem, Margaret A El-Tantawy, Carmi Duarte, See-Mun Wan

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Station Spotlight - COS 83 Colorado Springs, Colorado, with over 300 days of blue skies a year, sits at an elevation of 6,035 feet (over one mile above sea level) situated near the base of one of the most famous American mountains, Pikes Peak and is home to the Garden of the Gods. ATS started ground handling American Airlines in COS, June of 2008. Most of the station employees have been here since start up, contributing to the success of the station operation and its team members. A work family that is pleasant to be around, loyal and just a dedicated group of aviation professionals, TeAAm COS gets it done. We have supported “Snowball Express” in December of every year since 2008, assisted Military movement operations as they are required and hosted the arrival of the US Honor Flag, September 23, 2011. The station won and celebrated the ATS KHAE for 2009 and 2010. During 2010, the station won the AA Customer Cup for 1st, 3rd and 4th quarter as well as went on to win the Chairman’s Cup of that year. Most all holidays are spent at work, the employee and his or her family members, the customer employees (AA) and our station manager and wife “the General” as she is called by the agents all take part in cooking / baking food and celebrating in the holidays and all station activities. About Snowball Express Creating a network of hope for the families of our fallen heroes, the Snowball Express' mission is to honor and provide hope and new memories to the children of military fallen heroes who have died while on active duty since 9/11. By attending Snowball Express, a child can see: "Service above Self" is honored by others and is a value they should subscribe to as they continue to mature as adults; they can honor their fallen hero in ways

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Station Spotlight - COS

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or at a somber place; and it's okay to laugh and have fun. Snowball Express gives kids a piece of their childhood back. For more information, visit www.snowballexpress.org. American Airlines is the official airline for Snowball Express. http://dev.tricolormedia.com/ SnowballExpress/

About US Honor Flag Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, a flag was gifted to Chris Heisler (President & CoFounder) by the Texas House of Representatives. Like many Americans, Heisler felt compelled to take action during a horrific time for the United States, and with this flag in tow, he set out for Ground Zero. Along the way, Heisler helped to organize one of the longest police motorcades in the history of the United States, bound for Ground Zero bringing many tokens of support together with other agencies, to our nation's Heroes. Since September 2001, the United States Honor Flag has paid tribute to those who have lost their lives in the line of duty protecting our lives, our homes and our country, and also those who currently serve our communities and our nation. The Honor Network was founded on the conviction that every person who is committed in service to our communities and country deserves the support of every single American, and that an increase in American patriotism is vital in keeping our great nation united. www.ushonorflag.org  

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Champion Award Winner - RSW Congratulations Marlies Beach! Marlies was one of the 2012 Champion Award winners from the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board. ATS / Marlies was nominated because of her recruitment efforts through the Southwest Florida Workforce. Not only in saving costs for advertising positions, but also on pre-screening candidates to ensure they

meet the company’s hiring needs, as well as conducting new hire orientation sessions in the Business Services Center at Southwest Florida Works. Marlies has hired approximately 34 job seekers this season through Southwest Florida Works. Marlies was invited to an Appreciation Dinner-Awards Ceremony to recognize her accomplishments.

“Friends of Paul Wappelhorst” - Walk - A - Thon “Friends of Paul Wappelhorst” will be hosting a Walk-A-Thon on Sunday, October 28th in St. Louis in support of Paul. The day will begin with a Mass, followed by friends walking on a track. There will also be a silent auction, raffle and balloon pop opportunities, and of course, great food! As many of you know, Paul's medical needs have led to some large purchases (a motorized wheelchair, a wheelchair accessible van, bathroom renovations and more). Some of you have asked how you can help. Although the details are being finalized, all donations and proceeds go to the Wappelhorst family. Please contact Bonnie James in the Corporate Office at [email protected]

Employee Appreciation - SNA Attributed to the hard work and success of the busy third quarter in SNA, Frontier Airlines hosted an employee appreciation party open to both F9 and ATS staff members. Pictured left to right: Steve Helfrich, ATS SNA GM Rick Chambers, ATS F9 City Manager Greg Hopkins, ATS F9 Regional Manager, West

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ATS Webinar Training

The following ATS webinars are now available on Connection: Conflict Management Continuous Motivation Delegation Flowcharts 101 How To Work With Difficult People E-Verify Refresher Training (US) Leading & Lagging Indicators Time Management Traits of a High Integrity Leader To register for a live webinar or listen to a recorded ATS webinar training, please go to: Connection / Employee Services / Webinars / Schedules and Registration or Recorded Webinars

Honesty and Integrity - LAS While cleaning an inbound USAirways aircraft in LAS33, Grooming Agent - Alexandra Iniguez discovered a bag containing a large sum of money. Alex immediately called upon her Supervisor - Eunice Taufaao. Because of their prompt action in notifying USAirways, they were successful in locating and returning the money to the US Airways customer. ATS appreciates you!

Interested in attending ATSU Supervisor or Manager Leadership training? Contact your manager to enroll in a 2013 session. Schedules will be available soon!

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ATS National Employment Equity Committee (NEEC) The ATS National Employment Equity Committee (NEEC) was formed and had their first meeting April 25, 2012. Committee members are: Stephanie Fries/YWG, Diandra Nicolson/YQR, Francis Odgers/YYC, Kim Yates/YYCWT, Pam Mutaf/YVR, Elise Pitre/YYZ, Dustin Karol, YXE, Carole Pitre/YUL, Tiyana Rushton, Atlantic Canada and Barb Raycraft/YEG. The first goal of the NEEC was to complete an Employment Equity Plan as mandated by the Canada Human Rights Commission. Under the Employment Equity Act ATSCC and ATSACC are required to: 1) collect information about our workforce through self-identification. 2) Conduct regular workforce analyses; and, 3) to review employment systems policies and practices in order to identify employment barriers against persons in designated groups that result from those systems, policies and practices. This article will talk about the Employment Systems Policies and Practices. Every committee member reviewed the policies and practices at their location. The policies and practices reviewed included: Position Descriptions, Application Forms, Interview Procedures, Referral Procedures, Final Selection Process, Linkages w/Recruiting Sources/Onsite Station Tours of Facilities, Career Days/Community Outreach, Job Fairs, Training Institution Recruiting, Help Wanted Ads, Training Programs (i.e., To Become a Lead), ATS University, Monthly Webinars, Open Position Postings, Job Spec Validation, Performance Appraisals, Career Counseling and Exit Interview. Some of these practices we do all the time, some we do infrequently and some we’ve never done. We reviewed 21 policies or practices and asked the same questions about each. 1. Does it conform to human rights and employment laws?

2. Is it applied consistently to all personnel? 3. Does it impact unequally on designated group members? 4. Does it accurately predict/evaluate performance? 5. Is it necessary for the safe or efficient operation of business? 6. Is it based on a bona fide occupational requirement? 7. Is accommodation possible (individually)? As a result of this “deep dive” into our policies and practices we have the following Action Items in our Employment Equity Plan for this year – a. Review referral program with recruiting group to ensure it is meeting employment equity goals; b. Look at online recruiting sources to ensure we are targeting designated groups. Consider career days/community outreach annually at all locations. c. Review necessity for a national final selection process / policy. d. Review whether we need a booklet or other informational material on how to move up in the organization. e. Consider job validation process to validate job specs as new jobs come open and conditions change. We will keep you updated as we move forward. Talk to your local committee members if you have questions or want to present ideas, information flow on this important subject should be a two-way street!

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Canada - Employment Equity Workplace diversity

From Quota to Culture Changing the way we look at workplace diversity. In the last few decades Canada has without a doubt made monumental strides in Equity and Diversity, not only as a workforce, but as a country. We as a country far surpass many others in the world when it comes to our diversity, our human rights and our employment equity legislation-- embracing diversity and multiculturalism as cornerstones of our society. But should we be giving ourselves a pat on the back just yet? It was just over 50 years ago that Manitoba adopted the Pay for work equity law preventing discrimination in salary based on Gender. At the time the pay equity law came to pass, the Canadian criminal code still deemed homosexuality to be a criminal offence, and schools in Ontario still were still segregated by Race. Ontario schools did not desegregate until eight years later, and Homosexuality was not decriminalized until 12 years later in 1964. It wasn’t until nearly 20 years following this that the federal Employment equity act came into force in Canada. This was not until 1986. Only 24 years ago. So what does this all mean? Have we made strides toward our equity and diversity efforts? Without a doubt.

A lot of companies make diversity a part of the performance goals against which an executive gets paid. Just as you have to make a certain sales number, you have to make a diversity number to get your bonus. – Vernon Jordan While I can appreciate any organization’s efforts to, as a measure of ensuring progress, implement the tools and tracking methods necessary to ensure progress and diligence when it comes to diversity— What is concerning, is when an organizations efforts toward a diverse workforce end with merely numbers—the Quota. More than just Numbers When workforces build their “diversity” upon numbers without any fundamental principals in place to encourage tolerance and protect all employees from harassment and discrimination- are they really creating a diverse workplace or are they simply meeting a quota—and in the end, will they create diversity, or adversity? From Quota to Culture As leaders in organizations we need to shift our mindset from a quota, and lead the organizations into a culture of tolerance and acceptance. Many companies recruitment strategies, for example will include indicating that they are an equal opportunity employer which is indeed a step toward workplace diversity, but once hired, are these same companies giving their employees the opportunity for employment equality?

Do we have a long way to go? You’d better believe it.

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Thank You! For reading our publication. Please feel free to pass it on to your friends and family. For further information on ATS please visit www.atsstl.com for exciting career opportunities.

A L O O K A T WH A T ' S GO I N G O N I NS I D E THE ATS WORLD .

Canada - Employment Equity

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Continued from page 8 In order to truly embrace workplace diversity, we need to look beyond the numbers, and distinguish our workplace as one of equality and respect alike for all employees from entry level right to the tops of our organizations. Expectations need to be communicated, monitored, and followed up upon when not met. In addition, employees should be given Safe Avenues within the workplace to address concerns relating to this —Avenues where an employee can feel assured that their concerns will be held in confidence, and where they will be protected from retaliatory behavior. Above all else, all claims brought forward should be taken seriously, investigate fully, and follow up upon. After all, a zero tolerance, or harassment policy, for example, is of no use to anyone, if it only ever exists on paper and is never enforced or followed. Challenge your teams, challenge your self, to focus less on meeting a quota, and more on developing a culture- one of equality, respect and diversity, free from harassment, and with open doors for those with concerns. While your hiring practices may still promote employment equity—don't allow your diversity goals to settle there—Think bigger! Start the shift and change in your company’s culture to embrace, and retain those same employees through a commitment as leaders to a workplace built on the foundation of Tolerance, respect and acceptance.

United Way Plane Pull - YWG The teams were set to pull with all their might as Winnipeg’s 2012 United Way Plane pull took place; ATS in YWG took a “pushier” approach, volunteering their service, staff and equipment to push the aircraft back into place after each teams pull. “It’s a worthy cause and we're proud to have represented ATS, and show our pride to the community” notes YWG General Manager Jim Lane, who throughout the course of the event, even managed to find himself on the pulling end of the Boeing 727 a few times— assisting teams who were short on members. Nearly 1300 Winnipeggers attended the event, as the United Way kicked off their campaign for the year. Thank you to the ATS YWG employees who offered their time to help support this worthy cause!