Originally Posted by
AirbornPegasus
Seriously F9 Driver -- get a life. Your sad little life is far better than 50% of the guys at RAH that are stuck in FO slots because their top 500 lifers won't move on. The moral is horrible, they hate their lives, many of them trust the union only slightly more than they trust BB as they feel they got sold out on integration (Lynx guys from 2009 coming in over 2007 RAH hires) while the top 500 rolled merrily along gaining job security. I know dozens of guys over there that are dying to get out. More than 30 of them left last month for difficult, life altering, options -- with little or no support from their own or other pilot groups.
Most of the 50%er's (FO's) are guys that just wanted to earn their stripes and move on. Now they are stuck going over seas, starting over at $24 an hour somewhere else, giving up flying all together, or eating BB's crap with no upgrade or a raise in sight for the foreseeable future. These are not the guys that took the Midwest flying, or want your seat on the bus. They just wanted to put in their 3,000 to 5,000 hours (probably like you did) and move on. They all now have 5,000 or more hours and will be making significant sacrifices in their life to make ends meet or leave the profession all together.
Despite all of that they voted to cut their hours to avoid furloughs. Now they will vote to strike despite having lived on poverty wages for more than five years. All of this in the name of their pilot group, supporting the profession, and solidarity. And you want to degrade their actions??? Shame on you and anyone that shares your beliefs. You are a disgusting piece of humanity who clearly has no respect for other's sacrifices or knowledge of the industry as a whole.
Statements such as this make you an embarrassment to the profession and your pilot group. Many in our group have much more respect for the RAH guys than the FAPA guys. You guys are dancing with the devil and the music is going to stop. All your flaming remarks will make for little sympathy from the rest of us for the FAPA folks when the RAH ship sinks.
You guys are missing my point and you are reacting a bit too emotionally. Your union leadership is leading you astray.
As I initially said - i sympathize with your plight. Many here like to talk about the music stopping and what will happen to the F9 pilots. The music stopped 5 years ago and left the 50% of your pilots stuck in the right seat with awful QOL. That sucks.
Your leadership hasn't set any reasonable expectations for what will come out of the mediation process, and is now asking for a strike vote. You'll get a huge turn out and yes vote for that. For what? Leverage? The one thing abundantly clear to management is that you want more than you've got. A strike vote now ONLY sends that message.
You're in a bad spot, working from a deep deep hole. I'm not a management lackey and hope you get "more" but a industry average contract (which is a huge improvment) during these economic times is a bit more realistic.
There was an antagonistic tone in my first post - directed at 357 leadership. They've done you a disservice. It's painful to watch from the outside where, believe it or not, there is support for you getting a better contract. This isn't the right way to do it.
Good luck!