Originally Posted by
LittleBoyBlew
Time for ALL pilots to draw a line in the sand. Not just AA pilots but ALL other airlines as well. It is time to educate the general public that our professions downward spiral has/will trickle down to ALL other industries as well. All other organized labor groups, regardless of industry, are feeling the rape and demise of working agreements that have taken decades to achieve.
This struggle is not just about the AA pilots, its about ALL US LABOR!!
As pilots WE have failed miserably in educating the masses how our struggle is in many ways the same struggle as teachers, firemen, police, auto industry workers, ALL pensioned employees, etc, etc.
The general public will not sympathise with OUR cause unless we educate them on how parallel ours is to "their" cause.
"Today its ME, tomorrow will be YOU"
Please...really? You want sympathy from the general public. The general public thinks you work 15 days a month for more than a 6 figure salary.
Pensioned employees...they don't exist anymore. Teachers, firemen, and police won't get the sympathy of the general public either. Have you seen a firemans pension?? Do you think it is sustainable with municipalities going bankrupt left and right. Pensions are a thing of the past, unsustainable in any financial situation, private industry or municiple government.
I know it sucks, but it is the financial reality of people living too long. No company or government can afford to sustain a pension for people that live 30, 40, and in some cases 50 years after retirement.
In my opinion you need to negotiate the highest 401k match and Profit Sharing possible in your next contract...lose the pension. Nobody can ever take that money away from you or use it as leverage against you once it is deposited in your personal retirement account. Pensions are a handicap that management will use to leverage the senior pilots against the junior pilots. Why give management that power.
All of that being said about pensions, I do believe we are in a struggle between the income gap. That is where you need to spend the energy educating the general public.