Originally Posted by
SpecialTracking
You are so off the mark that you are forced into keyboard bravado to bolster your position based on suppositions.
I question the mindset of one who crosses a picket line. Their intentions are not to mind the store while the final contract details are being sorted out. They are opportunist looking to not only permanently replace lawfully striking employees, but to replace the financial support of the families involved. It is that opportunist mindset, combined with a beholden attitude, that invites questionable decision making skills.
We do not need to fight the battles of the past. We however, need to remember the past and the actions of those taken. If they are forgotten, a conduit remains for a repeat of the past.
While stagnating our careers resulting in deeper furloughs than what was necessary, age 65 did lend a financial lifeline to those who found themselves in a genuinely difficult situation. It is...what it is.
.....my apologies to all for the thread drift.
I knew that I was going to regret even starting down this path, but here goes nothing:
1. What about all the furloughed/retired airline guys who tried to get my job as a corporate pilot. I mean seriously, going straight to my boss, explaining how their airline experience made them better than me and asking for my job? What about that? Can you seriously state that an airline puke can try to take my job, but I can't try to take theirs? BTW, as previously stated, when offered the opportunity to scab, I didn't. Every corporate pilot that I knew from the time could tell you similar stories. So the airline guys get the wrap themselves in the union flag, but the corporate guys are on their own. Wow, what a concept.
2. I made it all the way to the Captain's board at American in about 1978, and was told by that board that since I wasn't a "fine young military pilot," that I wasn't qualified. What a crock!!!!!! Every corporate pilot that I know can tell similar stories. Yet, I didn't cross.
3. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, if you reached somewhere around 30 without getting hired, too bad so sad, you just happened to reach the magic hiring date range during a lull, so go be a Wall Mart greeter.
You guys either forget, or never knew, that even the slightest physical imperfection, being the wrong age, gender, race, and just about anything else could be unfairly disqualifying.
Oh, don't forget the Braniff guys stiffed by American, and who knows how many other airline guys stiffed by their "brothers." Without the ex Braniff pilots, the CAL strike might not have succeeded. Not picking on Braniff pilots, but in the end, most of us will decide to feed our family.
I know this is not universal, and certainly there are pilots hired at CAL in 1983 and 1984 who are complete disasters. But, there are many who had been unfairly denied the opportunity to pursue their careers, and jumped at the only game in town.
No keyboard kommando here, remember, even though given the opportunity to cross, I didn't. I simply understand the motivations, some of which are good, and some are ugly. I refuse to paint an entire group with the same brush! Those that do are not much above a lynch mob.
Now I'll apologize for the thread drift
