Originally Posted by
Skyone
Jay Vee,
The public doesn't demand, what? The public wants bus rate fares. They care about little more, unless metal is bent or they are inconvienenced. That's it. Proof? CAL after Lorenzo would never had kept flying. Valujet after their accident would never had continued flying. Blue shirts, cleaning cabins etc.? They do not care....it's fares and fares only. The public would rather pay five dollars for a snickers bar on the aircraft than pay two dollars extra for a fare.
And cleaning cabins? At Delta during the 70s and early 80s, pilots used to do the same, help load bags now and again and do whatever they could to help get an aircraft off the gate near on time. Everyone pulled together to make things work. What a refreshing concept. And don't say, look at Delta now. Management destroyed that esprite de corps. Doesn't degrade the profession, it shows the rest of the employees that you aren't some prima donna too good to try and make the airline work.
It appears that you have misconstrued what I'm talking about.
You haven't seen me say a thing about ticket prices, snickers bars, value to the public, airline rivalries, or one airline out-competing the other. I've total avoided mentioning anything to do with the marketplace that the public operates in. You somehow have focused on it as justification for non-union workers. In my opinion, this is somewhat a scab mentality.
My focus has been on work rules, conditions, retirement, crew forces and the things you bargain for through a collective agreement. It really doesn't matter to me what "product" the airline sells; what matters to me is how a crew force protects the work conditions which have become industry standard.
Want to know the difference between a union and a non-union crew force? The union crew force isn't jealous of the non-union crew force. There is not one aspect of JetBlue that "I" have discussed that is better then what a union crew force has bargained for. Union crew forces haven't asked for FAA exemptions to existing rules, don't bargain for individual contracts, and have a unified crew force as a buffer to the management railroading them on work conditions.
The only thing I really need to apologize for is poking fun at the blue shirts. If you are proud of the blue shirt, more power to you. I suppose it answers the ancient zen like question: "When two clowns meet, do they smile?".