Originally Posted by
oldmako
Yo Ben,
It would be really great if you would pen a nice missive to the troops on the old LCAL forum (the forum that requires coin to join AND allows scabs) and implore all of the UNITED PILOTS who participate there to flush that forum once and for all and join the UA forum. Perhaps you could suggest that they suck up their anger and post their beef(s) on the (new, combined UA/CA) forum because their next contract, and all the ones after that depend on ALL of us showing a unified front to Willis. This isn't rocket surgery. The old UA is gone. The old CAL is gone. We all need to forget our past and deal with the giant helmet fire that is sucking the O2 out of this place before we auger in.
All the ISL nonsense and "who took my cheese" crap are history. No amount of (sickening, fractious, petty, whiny, petulant) *****ing will change ANY of it.
So ALPA dicked you? WELCOME to the party! But from this day on, our union is all we have to repair what is left of our careers. And The Union isn't going anywhere until several thousand guys retire, at the very least. Fantasy is great, reality not so much. Hell, YOU'RE an ALPA officer! Act like the leader your pilots elected you to be and start the damn dialog. This circular firing squad drill is asinine and wholly counter productive to us, the new hires, and our fellow 121 pilots as we move forward. Get the Leonards pulling on the rope already!
There are massive brown issues percolating and only unity and group HP will avail us the muscle to deal with them. The peeps in Willis are surely taking note of our collective disfunction and laughing their bums off.
And the opener looms.
Fire away lads.
I'd be happy to discuss that with you. But it would be a long conversation. It will take more than 2 or 3 years to wipe away what happened at Cal circa 1985. I honestly believe we shouldn't ignore that history (lCa 1985).
My history is with USAir which was absolutely 100% scab-free. Coming to CAL in 2005 was a HUGE culture shock for me; to the point where I actually didn't enjoy the job that I worked all my life to achieve. In short, I had to let that hate go in order to stay employed, married, etc. I doubt the lCal guys are going to forget their experiences for the past 30 years overnight.
I'm sure to catch hell because I just publicly confirmed that I don't hate scabs; truth is I don't hate anyone. Been far to blessed in life to hate.
I've also NEVER walked away from a moral fight or sold out one of my Bro's.
I'd like to discuss the issue further if discussion is both give and take. The lCal guys used the tools available in their shed to deal with the issue, so did the lUal guys; some honesty and strategy on how to use both sets of tools would be best in my opinion. Because of the two immense differences between the two strikes, I doubt we get either side to "convert" or "assimilate"; but we shouldn't want that anyhow. This is a new airline with new obstacles; we will need to develop new strategies and respect each other's input. It's just a little hard to do that on a forum.
I agree that this issue is important. I might suggest that a little empathy and respect towards each other's experiences would probably be more conducive to the contract and working conditions we deserve, than expending energy on a subject that we probably agree on anyway.
I would also never expect anyone to change their opinion on the issue, just their strategy.
Thanks for the suggestion. I hope we speak more about this.
Frats,
Ben
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