It's easy to take shots at scabs and those that have flown with them on anonymous forums. When I got 'hired' at LCAL as part of the merger agreement, I flew with a few of them. Some were social misfits, but I was surprised that one of the best Captains I flew with was on the scab list.

I've never crossed a picket line but I've done a whole lot of very stupid things in my life that I'd love to have a 'redo' on. I'm sure that there are more than a few scabs that'd like to step into a time machine and stop their younger selves from scabbing. For those few scabs who express pride over crossing the picket line (there are some), I'll only tell them to F themselves and the only other conversation I want with them is checklist items. Just remember everyone - those vocal dirtbags are mostly flying with very junior reserves (mostly on probation), as almost everyone else bids away, drops trips, or call in sick. So, who's 'protecting' the probationary pilots from these dreadful scabs?

On a side note, I didn't think that our union brothers did much to help us multiple furloughees over the last decade. Jets for jobs? Wow; Livin' The Dream flying a Brasilia on year 2 pay of $20K/yr. Furlough fund? Great, my dental was paid for while quite a few of those not furloughed were picking up open trips.

Sure, I'll bid Sparky - it pays very well and I don't mind sitting reserve. I won't look at the scab list before I fly with anyone and let their actions do the talking. Just like my actions (and everyone else's) will be judged on day-to-day performance.

I'd love to see a way past this issue, as some of the scabs are younger than me and I don't want to listen to the squawking about subhuman scabs for the rest of my career. Not an easy thing to get past and I've got no solutions to offer.

For what it's worth, I don't expect to have the 'opportunity' to go on strike for the rest of my career, as UCH is too big for any government to allow us to strike. IF we are able to go on strike sometime in the future, we've got bigger problems than who's going to scab because it'll mean that the airline is about to go Chap 7.

I'll now slip into my flame retardant suit.