Originally Posted by
FliFast
73,
With respect, I know 1800 furloughed TWA pilots that have anywhere from 7-20 years of service at TWA, that, let's just say, are not sending holiday cards to MEC Lloyd Hill. I think they would be glad to tell the APA to stuff it, and IMHO if the APA asked them to show their loyalty...not wearing hats, trousers, or any other organized labor activity, they'd laugh. In fact, there is talk on the TWA message boards to organize informational picketing against the APA for Capt Hill's position on eliminating Supp CC (the only protection the TWA pilots were afforded during the gang event against them).
Feel free to walk, but just know, 12-13% of your pilot group that was furloughed will be wearing their hats to work. Not because they are pro-management or anti-union, but because; the APA told the TWA pilots that they were K-Mart pilots and they deserved the f%ck$ng they received at the hands of Carl Icahn and from the APA.
My point, maybe Capt. Hill would want to re-think his platform of "lets screw the TWA pilots even more", when he is about to enter a phase of collective bargaining that needs to have pilot group unification. Hey, he is your elected voice, he talks for you, and if not, show him the door.
Remember all those "nice" TWA pilots in STL that were nice because they kept their jobs because they were hired before Carl Icahn raided TWA (mostly Ozark pilots that received DOH when they merged with TWA in 1986), if Supp CC is dissolved by Lloyd Hill, most of them if not all will lose their Capt seat because they won't have the seniority to maintain it because they were slotted starting with our most senior pilot hired in 1961 was given a 1985 seniority date then they were slotted 8 AAs then 1 TW. Instant payraise for the NAAtive side, instant paycut for the red infection.
I'd guess the niceness may wear off.
Regards as always and sincerely, best of luck with negos.
FF
I have no doubt that the TWA pilots would like to see every AA pilot lying in hell with a broken back. On the other hand, it wasn't APA's idea to buy TWA, if fact I think they advised against it. Nothing personal, but mergers suck (just ask republic, piedmont, western, psa, north central, southern, etc).
I have to take exception to your claim that Ozark got DOH, I've known plenty of Ozark guys in my time that see it differently. Anyway, we could probably start an entire thread over it. Of your 1800 furloughed brethren, how many do you think really want to come back? Especially if Supp CC gets trashed (I'm not sure it will).
Besides, I have to think they could do much better somewhere else, with 40 recalls a month, Arpey's shrink the airline to profitability strategy, and age 65 looming that it could be long time before a majority come back.
It's perhaps unfortunate that pilot groups find themselves at each other throats, but until we figure out a way not to merge or come up with some sort of national seniority list, this party is going to continue.