It would interesting to see what would happen if UA Captains just started flying EVERY LEG when a slick tie showed up. Pure SOP, pleasant and professional but nothing more. Then slam click.

The contract we toil under is the product of 87 years of ALPA leadership and negotiations. Our wages and benefits are not gifts of benevolence by the company. When I was furloughed I was lucky enough to find one of the last jobs out there. Starting pay for a 757 FO was $34,500 per YEAR. No 401K. No nuttin'. Just a paycheck. And barely one at that. Captains made $58,000. Because that's all the company needed to pay. So much for benevolence.

I didn't much care for the SLI either, but I sure do enjoy a LOT of what the union does for me and I know why I make what I do.

I fully realize that a lot of pin wearing guys and gals have crossed a picket line. But the Eff the union crowd confuses the hell out of me. They enjoy all the benefits of our contract. And one day, should they step on their crank, you can bet your last paycheck that they will expect "their" union to go to bat for them. And, the union will.

I have met a handful of guys over my career that had to sit at either the big table or who got bad aeromedical news and lost their medicals. All of them related their stories to me while at cruise or on an overnight. After their union got them their tickets back.

Just thinking out loud.