Originally Posted by
aa73
Valid points about not lumping everyone into the same category. But the intent of no floating went far beyond the mental health of the pilot group, and this message was displayed more than once in APA emails: it was done in order to display a show of unity by a long row of Zeros down the float column.
Simply said, it’s the senior guys within 5 years of retirement that should be the first ones not to float! I mean, how much are they making as 777/787 captains... and yet they need that extra $15 or $20k that bad?
If I have any empathy for guys who floated it would be the ones who are in dire circumstances.
But when your union asks for a show of unity, you comply knowing and expecting that your union brother and sister next to you has your back by complying as well. That is the most basic foundation of unionism. Everyone sacrifices together for the good of the contract and future contracts.
The company fears one thing the most - that is a Unified pilot group. Nothing else even comes close.
I’ve agreed with everything you (and others) have wrote. It was about unity. I think what gets a lot of people is the majority that floated were senior in seat/aircraft and/or WB guys. For some reason it isn’t the junior that floated that bothers me, it’s the senior. There is a stigma of “you’ll be senior one day... blah blah blah” and this just reaffirms this stereotype. Don’t get me wrong, it was not all of them and a lot of guys retiring this year gave up a lot of $$$ to support the masses. But it was clearly a majority in favor of the senior. QOL and other issues don’t really effect (affect?) them and it’s the appearance that they can care less. What sorta scares me is if these guys making 300K+ either can’t subside on that income without floating for one year, or simply use the tired excuse that “they gotta make up for the last decade”, where does this leave us as a group when push comes to shove here soon and we’re offered cash over real QOL changes. You know where the Slice’s of the world stand. On a bright note, CnR says 87% didn’t float so it’s really only 13%. if you take out those who probably needed too, were back to the 10% rule which holds true anywhere. There’s the cup 1/2 full