Originally Posted by
UnusualAttitude
The irrelevant/insulting part is thinking that somehow because one's first position at Purple wasn't Flight Engineer that they somehow aren't entitled to an opinion. It would be like me saying, "if you didn't spend the first four years in the gooney bird droning around with no radar or deicing equipment then count yourself lucky and take what you get son." Contract 2015 created the largest systematic seniority abrogation in Purple history. I think there is value in educating new hires that went directly to the 777 about what life is like for domestic flyers but it's not their fault that they took a position offered to them as a new hire. You lose the argument when you start trying to poke holes at the person you are communicating with by suggesting that their point of view isn't valid solely because the career paths don't look exactly the same.
OK, I'll buy that, but there are an awful lot of new hire right seat wide body types who have zero appreciation for those that had to pay their dues in lower paying seats. How do fix that particular attitude? A lot of these same folks say "screw the old guys" every chance they get, and it is getting tiresome. The retirement wasn't fixed for multiple contracts, as it should have been. We are here because our union leadership failed us. How is that my fault? I voted "no" plenty of times, and I am willing to do so again.
The retirement needs to be fixed, pay rates need to be fixed. Perhaps if they did a good job on retirement, people might retire early, and the young guys can advance more quickly.
Why do the young guys have to continually say, "screw the old guys", "they should have fixed retirement before" like it is our fault it wasn't fixed? That's all I am trying to say.
Also, no one seems to give any props to those of us that said in 2015, "don't screw the new hires out of the A plan". NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE THAT WE PROTECTED YOU, AND YET YOU WANT TO THROW US UNDER THE BUS. That is my primary beef with the young guys.
Again, they should be more grateful. We could have fixed our retirement, and screwed them, but we didn't. Now they want to screw us. That is a bad attitude on their part, not mine.
Also, not one of the young guys, or the MEC gives a damn about retro-retirement, which should be equally as important as retro pay. Why is that? Because "I've got mine" works both ways.
They are setting themselves up for more delays during the next contract negotiations, because they are not being fair to the guys who have retired since the amendable date, but again, no one seems to care. We need leadership that is smart enough to think long term, and that has never happened here, at least as far as the union is concerned.
The company is laughing at us, and it is time for that to stop.