Originally Posted by
Nevets
You contradict yourself. You said that, "Lockheed treats their employees better than the FAA." But then you said, " The biggest issue in the change over from government to private is the grotesque way employees are treated." I'm sure you used this example because LM did this to FSS employees. I wouldn't say that LM treats their employees better than the FAA when the first thing they do is say, "sorry Charlie, no retirement pension for you!" Especially when Charlie had 24 years and 364 days of federal service.
I wasn't very clear. Yes, virtually any company (except maybe Mesa) treats their employees better than FAA treats its ATC workforce.
The grotesque treatment I'm referring to is from the FAA. Lockheed didn't do this to FSS folks. The FAA did. LockMart is merely the opportunists. The FAA, with direction from Bush, Inc, started the FSS privatization process in 2003 and completed it Oct 2005.
It is the agency that weasled its way out of paying retirements to folks who served 99.9% of their obligation, and who got 0% of their retirement.
Not every FSS person got screwed. The agency did keep (I think) 300 of the 2200 former FSS folks and put them in ATC jobs. In many instances, FSS folks were put in management or supervisor jobs over the current ATC workforce. And those who were eligible to retire, did in fact retire and continue working for LockMart... double dipping.