Kinda quiet on this thread.... Not very many offers of hiring assistance this time around.

My .02 is that the ABX and Astar guys and gals are shooting yourselves in the foot. Anyone wasting their time writing letters to their senator, making picket signs or walking at a protest are wasting time you could be networking with friends, sending out resumes, and looking for a new job.

You're not the first to ever have this fate befall you. Thousands have walked this line at Aloha, ATA, Champion, etc... And many airlines from Eastern and Pan Am to West Pac and Vanguard. And with 10,000+ "Post-911" furloughees from United, American, Delta, USair, Northwest, Continental, and America West all finding their careers recovering, you're hard pressed to find sympathy while protesting DHL and UPS. All of the pilots I mentioned above could have "put up the good fight" and "died with their boots on" and all of the other catch phrases I've read, but it would not have amounted to any saved jobs.

Good luck. I, personally, have not had the ideal career, but I have spent each downturn remarketing myself, not writing stern letters to the CEO of the company where I was furloughed.

Rott