Originally Posted by
Rottweiler
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
Don't get me wrong I'm not picking on you Rottie but I'm getting tired on of hearing all the guys who do not have "a dog in this hunt" claiming that we (ABX & Astar)are NOT networking and attempting to find suitable alternative employment. I can write cover letters and send resumes to airline recruiting departments and send my Senators and Representatives anti-trust letters too. It is not one or the other. Yes, you better bet we are networking, for what it is worth, our families are depending on it! As far as the example you stated of all those other airlines that failed and whose pilots pick themselves off the ground to re-establish their aviation career, WE KNOW. We worked at those failed airlines. Where do you think we came from? We picked ourselves up once or twice and we will do it again. However, I fail to see why so many other airline workers would take exception to our small group fighting a last ditch effort to delay or avert the loss of our incomes, health care benefits, and already earned retirements.
As far as "remarketing myself" what would you propose I do? I have updated and sent resumes, called all my friends and my friends friends, I have gone to employment consuling, I continue to study the FAR/AIM when I am not flying freight, I am brushing up on potential interview questions even though there are no interviews to be had. The only thing I feel I could possibly do that I haven't is buy a B737 type rating. My family and I decided that spending 5K to 10K$ on a rating that would only add me to the list of 30,000 already qualified B737 airman was not in our best interests. The SWA job, although a great opportunity, is just too much of a long shot considering the present financial costs to us. However, f you would like to give me the cost of the rating, well, that is different! I still have two weeks of vacation left this year and I am willing to provide my own transportation to the simulator facility. PM me and I tell you where to send the check..