Originally Posted by stickwiggler
D'angelo,
I will try my very best to not sound like I'm lecturing, and I won't resort to name calling, but your attitude is really, really selfish. "the threat of a union... and we save 2%" Don't you realize what your saying? It's not the 1,600 bucks that come out of my check every year, it is the idea that we (union pilots, like comair) do the really hard work. When they went on strike they got everything from dirty looks, to beat up, to death threats by fellow workers. many of them lost homes, marriages, even their whole career to fight the good fight.
I can't tell you that you shouldn't be selfish, and that it is shallow and short sighted to think the way you do. I can tell you that you should have the brains to keep your mouth shut. What you just said is a slap in the face of the pilots who have sacrificed so much in the past to put you in the position to even entertain your thoughts.
IMHO, what you should be doing is your fair share in the struggle of pilots v management, but if not, at least thank those who do.
The big problem with the union is they have no vision. They are still trying to live like its pre 9/11. Remember the comair strike was in march of 2001. Had 9/11 happened right around when comair was to go on strike I guarantee you there would have been no strike. There would have been no sweetheart deal etc. etc.
The true heros are those who don't cave into peer pressure. The current line of thinking is that every new contract has to outdo the old one at any cost. This is old outdated thinking. It is simply false and wrong. If a pilot group signs a new contract that works for them and their families they just raised the bar even if it was lower than the last contract signed. This game ALPA plays of lets see if we can outdo the last etc. isn't fighting the good fight its giving into peer pressure. I am very proud of the comair pilot group for voting for the concessions. Though its status is up in the air for now we voted for what was best for us despite the peer pressure. It's a lot easier to tell someone what to do with their life than it is to walk in their shoes. IMO it takes a lot more courage to do that than it does to give in and do what everyone else is telling you to do. Just because all the kids at recess say smoking is cool and you should do it doesn't mean you should have to. If skywest is unfortunate enough to vote in a union they will quickly regret their decision and realize it would have been a lot cheaper to simply tease the company with a union drive when they need a raise, etc.