Originally Posted by
thevagabond
Good morning winglet. Did you personally refuse to fly any routes once operated by PanAm, Eastern, or any of the others cut down by capitalism? When your company operates a new route into a city operated by another carrier do you, for the good of all in aviation, refuse such flying? What about the fact that when you leave your seat the purchase power of the new occupant will be less than what it was thirty years ago.
You've been a pawn and as such a tool of capitalism like all the rest of us. Be careful with the stones in your glass house.
thevagabond,
I don't believe I cast any stones. I fully understand that airline business decisions are not made by the pilot group. At the same time I'm not going to hand management the key to perpetual pilot smack-down. I only present examples of how pilot groups, when forced to make a decision, can attempt to stop the whipsaw.
To answer your question. Yes, when the opportunity presented itself, I personally refused to fly for an alter-ego airline. I, along with the majority of my co-workers, voted to integrate three separate pilot groups under a single list although we were all aware that it meant losing both seniority and upgrade opportunities.
Existing as a pawn of Capitalism and being a pawn of management whipsaw techniques are separate issues. Capitalism isn't a justification for directly taking another's job when the choice exists. Imagine, I have donated to strike funds of competitor airlines
.
We all have to be prepared for when the fork in the road presents itself. It separates the selfish from the un-selfish. It's a personal choice that reveals one's true colors. Either you believe in the common good or you don't. One either makes attempts to lift others up or prefers to fight over scraps.
The US Airways Express Pilots Alliance is simply an opportunity to put all of our differences behind us and try to do something for the common good.
winglet