Lufthansa Strike - A scab's point of view
 

I threw up in my mouth a little when I read this article about US airlines benefiting from European airline strikes. It doesn't take much of a stretch to guess what kind of airline analyst would jump to such a conclusion.
Hint: Vaughn Cordle crossed the picket line during the UAL/ALPA strike in 1985. Funny how he doesn't mention that in his resume.

The pilots of Lufthansa are striking over job security, otherwise known as scope. I know United Pilots are not required to perform struck work, how does your union address flying extra sections (or more important, NOT flying extra sections) that are a result of a strike?

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Lufthansa strike disrupts traffic, sends customers elsewhere
Some U.S. airlines could benefit from a long strike; British Airways may be next

By Christopher Hinton, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With Lufthansa jets grounded by a pilots strike and cabin crew workers threatening to do the same to British Airways, U.S. carriers may cash in on disruptions to transatlantic traffic.

But an intricate web of international alliances and partnerships largely decide which airlines could benefit from European labor strife and which might be hurt by it. Combined, Lufthansa and British Airways fly more international passenger miles than any other airline.

A four-day strike at Lufthansa is too short to have much of a material affect, but if pilots push the strike further, Lufthansa and passengers will be scrambling for seats on the jets of partner airlines.
But is it good for customers?

Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson, is warning that support for a deal between British Airways and American Airlines is "a kick in the teeth" for passengers. Video courtesy of Sky News,

Lufthansa is a member of the Star Alliance, which includes Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) , UAL Corp.'s (NASDAQ:UAUA) United, US Airways (NYSE:LCC) , Air Canada, All Nippon Airways and Singapore Airlines. It's been reported these airlines are trying to accommodate customers flying on connecting flights with Lufthansa.

But partner airlines with direct flights to Frankfurt are also likely to benefit from the disruption, according to Vaughn Cordle, an analyst with AirlinesForecasts LLC. Lufthansa and its partners account for about 70% of the traffic between Germany's largest city and the U.S.

Continental and United each have direct flights to Frankfurt, and so does rival Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) .

A strike at British Airways (LSE:UK:BAY) would mostly benefit AMR Corp.'s (NYSE:AMR) American Airlines, Cordle said. American is a oneworld alliance member along with the London-based carrier and has landing slots at Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest travel hubs.

Cabin crews from British Airways voted overwhelming to strike over imposed changes to crew numbers and working practices. The airline is seeking a pay freeze and to switch 3,000 employees to part-time status. It hopes to reduce costs by 140 million pounds in 2010.

Heathrow is also a major hub for BMI and Virgin Atlantic Airways

This from the UAL MEC...

Vereinigung Cockpit has asked for mutual assistance calling for a ban on extra flights and capacity, wet leasing, and assistance provided to stranded pilots. I have advised Vereinigung Cockpit President Captain Steicher that on behalf of the United MEC and all United pilots that we are pleased to assist our fellow Vereinigung Cockpit pilots with their request. I have advised United that our Collective Bargaining Agreement precludes the Company from entering into agreements with Lufthansa to assist it during a strike and that United pilots are not required to fly on wet leases with Lufthansa or to fly extra sections added in response to a labor dispute, or to fly up gauged aircraft designed to benefit from the dispute. We have also asked United to assist Lufthansa crew members stranded in the United States with transportation as result of the labor dispute, and we intend to directly assist Lufthansa crewmembers as well.

Nice to see UAL making an honest effort to support Lufthansa pilots.

Someone has to "save" them
 

Careful, you may offend a lot of CAL pilots :eek:

Scabs are impossible to offend.

Thankfully, the scabs are slowly being picked off at CAL.

Here at UAL as well. 135 were left when the age 60 rule changed in 2007. Not sure how many are left now. With about 2500 captains, and 135 scabs, you have about a 5% chance of flying with one overall, slightly better odds if you're on the WBs. So how in in he11 did I draw one for my 3 day trip!!! :mad: Here is how it will go ....."gear up"...........(crickets)..............."gear down".........."shutdown checklist".........."see you in the morning"..... slam/click.........repeat. fun stuff. :rolleyes:

Nice to see that jsled as I don't see many at ual act that way towards them anymore.

Call in sick:rolleyes:.

Screw that. Make that lousy SOBs life so miserable he calls in sick.

Now your talking, agree 100%!

1. eat 2-3 hard boiled eggs every morning
2. deny, deny, deny
3. :D

Possible Scabs?
 

I saw a Condor 767 on the ramp in DEN yesterday parked at the same gate where Lufthansa usually parks. Also, the departure boards in the terminal showed the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt canceled, and this Condor flight as "on-time" to Frankfurt.

(I have pictures, but I don't know how to upload them into my post, sorry.)

Yes! to a certain extent at least: Condor does not belong to Lufthansa anymore and they recruit their own pilots, so it was probably not direct KTV (Lufthansa contract) pilots at least! But British Airlines, BMI etc were flying Lufthansa routes too... I don't want to offend anyone as I am not aware of the rules, circumstances and laws in GB, but I did find it strange that Lufthansa was able to operate almost 1/3 of their flights (partly with management pilots on own aircraft and party with charters from all over the world).

However, the fight is not lost! The strike is not completely ended - Lufthansa and VC only agreed that there will be no more strikes until March the 8th. Until then they will be in negotiations without any preconditions (which is good). If Lufthansa still refuses to agree on a fair and reasonable contract and primarily won't respect current contracts, then the strike is going to begin again - I'm pretty sure about that! And as much as it already hurt the company this time around (flights are expected to operate normally no earlier than friday) I'm sure it will hurt even more next time!

Let's just hope VC hangs in there and won't settle for less than a fair and long-term agreement!

Regards,
Jakob

By British Airlines I presume you mean British Airways [sic].

That part is most certainly untrue, although I imagine that BMI may have flown some additional Lufthansa services.

For those who don't know, Lufthansa own 80% of BMI and BMI already fly Lufthansa services from LHR on their behalf.

And ALWAYS make sure the Lead/Purser know. Of course since you would always want to be PC, the correct thing to say would be:

"Hi, I'm ___. I'm F/O on the trip and I'm not the one who crossed the line in '85.":D

Hello BA Pilot,

first of all please excuse my ignorance! What I said was a mistake - I had just read about "BALPA" pilots flying those routes and stupidly assumed they would only be from British Airways (and sorry about that too, I've been really tired the past few days - please, no offence!).

So let me correct what I said wrongly before: BMI pilots (BALPA union) flew Lufthansa routes. However, as far as I've read, they could not do anything about it and were legally forced to fly as strikebreakers!

So again, sorry BA Pilot and sorry to all British Airways pilots - I did not mean to offend you! Thanks for supporting the Lufthansa pilots and I hope your cabin crew can also reach their goals soon (I've read they have voted in favor of a strike as well!)!

Thanks, please no hard feelings and all the best!

Jakob

Amen Brother !
 

Vaughn Cordle (FN # 21086; Seniority # 2435; Retires Feb. 2020) was definitely a SCAB during the United strike in 1985 and he, like all other SCABS does not get an opinion on anything !

The most enjoyable experience one can have is to fly with a &^%$# SCAB for 4 days, do your job as professionally as possible and not say a single word to him/her for four solid days. I've seen them explode with anger on the last day and one got so mad he went to the Chief Pilot demanding that I actually speak to him. Didn't work as the Boss hated them more than any of us did.:)

Have fun Mates and it'a all fair game with those low life's !:cool:

So how does that work? They try to talk to you and you just flat out ignore them?

I take it that they've got this treatment so frequently that they stop trying after a few minutes?

I remember JS'ing home one time on UAL and the CA/FO brought up this point. I asked them if in the case of the CA being a scab, and the FO not, and the above happening, the CA calls scheduling and has the FO pulled off mid trip, if the FO an face any repercussions.

The CA said that once they see that the CA is a scab, that the FO is simply removed and sent home and won't hear a word about it. Is/was that true?

Just asking.

As long as you do your job, there is no requirement to engage in idle chit chat. In fact, management works so hard at getting folks to comply with sterile cockpit that they are not going to mind a guy who takes the definition of sterile cockpit from the before start to the shutdown check.

It All Depends
 

Every situation was different and handled as such. Usually, the Captain was the SCAB and the F/O's just did their job to the best of their ability and didn't engage in "idle chatter" enroute. As stupid as SCABS were, they got the point and on most occasions, one could hear a pin drop in the cockpit. It didn't make for a very enjoyable four day trip and didn't happen that often. At United, a lot of the SCABS ran to Denver to the training center, which was an entirely different matter.

As for a F/O being pulled off a trip, it did happen and he went home, got paid for the trip and that was it. Let's see...what's wrong with this picture ??

Have a bodacious day Mates:)

Thanks, that's kind of what I was getting at. As long as the FO didn't do anything outside the confines of FAR's, company policy/procedures, safety, etc, there was NOTHING that could be done to the FO. Especially when it was noticed that the CA is a scab.

Where as under normal circumstances (you know, a non-scab CA), such action might attract the attention of pro standards and/or the CP.

A number of years ago I was jumpseating on Northwest. The cockpit was really quiet, so I didn't say anything. A couple of hours into the flight the F/O had to get up to use the restroom. He packed up all his charts, put them in his flight bag, put on his tie and hat and uniform jacket and overcoat, and took his suitcase and flight bag with him to the restroom. While he was gone the Capt and S/O told me that he had scabbed on their last strike.

Joe

Actually, I think that would be one time when I was sick that I would try my hardest to go to work. Snot dripping out of my nose and barely breathing, but I would aim every single sneeze in the proper direction of said scab.

And apparently he learned...

so in the case where the CA is the scab, and the FO is not, I take it most of you in that position would just not talk to him, as has been mentioned many times. I'm curious though, does the CA just say "Well eff you, if you won't talk to me, I'm flying all the legs," because that's what I would imagine would happen. These guys seem like real pieces of work.

To the man or woman these guys are pieces of work. If they don't want to give me a leg who cares I've got plenty of legs to go around.

Most SCABS have a story as to why they were "forced" to SCAB and how it was out of their control. When in fact they are completely self serving and when given the chance IE placed in positions of power totally abusive towards guys who got here the honest way.

Piece of Work
 

That happened on occasion, until the SCAB realized he was doing all the work and the F/O was enjoying the window seat and talking on the radio. Actually, from my experience, most of the SCABS I've encountered tried so hard to be "good guys" and "one of the boys", they became even worse to fly with.

You're right about one thing...almost all were real pieces of work, as pilots and individuals.:eek:

'Nuff said. Have a Great day Mates:)

I have met a few SCABS in my life. One lives by me and is a double SCAB. Cal from 83-85 then left for greener pastures at Ual in 85. Not one ounce of regret, actually pride in getting 15+ years at Ual and retiring a 767 Ca prior to the paycuts. Now what I am going to say will ruffle some feathers but every SCAB I have met has been a diehard conservative. Not saying all conservatives are SCABS but I'll bet most SCABS are conservatives. Just sayin.....

:confused: I don't see your point.
A conservative child molester is still a child molester.
Just sayin'.