An Army of One
 

Found this in our cockpit yesterday (UAL). Thought it was great! The author is anonymous but obviously a CAL pilot. I think the UAL guys can add a few bullet points..... Pass it on!

We're all there.....


I am an army of One - A Captain in the Continental Airlines army.

For years I was a loyal soldier in Gordon's army. Now I fight my own war.

I used to feel valued and respected. Now I know I am mere fodder. They (CAL) used to exhibit labor leadership. Now they exploit legal loopholes. They used to enjoy my maximum. Now they will suffer my minimum.
I am an army of One.

I used to save CAL a thousand pounds of fuel per leg; finding the best FL, getting direct routing, throttling back when on time was made, skimping during ground ops, adjusting for winds, being smart and giving the company every effort I could conjure. Now, it's "burn baby, burn". I used to call maintenance while airborne, so the part would be ready at the gate. Now, they will find the write-up when they look in the book. I used to try to fix problems in the system, now I sit and watch as the miscues pile up. I used to fly sick. Now I use my sick days, on short notice, on the worst day of the month.
I am an army of One.

I used to start the APU at the last possible moment. Now my customers enjoy extreme comfort. I used to let the price of fuel at out-stations affect my fuel orders. I still do. I used to cover mistakes by operations. Now I watch them unfold. I used to hustle to ensure an on-time arrival, to make us the best. Now I do it for the rampers and agents who need the bonus money...but this too may change. I used to call dispatch for rerouting, to head off ground delays for bad weather. Now i collect overs, number 35 in line for takeoff.

I am on a new mission - to demonstrate that misguided leadership of indifference & disrespect has a cost. It's about character, not contracts. It's about leading by taking care of your people instead of leadership by bean counters (an oxymoron). With acts of omission, not commission, I am a one-man wrecking crew - an army of One.

My mission used to be to make CAL rich. Now it's to make CAL pay.

When they furlough more pilots than the rest, pilots that cost them 60 cents on the dollar I will make them pay.

When they under-staff bases and over-work reserves to keep pilots downgraded, down-flowed, or downtrodden - I will make them pay.

When over-booked customers are denied boarding system wide, while jets are parked in the desert - I will make them pay.

When they force pilots, who have waited 12 years to become captains, to be FO's again - I will make them pay.

When they ask CAL pilots to show leadership at Express, and then deny them longevity –I will make them pay.

When they recall F/A's for the summer, just to furlough them again in the fall like migrant workers- I will make them pay.

When they constantly violate the letter and spirit of our contract, a contract that's a bargain by any measure, and force us to fight lengthy grievances - I will make them pay.

My negotiating committee speaks for me, but I act on my own. I am a walking nightmare to the bean counters that made me.

Are you listening? This mercenary has a lot of years left with this company; how long can you afford to keep me bitter?

I'm not looking for clauses in a contract; I am looking for a culture of commitment and caring. When I see it, I'll be a soldier for CAL again.

Until then, I am an army of One And I'm not alone!

Sorry but an army of one will not get it done. It will take a concentrated effort at the appropriate time to make it work.

It may not get it done on it's own but it is precisely correct in it's content and a more true statement to how I feel about my job and how I've been treated has never been written.

It might be hard to see from the left seat of a 777 syd, but it's clear as can be from the perspective of a surplussed captain who now sits on reserve as a JR. F/O with no end to the misery in sight. Instead of celebrating our merger and future success with the prospect of advancement in the near future. My main issue is whether or not, as I enter my 15th year of service at UAL I might be looking at a furlough. Which the way things are going is a very real possibility.

Whoever wrote it captured the reality of what this management has done to it's once highly motivated workforce.

I agree with th content airhoss no doubt and yes i can see it from the left seat of a 777 more than you mght imagine. However over the years I have seen the folks that think they are going to do it by themselves as this person is trying and yes I realize tht he is spreading the word. But doesn't help much when you have 400 guys at ord doing the jrm thing, lca's doing every possible check and so on.

I think we do much better doing a decent job and when the time is set up we all operate the other way in unison. the numbers will get much more noticeable if it is possible that this management team can notice anything.

We passed the appropiate time more than two years ago.

Thanks for pointing that out to me ewr737, so we should all be out there doing our individual protests, hey best of luck with that. Seen it done in the past with no success.

Longest journey begins with first step......If you don't try you know that nothing good will happen.

That letter has been floating around Cal for years.

I agree that if we all did it together it would be better. But what exactly are "we" waiting for. The Union to get the approval......so we have to get released to self help before we can start doing those things legally. F that, if we get released to self help, I'm going on strike. To each their own but I think most are at THAT POINT.

Yeah all that tough talk and there after we still Stivala'd ourselves.