"I still say if it were true, its a load of crap. Asking 18,000 people to take a cut in pay or work an extra day, make a permanent change to their CBA in order for AA not to furlough at this time 343 people doesnt fly. The company already showed their true colors by limiting the number of people and not having to give a WARN notice."
Correction, this is affecting more than 343 people. And why the deflection about the "company showing their true colors"? It is the union's job to protect everyone's job. We are talking about APFA, not the company.
This not only affects those soon to be furloughed, but those left on the recall list as well. Mikey, where are the union principles here? And what is so hard to understand about 18,000 people not working an extra day? The President has asked that workers cut their hours, in order for other people to not lose their jobs.
I've been reading this board now for a good 7 years and have not posted for fear of being bashed anytime I bring up the whole integration mess (or lack of one), so I stopped. But here I am now, 7 years into the furlough, in my mid 50's, after having started my career over 30 yrs ago. I was 2 months away from turning 50 when I got furloughed, so I was unable to retire on furlough. And up to that point, I was right on track for saving and contributing enough money for retirement.
18 months into the furlough, with no health insurance, (because I couldn't afford it), I encountered some medical problems, common for people in their 50's, that went undiagnosed and untreated. A year after that, (still with no job), I was forced to finally seek medical attention, and when it was all said and done, went into debt to the tune of $100,000. My 401k and savings were wiped out in a matter of 2 years. I have been working at a job now, (with health insurance) for about a third of what I used to make. I am unable to save any money and when most people in their 50's are socking away money for retirement, I can not. As a result, I will now have to work the rest of my life, because I simply can't afford retirement and I sometimes think, is it even worth having to live through this?
I loved my career as a flight attendant, and I was an above average flight attendant. Trying to find a new job or career in your 50's has not been easy for me, especially during this economic crisis. And (much to my surprise), I have found that age discrimination is alive and well.
In hindsight now, I have determined that what APFA did by putting a group of older workers on the bottom of their seniority list (because some were afraid of our seniority) was just blatant age discrimination. It could have turned out different, provided ethical union principles were used, but they weren't.
I, and a couple of thousand other people, are now living with the consequences of that infamous SIA and I do not wish to revisit the reasons as to why it was done. My only hope is at this point, that with time, it will be shown that APFA was on the wrong side of labor history.
