Glad to have located our flyboys, or is it "the life of the rich and famous"

[Taipan]

However, one has to ask how a company can agree, after months of negotiations, that 10% over three years, with a gradual step up to pre-concessions pay rates over that period was enough two months ago, but now we need THREE times as much for TWICE as long, or SIX TIMES AS MUCH AS THE COMPANY WANTED FOR STABILIZATION!!!
Mancityfan I always enjoy your posts , ATSB concessions of 9 billion over 6 years for a 1.8 billion loan is ludicrous

 

[mastermechanic]

Com'on now....you know that was good...LOL

 

[UAL777flyer]

It's interesting how so many mechanics complain about the IAM, yet AMFA isn't on the property yet. Oh wait, I forget, it was sinister IAM signature-creating that carried the day in their favor. Maybe this time around, they'll count the votes in Cook County, Illinois. After all, we are Chicago's hometown airline!

All kidding aside, if the majority of UA mechanics are so unhappy with IAM representation, than vote AMFA onto the property. I'm well aware of the politics and quasi-shenanigans that go on with these things, but until it happens, the IAM is the bargaining agent the company must deal with. If you're willing to tank this company just to preserve your dignity and pride, than it doesn't matter what union you belong to, does it? If you think you're the only group who's gotten a raw deal over the years by bad management, than you're mistaken. Everyone has gotten the shaft in one form or another at one time or another. So I guess we should all just pack it in and quit, huh? Yeah, that's a better alternative. Put 80,000 more people out there in this less than robust job market looking for work. Sure, that makes sense.

You've mentioned several times that you were a Marine. I'm sure you were subjected to bad officers at times (although, it's been my experience that there aren't as many bad Marine officers as the other services). What did you do when you encountered them? Did you just throw in the towel and quit? Of course not. You got the job done in spite of them, right? So why be willing to take this company down to preserve some semblance of personal pride? If you're so unhappy and so marketable, you should be able to leave on your own and find greener pastures now and still keep your pride. Why would you take 80,000 others with you other than to become some bold footnote in someone's history book?

 

[mastermechanic]

Boy, MasterMechanic, I have to hand it to you...you sure know how to keep a dead dog breathing!

Mancityfan...my man...knew you were on the road. Of course I can keep this thread going...I kept the -8's, 47 classics, -10's, and probably that bucket of bolts your driving all these years going. BTW, what are you driving these days? But like the dinosaurs, those are all gone, and so is our industry. Albeit collusion or conspiracy, it's doesn't matter. Contract 2000, fall of the dot com and recession, and sept 11. The back is broken, finally. And please do not refer to me and the IAM in the same sentence, they are a pestilence and plague that has infected this industry for way to long. There are a group of people that transcend unionism, politics and corporate strategy. We are simply working people, tired of the games and schemes of men who make their living on our backs. Everyone knows there has to be a shake out in this industry. And from the ashes will rise a healthier system, of which some will enjoy and prosper. The rest will be memories long since faded....

 

[mastermechanic]

Also not my friend Doug Higgs...777flyer, we are leaving


edit, should read: Also note my friend Doug Higgs

 

[UAL777flyer]

Maybe the fact that there hasn't been any drop-off in the cargo/shipping industry is the reason UPS mechanics can be paid so well. You can always apply there I suppose. Let's try comparing apples to apples for once.

 

[mastermechanic]

UPS, Airline Mechanics Ink Labor Deal
9/10/2002 - News Paper


MIAMI (Reuters) - United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the world's No. 1 package carrier, said on Tuesday it had reached a tentative contract with unionized mechanics and other U.S. workers at its in-house airline.

The five-year deal would take the top hourly wage for a UPS aircraft mechanic to $43 from $30.67 but still must be approved by 1,140 members of Teamsters Local 2727, according to a company spokesman.


For some, working on airplanes IS a good occupation...as long as you don't have to subsidize every other backrider in the company...yeah yeah I know 777flyer...'people like you bad attitude you can just leave with all your skills let those of us who want to save..blah blah blah

 

[mastermechanic]

Why is everyone “fightingâ€￾ the fundamentals here? There are too many pilots, mechanics, f/a’s and especially management for this industry. This is a culling of the herd so to speak, sort of a natural phenomenon don’t you think. The “cycleâ€￾ as the old timers put it. Do you think all these concessions and reorganizations are healthy and wise? There are just to many airlines and airline employee’s for the current given demand for services. Why not let the free markets decide, shake out the system and continue on. Doesn’t it seem like these needs to happen?

 

[mastermechanic]

http://www.iamll1781.org/news/detail.asp?id=214

This is a little long, and has alot of union puke in it...but I know most of the people listed. Also not my friend Doug Higgs...777flyer, we are leaving

 

[mastermechanic]

Should read : Also note my friend Doug Higgs

 

[mastermechanic]

OK, I’ve found the pilots contract and it is something to behold. For the purpose of discussion, and I use that term generously, I will post some info on pay…since it’s quite the subject by many…Section 3:Compensation Hourly Rates: 3-B-2
Effective May 1, 2002 12yr 747/400 Captain-$318.99/hr B737 $207.49

$355.82/hr $226.58
Effective May 1, 2004

Guaranteed 75 hrs per month. Not to mention, the company will pay to have their piano tuned if they have to move. There is stuff in here, the mind cannot even begin to fathom. Not a bad job my brothers, not a bad job indeed. So let me see, if you are guaranteed 75/hr a month x 12 mo @ $318.99= $287,091.00 a year, and we haven’t even begun to add the bennies. I cannot imagine why this industry is complaining so much, it’s the yield right.

 

[UAL777flyer]

Ok, mastermechanic, what's your point? It's no secret that the senior B744 captains make about a quarter of a million a year, give or take. You're not telling us something we don't already know. But the writing is on the wall with that fleet, as evidenced by the number of them getting a tan in the desert. We could just as easily pick up the IAM-M contract and find evidence of featherbedding in terms of work rules and staffing requirements. But what good would it do? When all is said and done, EVERYONE'S pay/benefits/work rules will be different.

 

[ualdriver]

UAL777flyer-

Why do you bother even acknowledging any of this guy's (mastermechanic) posts? I'm a pilot and even though I am forced to read through his diabtribes in order to get to the posts put up by people who actually have a clue, I am able to push aside the urge to tell him where to go! Let this angry, bitter man shoot his mouth off! He'll go away like Oliver Twist did, or hopefully usaviation will boot him after the warnings he's received already. When he makes absolutely ridiculous statements like the ones below, especially the third one where he tells about trying to control his urges of physical violence, he obviously isn't even worth reasoning with:

***I have an attitude as I watch pilots suck the life out of the company.***

***Well the pilots lobby has been successful in implementing a policy that in the end will kill innocent people***

***while you pilots are being so magnanimous, could you please absorb my paycut so I DON'T HAVE TO SAVE YOUR AIRLINE...it's so hard to watch you guys walk by and not beat the living crap outta you guys...***

(did your relatives/caretakers not hug you enough when you were a child or something? You really need to seek therapy. There you will be able to tell your therapist how overpaid he/she is at the few hundred bucks an hour I imagine they charge, instead of boring me with how overpaid I am.)

***BTW...if you go to grasiefighhtter.com you'll find me demonstrating a position reversal followed by a inside out heel hook, properly applied it will break/tear the knee out.*** (this one if my favorite. WHO CARES?)


There are plenty more quotes, but I would hate to make anyone read more of his stuff twice, never mind once. Yeah, yeah mastermechanic. Yada, yada, yada, It's all the pilots' faults. Got it. Let gatemech, Taipan, or ANYONE else for that matter, be the spokespeople for mechanics on this board, because if your posts truly represent your beliefs, you do nothing but hurt other people's understanding of your fine profession.

 

[gatemech]

Mastermechanic,

I got to hand it to you. You managed to get under the skin of all these guys/gals. I have never seen a topic go with this many replies. It's impressive. Although you’re beating a dead horse. Pilots feel they are worth what they get as we feel we deserve what we get and more. I like reading your post so keep up the good work.

We can all trash each other about who should give up what. When it comes to a vote that will decide the outcome. Nobody will know who voted for or against. We will have to deal with the results. I have stated my position and stick to it.

 

[mastermechanic]

I know...I love it. You see, the funny thing is...the reason it make's them mad...they know alot of these points ARE valid. Ualdriver has to be one of my biggest fans...he's researched many of my famous quotes...I'm truly flattered