Replaced And Outsourced

[fatherof2]

I am a former U utility worker who was recently outsourced. I was ready to move on, but still have some anger issues I need to deal with. I was hoping by sounding it out on this board that maybe I could release some of this pent up hostility I feel.
I consider myself to be very pro-union, but I am having a hard time fathoming how the very union which I stood behind, and hoped they had my back when push came to shove, can represent the very worker who took my job. My wife tells me I need to let it go, but I just can't seem to.
Here in CLT I have been replaced by colleagues I used to work with side by side in the trenches. I used to consider them friends, but now I don't know. Back in '92 when we walked the picket line together, we looked at those who replaced us as SCABS, and treated them that way for the past 13 years. Just because we aren't on strike this time, in my opinion, doesn't make it any different. :angry:
I am very angry at Management for their belief that Outsourcing was the answer to all their problems. They even show it on their videos on all the airplanes that outsourcing is the wave of the future. I say BULLSPIT! :angry: They outsource the work to vendors who readily admit they can't handle the volume :blink:
I am very angry at the Union for allowing this crap to continue, then turn around and say, "Well this is what you voted for!" Again I have to say, "BULLSPIT!" :angry:

 

[fatherof2]

I have moved on. But I still have some deep rooted love for the industry, which compels me to return to this board.
I have faxed payroll and told them to stop taking Union dues from my checks.
I will make my payments directly to them, if and when I feel like it. It is a shame that it had to come to this.
Big deal, I have recall rights for 3 years. But I have to come back at the starting wage of 8 something an hour.
I have 2 kids, 2 pets, 2 vehicles to maintain, and a mortgage, there is no way I can support all that on $8.00 an hour.
I have moved on but my frustrtion at the industry I once loved remains.
I feel as though I have been screwed by both the company and the union. Now I can add a few of my fellow colleagues to that list also.
I am so angry, but yet I am blessed. I am OUT! Time for me to look forward and not repress the anger I feel toward those who took a once great job and turned it into a cesspool of backbiting and illwill.
Had the union had the balls to stand up and say we do not support this garbage, I may have felt differently, but they brought it to the table and allowed a rudderless group of individuals to vote away my career and livlihood.
thanks to all, for allowing me to rant,.....................Fatherof2 :angry:

 

[PHL]

The first thing that's got to go is your pro-union attitude because now you see them for what they are. It was never about you, or the rank and file. It's about how to maximize the dues that they can keep coming in.

There's probably nothing consoling that anyone can say in your situation. It's not unlike many others. It's economics and nothing more, so you shouldn't take it personally. The actions of management over the years have been less than admirable, for sure. But once you accept that the business is not going to change while we have umpteen domestic airlines in this country operating at below-cost pricing, you'll find it easier to move on. When 3 carriers serve the same routes at cut-throat prices, nobody's going to make money and someone's going to take a fall.

There's no one person or entity to blame. The airline market/economy has gone through a transformation that only a few people could have predicted (i.e Herb Kelleher and company).

Now is a good time (if you haven't already) to put the whole airline business out of sights and think about new income opportunities. After all your years with US, you undoubtedly have skills that can be put to use in other businesses. Or perhaps a complete change of career for the second part of your life (buy the book "Life 2.0" for inspiration!). Good luck in your endeavors. Don't look back.

 

[700UW]

The union does not represent the workers that replaced you at Jetstream.

And the union was powerless to prevent the outsourcing as they company had judge mitchell in their pocket.

I agree with your view on how could a former utility worker go work for the vendor, I find that mindboggling and I agree with your view as them as scabs, those people have low self-esteem and have no confidence in their ability to find a real job.

You have recall rights for life, not three years. And you would not be getting your 15 weeks of severence checks if it was not for the union, and trust me, payroll will not stop taking dues out of your severence checks, the company and the union were prepared for that issue.

Put your anger where it really belongs at inept management and coworkers who refused to stand up against the greed of corporate america and the american consumer for letting the "Wal-Marting of America" occur.

And trust me, there were members of the negotiating committee who wanted to go out and tell the membership to vote the piece of crap down, lets just say the rust was dead set against it.

 

[RedOne]

And the union was powerless to prevent the outsourcing as they company had judge mitchell in their pocket.


(......that sir, is a pretty strong accusation. I would hope you have more than just you feeling to back that up with. If you do, please present it. If you don't, I would think you, becasue of your IAM positon, are walking the IAM on very, very thin ice.)


those people have low self-esteem and have no confidence in their ability to find a real job.

(.....and just how do you know this? Has the IAM given you a degree in psychology too? While looking for better jobs, these people may have accepted what they could find. The last time I looked, good jobs were not being offered on every street corner. Do I understand his frustration? Yes. To reply they have low self-esteem...come on. )



Put your anger where it really belongs at inept management and coworkers who refused to stand up against the greed of corporate america and the american consumer for letting the "Wal-Marting of America" occur.

And trust me, there were members of the negotiating committee who wanted to go out and tell the membership to vote the piece of crap down, lets just say the rust was dead set against it.

(.....700 you make me sick. Face it man, unions are PIMPS! They are after the money and don't care who they get it from as long as they get it. The union member is the prostitute. They can either stand alone and possibly get beaten, abused, or even killed...or they can get a pimp (union) and hope they get SOME protection. 700, you attitude that IAM (unions) are "for it's members" is unreal. A pimp must have his "prostitutes" to live off...a union must have its "members". That is the bottom line.
.
If your union position were disolved along with any compensation (or hope of future compensation, if you are not getting any now) would you be beating your chest and on every thread talking about how great the IAM is...and that it's members are the ones who voted this mess in? Me thinks you want to protect your position in the IAM and move on to greater things within that organization. Please...prove me wrong.)

[post="261557"][/post]​

 

[700UW]

I am a full-time US Airways employee, not the IAM. Keep Trying.

Judge Mitchell in two bankruptcy cases has a 99.9% track record of giving the company whatever they have wanted.

"Better 50% of the jobs then no jobs", Judge Mitchell.

As a matter of fact I minored in psychology in college. And there are some good jobs out there, you just have to search and be willing to change.

Unions are pimps?

Go do some research and find out why there are labor laws on the books. Go find out what US Airways did to the non-union fleet and customer service employees in 1992.

Like I said, I work 40 hours a week at US Airways.

 

[calibrator]

[post="261559"][/post]​

The people slamming 700 are clueless and are being manipulated by their own anger at what is essentially, LIFE. It's not the union or the company/management, it's the world we all live in that is not perfect. Going around filling your gut with acid until you’re in the hospital is not hurting anyone except yourself. When did someone tell you that life was a sweet pleasant journey and anyone causing you heartaches along that journey were going to be punished? WHEN? Grow up and accept LIFE, do what's necessary to make it in this tough world, but don't go around pointing fingers at everyone except where the fault really lies, yourself.

 

[fatherof2]

[ and trust me, payroll will not stop taking dues out of your severence checks, the company and the union were prepared for that issue.

Payroll has stopped taking Dues from my checks as requested. So another failure on both parties has been noted.

 

[jimntx]

It's cold comfort, but being union or not probably would not have made any difference.

In the early 90's Texaco started the "right-sizing" game. (For those of you who don't understand high-falutin Corporate-speak...the difference between right-sizing and downsizing is that in right-sizing managers do not lose their jobs.)

A friend of mine in the computer department who had worked at Texaco for 27 years since the week after he returned from Viet Nam was told his services were no longer needed. He was still 2 years from full retirement and 7 years from being old enough to draw Social Security without a penalty. He managed to get through the next 2 years doing contract programming work. And, he was fortunate that neither he nor his wife got sick during that period because he had no insurance.

The COBRA was way too expensive to even consider. At the time he had to accept or refuse it, he was afraid he might not be able to find work immediately at his age, and one month's premium was more than 2 weeks of his unemployment.

The only consolation I see in messes like this is the fact that I have lived long enough to know that what goes around, comes around. My only gripe is that I usually only hear about the comes around part. I'm never there when it happens.

 

[diogenes]

You have a right to be angry, because you have been abused by US for years.

I am convinced the best union actions, not that we got any, could have only delayed, or brought to a head, the demise of U. The Palace was singleminded for decades to lower labor costs, to the near exclusivity of operating the business.

A suggestion of how to get thru it.

Look down the road 5, 10 and 15 years. If you remained at U, what kind of prospects would you have had? Raises? Retirement? Health care?

Now that you are outsourced, look down that same road. If you apply your talent and skills, you stand a chance of exceeding what U has to offer.

For you and your family, that better outcome is where your energies should be directed.

Best of luck for all who are taking this journey.

 

[calibrator]

Father...listen to your wife, it's why she's there. Your choice. Go around angry and wasting precious time cultivating that anger or spend that energy to build a different life away from everything negative the airline industry offers nowadays.

You will be amazed at what you can do when you focus on the positive and forget the negative, the negative is the easy path, it's everywhere and we are surrounded by it to the point of becoming comfortable being miserable by it.

When you were born your head didn't have a stamp on it saying “airline worker“.

As far as unions -- I have been on both sides of the fence and they both have good and bad aspects. Right now I am non-union which is not perfect “what is" but not bad either. Either way it’s a light years improvement over working at U and its mental torment.

Peace Father -- Peace to You and Your Family.

 

[usairmech41]

I agree with your view on how could a former utility worker go work for the vendor, I find that mindboggling and I agree with your view as them as scabs, those people have low self-esteem and have no confidence in their ability to find a real job.

700
You are so lost, that Usair utility job is gone for good. That guy didnt cross a picket line...Wake UP bone head

 

[700UW]

Glad you have to insult instead of trying to actually add to the topic.

They are doing the same job as before for less money, that is a scab (see Webster's Definition below), they voted themselves out of a job instead of taking a stand against the company.

There are still 50 Utility jobs on the property and if US makes it as a viable company I think you will see utility back at the hubs within two years as the vendors are not doing a good job from what I have been told.

Let Webster Educate you pay close attention to #4

Main Entry: [1]scab
Pronunciation: 'skab
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Swedish skabbr scab; akin to Old English sceabb scab, Latin scabere to scratch —more at SHAVE
Date: 13th century
1 : scabies of domestic animals
2 : a crust of hardened blood and serum over a wound
3 a : a contemptible person b (1) : a worker who refuses to join a labor union (2) : a union member who refuses to strike or returns to work before a strike has ended (
3) : a worker who accepts employment or replaces a union worker during a strike
(4) : one who works for less than union wages or on nonunion terms
4 : any of various bacterial or fungus diseases of plants characterized by crustaceous spots; also : one of the spots

 

[fatherof2]

The union does not represent the workers that replaced you at Jetstream.

The Union does represent many of those who went over to other side of the fence. Many of these same people have the same union recall rights as I do. Some are even senior to me, and will be recalled before I am. Therefore, in my opinion the union is protecting Scab labor, but from a different aspect
No matter how much lipstick you put on a pig, a pig is still a pig.

 

[700UW]

Jetstream employees are not represented by the IAM, the IAM is not certified as their collective bargaining agent.

They are employees at will.

The union has nothing to do with them over at Jetstream and by law the ex-US Airways Utility have the same rights as you under the US Airways/IAM Mechanic and Related Contract as to recall, severence, etc.