If I get in the bin first, it's my bin, and I won't ask for help unless I think I'll need it. I really like working the bin and if someone crawls in uninvited assuming I need help I kick 'em back out. It's my show.
How is it perfectly safe for me to go to the gym on the corner for an intense three-hour workout session but I'm guaranteed to snap crackle and pop myself into severe, permanent injury if I spend 20 minutes loading 100 bags (yawn) into the belly of an aircraft? I dislocated my left shoulder about six weeks prior to getting this job, and was worried it might become a problem as I was still getting pains and soreness: turns out it just needed to be worked out and a few weeks after getting introduced to the bin all the soreness and stiffness was gone.
Some people are too foolish to realize their own limits or will sit around for an hour and a half stiffening up before jumping right in the bin. Yes, this is a good way to get injured. Yes, anyone should be able to ask for help in the bin and get it . But it's a preference, so why not leave it as such? What good does mandating such a thing do? Why don't we beseech management to replace us in the bin with robots so that we can cover ourselves in layers and layers bubble-wrap and sit in the break room for eight hours doing breathing exercises so that no one strains anything or gets stressed out thinking about having to break a sweat and do actual work? It sounds a lot safer, plus we'd have a lot more time to sit around and talk about our greatness as hard workers, the organized legions of the strong and dedicated working men and women that make this country great, those knights of labor that will never leave another's side, even if it is an insanely dangerous, nay, suicidal 30-bag upload in the front bin of an Airbus.
lol
The physical aspect of the work is what attracted me to this job in the first place, and I understand that this likely puts me in the minority. But the day I'm not allowed to be in the bin alone because of the union's or company's over-zealous cautiousness is the day I'll switch to CONX for good, or maybe the day I hit the road. I'll humbly ask the union to sit in with any meetings with management and I that call for it, but stay out of my bin. I don't need to pay them $10 a week in dues to ruin what I consider to be the best part of my job...
