WHO DESTROYED OUR CAREERS?

[Ardenian]

Declining Glories: The Airline Career​

Remember when you were a kid and an airplane flew overhead?

Remember how you looked upon pilots as they walked through airports resplendent in their black or blue uniforms was silver and gold braid?

Remember how you admired those who made a living out of flying huge aluminum tubes through the ether, bringing families to their loved ones, businessmen to their clients, and people to grand new adventures?

And, of course, as you grew older it did not escape you that airline pilots made good money, as did their brothers and sisters in the maintenance and service fields.

Boy... didn't you grow up wanting an airline job?

Folks, those days are gone -- and gone for good. The glory days of the airline world, and more specifically the airline career, is a nearly comical but no less tragic ghost of former greatness. Greed, financial mismanagement, poor regulatory oversight, and a nearly psychotic competitive zeal have ruined the airline industry. Worse than that, intense and (in many cases) positive working relationships that existed between the people who did the work, and the people who call the shots, has been all but destroyed.

Robber barons disguised as airline managers have broken the faith between their workers and the promises they made over decades by managing their companies poorly, and raiding promised pension and medical plans. Jobs that once carried great esteem have been changed into nearly unbearable chores that are worth far less to the worker than they were but a few years ago.

Yes, the airline industry suffered horribly as a result of 911, but the fact of the matter is that analysts can point to the seeds of this industry's destruction long before September of 2001, and despite all the tragedies that occurred that fateful day, there are still a few companies that have not only survived but thrived because they did not give in to the greed and stupidity espoused by their competitors. We realize these are incredibly strong words, but we cannot find anyone who can truly defend the overall conduct of the airline industry, and more important, the way in which they have cheated their staffers.

The stripping of pay, pensions and benefits from thousands of workers who desperately need those wages and programs (and who had no alternatives in place -- or warnings of any kind that they might need one) seems to us to be a criminal act --especially when so many of the ills and behaviors that created this mess are still in place.

Unfortunately, Congress, who has padded their pockets for years with airline lobby dollars, has given them a pass on these transgressions-- and to all those young men and women who might still dream of a career flying or supporting the airliners of the future, we strongly recommend you look at another industry, as this one is busted.

Some industry analysts, such as a certain LGA-based A320 pilot, understand just why this has happened...



IT’S ALL THE RC4’s FAULT!

 

[PHL]

Market forces and economics played a huge role in it all. Just like it did to the steel and auto industry. Just like it has even done in recent years to IT/programming jobs that have moved offshore to the lowest bidder.

These are all things you can't necessarily pin on a group of greedy CEOs or union reps. If you took all the money from the golden parachutes given over the years, they still wouldn't have put much of a dent in the airline labor costs that were already rising to unattainable levels before 9/11.

Reality isn't fair. Life isn't fair.

 

[hp_fa]

In the final analysis, it's really all of our faults.

We all allowed Wall Street to maximize profits with little thought to who or what was paying the price for the profits, stock market gains and dividends.

We continued to vote for elected officials who didn't have the interests of the people at heart, but rather business.

We shop at Wal-Mart, a company who is a preditor and runs out all the locally-based businesses and then doesn't provide a liveable wage and full health care to it's workers so that they need public health care and food stamps.

We stopped saving money, but spent money we didn't have on big cars and other luxury items despite not having the money to pay for those items when we bought them, making the bankers into robber barons.

The list goes on and on, but it all comes down to greed.

 

[delldude]

Don't forget the majority of us who decided it was better to work for less than make a stand....

 

[pilot]

You hit on the main factor dell. Certainly market forces played a huge role but the lack of collective will by the pilots, led by guys like 320 and his spineless counterparts, played right into the hands of managements who recongnized pilot fear and lack of resolve and took outright advantage of it. ALPA national, led by Woerth, put up hardly a whimper as pensions were gutted and a proud career was turned into a "job".

As hp fa mentions a ton of pilots lacked the financial skill to prepare for the fight and the 320's of the world folded like a cheap suit when push came to shove. Then they attempted to blame the strong reps who wanted to make a stand for not accepting the crumbs originally offered by the management as if those offers were something to hang on to.

So we are where we are. And as long as 320 and his boys remain I see no way the pilots will make a stand. Unless the collective will of the pilot group understands they have to be willing to stop flying the jets and accept the fact that it may shut a company down nothing is going to change.

Management knows there are a ton of 320's out there. At LCC East 57% of the boys eat at his table.

 

[A320 Driver]

Management knows there are a ton of 320's out there. At LCC East 57% of the boys eat at his table.
[/quote]


You would be hard pressed to find that 57% today my friend. I've never seen so many people that are simply fed up.

The people that don't usually get mad are mad as hell today.


A320 Driver B)

 

[Smartest Loser]

JERRY GLASS and ASSOICATES...!!! THE END

 

[PA18]

Management knows there are a ton of 320's out there. At LCC East 57% of the boys eat at his table.
You would be hard pressed to find that 57% today my friend. I've never seen so many people that are simply fed up.

The people that don't usually get mad are mad as hell today.
A320 Driver B)

But we still see pilots taxiing on one engine. And not starting the APU at every stop. And accepting Rwy 33 for arrival and Rwys 15 and 4 for departure at DCA. And taxiing across the ramp at 50 mph. And still answering calls from scheduling on their day off. And still doing everybody else's job for them, like calling for catering, calling for pushback crews, calling for weight and balance, calling in for duplicate seat assigments, etc...

 

[wench1]

Just remember what glA$$ rhymes with? :down:

 

[autofixer]

But we still see pilots taxiing on one engine. And not starting the APU at every stop. And accepting Rwy 33 for arrival and Rwys 15 and 4 for departure at DCA. And taxiing across the ramp at 50 mph. And still answering calls from scheduling on their day off. And still doing everybody else's job for them, like calling for catering, calling for pushback crews, calling for weight and balance, calling in for duplicate seat assigments, etc...

However...at least half of the guys I fly with are on the "program". The other half are 57+ years old and are willing to screw everyone else to see the next 3 years through. I am pleasantly supprised at the the level of participation from this spineless group.

 

[pilot]

Auto: It's going to take a lot more than two engine taxi and only doing the job precisely according to the contract. Although I do agree it's something of a start.

But unless we get a 90% or higher "fed up" cadre who are willing to shut it down, not just taxi on two engines, we are just spinning the wheels.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't see the groundswell of discontent needed to bring back the career. Especially in CLT. Land of the good ole boys who truly don't believe the management is doing anything wrong.

320 and the GAG are alive and well. You only see them when they feel their "jobs" are threatened. Then they appear like a bad dream. Such as the DAL merger.

 

[autofixer]

pilot,

You are correct! I too am based in CLT. The only way this is all going to get corrected, is for the East and West groups to get integrated, minimizing the effect of the 57+ crowd. Maybe that is one reason why Doug is not negotiating in good faith and dragging his feet on the integration?

Speaking of CLT, I had a guy quote scripture last month, justifing his opinion why we cannot perform ANY job action. He forgot that the scripture was based on people AGREEING to work for a penny a day...we had the working conditions forced upon us by a corrupt judge!

 

[qwerty]

Who's fault? The pilots shoulder alot of the blame, just as they should be commended for saving the company.

Does it make sense that a pilot should walk away with a nearly $2 million severence? Great if you can get it - but like social security, it was too good to last. The blame should be directed at your former colleagues.

Making a stand would have put everyone out of work, how can you still deny that?

There are alot of folks out there flying planes for under $100k, and until that supply of pilots goes away, you'd better be prepared to work with management on a mutually beneficial agreement.

Just wait until pilotless aircraft hit the market. How long do you think travelers will be willing to pay double the price just to have a human up front?

 

[NCFL]

Rakesh.
Oh, and Steppenwolf, too.
Bastards.

 

[bigbusdrvr]

Who's fault? The pilots shoulder alot of the blame, just as they should be commended for saving the company.

Does it make sense that a pilot should walk away with a nearly $2 million severence? Great if you can get it - but like social security, it was too good to last. The blame should be directed at your former colleagues.

Making a stand would have put everyone out of work, how can you still deny that?

There are alot of folks out there flying planes for under $100k, and until that supply of pilots goes away, you'd better be prepared to work with management on a mutually beneficial agreement.

Just wait until pilotless aircraft hit the market. How long do you think travelers will be willing to pay double the price just to have a human up front?

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Remember that the next time you see an esclator or moving sidewalk out of service.....

Opps im sorry...Your Dead!!