AC AA LA FA said:
Garfield 1966 and others like him cant seem to think outside that box when it concerns not only us as individuals but our company as well..I have never asked for special status or praise for my position-am well aware of the economy and the evolution of my career as well...yea things change..they always have..The impact of the way we are treated at AA not only bruises my ego and angers me as an individual..but in the end hurts AA.. Since I have no choice,thru my experience at AA, but to buy into your ideas of my worthlessness-I am a victim of AAs mgmt style..I can collect a paychek, keep my nose clean, and not care..and at times I do..But in the end I can see everyday that it hurts nobody and everybody but me...You pay for it up front-or in the end-with thousands of unhappy pissed off employees-I know what the reality is but dont accept that it will be my future....Most of us wont roll over that easy,we are the ones that punch the time card everyday and support our familys with thousands of hours at work each year-why not want them to be productive and happy ones and secure ones for years to come?
I am not sure what box it is that I should be thinking out of. What I am saying is that I believe people have unrealistic expectations of what a relationship between employee and employer is supposed to be. This is the way I look at it.
The investers in a company put up money. The board of directors run the company like a back seat driver. They have the money and they make the rules. They are in charge of getting a fair return on the money that the investors have in the company. The company hires us to perform various jobs to make the company run. They pay us what they have to in order to keep us employed, no more. Management has always hated unions and unions have always hated management.
I one of the ways in which I differ from most people is that I have very low expectations. I no longer expect to be appreciated, much less recognized by superiors. I work in a office with perhaps 500 or so people on the floor at any given time (not sure of the numbers but maybe Operaations knows). The general manager Roy Everet, does not know me from a hole in the ground. He has been up there countless times. During the various times he has been there, he has never walked the floor to say “helloâ€. I could walk up to him on the street, look him in the eye and spit on him and he would not know who I was till he saw me at work and fired me. He has never been there on a holiday when I busting my butt to cover trips give any word of support. I have been with the company for a little under 20 years and I am not earning nearly what a FA earns at a little under 20 years and according to numerous former FA’s who I work with, my job s substantially more stressful, difficult and challenging then yours.
Does this stuff bug me? Sure it does other wise I would not bring it up. Would I like to see changes? Sure I would. Do I expect it? No, I don’t. We live in a society that is “ME†based. No one seems to be concerned about the other person. I have indicated on numerous occasions that some of your work rules suck. Operaations has said so on numerous occasions. As far as I remember, only one person in here even acknowledged that the sick list was high. No one has given any words of support for us. A lot of you have stated that one thing or another sucks but I have yet to see anyone offer a solution. We at scheduling have tons of ideas. We see it from all sides. It’s just that our ideas mean that managers (including us), FA’s, pilots and the like will be losing their jobs. People don’t like forwarding ideas that will cost them their job. Some of the things I have heard are having every FA qualified on every aircraft at their base. We are tired of seeing ORD FA’s qualified on only 767 or S80. They are not being utilized. Hire temps to fly VMC positions during the holidays. Bring planning, VMC, scheduling and tracking under one roof. Have the DFW tracker, scheduler, VMC and Planning work together and be cross trained, this way when we are facing OSO when can work together. I do not expect more money. I do not expect easier work rules. I DO expect to be busting my butt for the next several years. I do not expect a raise for a long long time because the Unions will be first in line to get their money and we will get the crumbs that are left over. I would not be surprised if it takes me 10 years to get back what I have lost.
I look at these as the rules of the game that I chose to play. If I do not like it, I can find another game to play.
One more thing. I have numerous friends who are FA’s and we have #### and moan sessions on a regular basis. How many of you have sat down and talked with one of us or with someone in management to listen and exchange ideas? Our door is always open. Feel free to come during EPT’s or during a weather session and see why we do what we do.
We need to get rid of the FAmikes, RV4’s and NH black Bears in our midst. They are bitter and are only going to bring us all down.