Occam- You have very intelligent responses. And sounds like you've been through a lot and have seen a lot. I'll yield to that. I understand that things are cyclical, and believe me- though i'm not at a major yet- there have been many that have suffered much more than me lately. I'm not a doom and gloom guy.
Agreed. There is always someone who has it worse than me.
I just get frustrated at the lack of control I and everyone else has over their career-- and we set it up that way.
When we were learning how to fly did we stand around the vending machines and water cooler with the other pilots are say " I hope I am really politically effective as an Air Line Pilot!" Yet that is what it takes. None of us had our expectations aligned when we got into the business.
I'm a capitalist, i want to work hard and make money myself and help my company succeed--
It is too bad our companies don't think like that about us. We are not capitalist. We are labor. Our managements are the capitalists. If we want to be captialist then we should quit the labor force and start a small business.
but i hate that i can't bail out on my company for another that i may be qualified for, that is doing a better job, has better management and a better plan-
Agreed, but it would be very expensive for the companies. Cause if you could do it then so must everyone else be able too. Until the better system comes along...
and one that may work better for me for my life- b/c i cannot afford to take the hit on seniority. I don't like that i am ultimately married to my company no matter what direction they may head- when noone else at the airline is half as invested.
It is too bad the management doesn't view us as partners. After all, we do move thier million dollar assets around...
I also find it strange that as conservative and capitalist as most pilots tend to be that we'd accept setting up our career in the most socialist way possible.
Here is the paradox. We need to accept it and make it work for us.
I'm not saying get rid of the unions-NOT AT ALL, WE NEED THEM- and i'll concede that seniority solves many real problems for an operation-- but in the end how many excellent pilots lives are in effect ruined b/c of it?
And its not becuase pilots are poor performers. In fact our safety recoed is so good that that management comes to work NOT worrying about accidents. Thus they can focus on lower costs: labor costs.
And for no fault of their own. Life's not fair and that happens- but it seems to happen a disproportionate amount of time in the flying business. Is there no hybrid way of doing it? Some way to not take such a huge hit to change companies? Is there no another solution?
Recall it is the free market that we love. Its forces are amazing.
I just want the conversation out there-- Maybe someone more brilliant than me will come up with something.
Everyone brings something to the table. There are allot of smart guys amongts the 60,000 of us. It is just the cynical sandbaggers that are self defeatists that really effect the effectiveness...
In the meantime-- I completely agree with you and Rez-- I have to work within the system that is there-- and work hard for everyone. There's no excuse not to be involved in your union.
There are those that want to radical. Break the law. Unfortunately history has shown that unions that break the law regress.
We have also shown that organized masses in numbers does work. We just need to get guys to activate...
But again- groupthink- i think a lot of the leaders tend to circle the wagons against their own group-- "we work, volunteer, you don't- so your opinion does not matter..."
I reject that union leader mentality. Squash it.
That's an easy sentiment- but if you really want more participation you have to create ways for folks to volunteer easily and without huge time commitments- and then allow them to participate as little as they want or can. Once they get their feet wet- most will end up doing more than they thought they would. In the end, you only need so many chiefs-- the indians just have to vote the right way, correct?
Agreed. Some of the MEC's guard thier sandboxes and those allowed inside. It is easier to rely on known elements than to recruit new guys. That has to change. Also, one of ALPA's flaws is the MEC operate as seperate tribes. There is an effort to makes the tribes more cohesive.... To build the familiarity and trust. I've been quite surprised as to how ineffective we can be... but then we are compared to other unions we are amazingly effective.
We've got lots to do and we need more guys doing it....
