Surreal. Absolutely surreal.
Now I know why a scab is a scab. Now I know why there is so much hatred for these types of pilots. I hope that none of you ever have to experience what I had to experience last night. They walked right in front of us. They betrayed us. Some of them were way too young to throw everything away. We begged them to reconsider. When pleading with them failed, the insults began. Emotions were high and some of our actions were almost natural or instinctive. I couldn't believe what I was saying to my
once fellow crewmembers.
Before the strike many of the reps told us that walking the line would be tough, but I never thought it would be
that tough. We walked all night until 9 am. There were pilots from all aspects of aviation there. We stood together, with all our petty differences aside for 14 hours for the same cause. It makes all the things we bicker about seem so petty. After this, I'm not sure if I'll ever bother with any of those insignificant things again.
I just wanted to take a moment to shoot it to you straight. How it is out there is like nothing you ever could have expected or prepared for. I know some of you have walked before, and you know how it is. Some of the mechanics were ex-Eastern guys. They refused to cross our picket line. One guy had 35 years with EAL and 2 years on the picket line. You could see his eyes welling up. He shook all of our hands and went home.
That being said, I want to take a moment to thank all of our support last night. You were instrumental in our efforts to try to bring the company back to the table. I am sure I will see many of you tonight. I'm on my way back down there in a few minutes to join my brothers on the line until the sun comes up.
Unity!
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As far as updates are concerned......
We stopped the "scab plane" with the help of ABX pilots who were picketing this afternoon. After about 20 minutes of picketing the plane, the beacon went off and the door opened. Our guys thanked the crew for not flying our freight. Whoever you are, thanks for not flying.
We have about 12 scabs right now that we know of. One is a contractor and one is a management pilot. A bunch of them are previous EAL "crossers". We have their names, id numbers, and flight numbers.
There was a Lear 35, N88NJ which flew five scabs on August 28 from MIA to TNCC in an effort to get one of the abandoned planes.
I urge all of you to join us at Cargo City tonight. I will be there standing up against management and their unfair and unethical practices!
FAIR CONTRACT NOW!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20090828/pl_usnw/teamsters_urge_amerijet_to_return_to_bargaining_table
