CAL EWR B737
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2005
- Posts
- 652
Wall Street March 12 - Final Thoughts
Now that the recent Wall Street event is over and we’ve all had a few days to sit and reflect upon it, I thought I’d finally add a few words here. First and foremost, this event was a huge success for many reasons. Far and away, the prime reason was the enthusiastic participation of almost 500 of my fellow Continental pilots, along with the generous and much appreciated support shown from our brother and sister pilots from other carriers.
For those of you who were able to attend, we thank you. For those of you who weren’t able to be there, we hope you will be able to attend our next event. You haven’t lived until you see a double column of CAL pilots marching with rigid military precision stretching as far as the eye can see. I will never forget the sense of unity, camaraderie and most importantly pride that I felt that day. Speaking on behalf of our entire SPSC and Strike Committee team, we thank and salute you all. Wednesday, March 12, 2008 will go down in history as the day the book of our past was slammed shut and burned. It will forever be remembered as the birth date of the new CAL ALPA. With honest, focused and motivated leadership, which our Union now has, and a unified pilot group, which we clearly now have as well, there is no stopping us.
The challenge we face now is to build upon our success. Don’t allow yourselves to simply rest upon your laurels. By all means, reflect upon and enjoy the success of that tremendous day. However, always be aware that there will be more rallies and picketing events to come. We challenged you all to attend the Wall Street event, and you answered the challenge. There will be more challenges to come, and the expectation of support and attendance will be there for those events as well. This is not the end of expectation of support and attendance, but rather the beginning.
I mentioned our team above. I wanted to take this opportunity to point out not only the contributions and importance of our pilots turning out in the overwhelming numbers that they did, but of equal importance the indescribable dedication and work produced by the Strike Preparedness Committee TEAM and the SPSC structure as a whole.
Without each and every one of them, this event would never have happened. I can’t tell you how many conference calls dragged on into the early hours of the next day, how many hundreds upon hundreds of emails flew back and forth, strategies and plans being made, modified, printed, compiled, tested, discarded, and rewritten, again an again. The workload these people endured and the product they produced speaks for itself. The company did everything in their power to make this event as difficult as possible to plan.
Everyone involved worked right through that intentionally placed barrier as if it didn’t exist. The company did their very best to trip us up, and they have now learned that we are no longer what we once were – we are a focused, dedicated and unified force to be reckoned with. We are an Army, ready willing and ABLE to fight to regain what was taken from us. We extended a loan to our company in their alleged time of need, and now THE LOAN IS DUE !!!!.
This event involved over 3500 man hours, from over 43 different volunteers. Not one hour of flight pay loss was paid to the team on this event. Not one! Every single request for trip drop and flight pay loss was flatly rejected by the company. There were no individual stars on this team – each and every member of the team was a star in their own way. No contributor overshadowed another, egos were checked at the door, and the results were self-evident.
Let the company take note not only of the unity that this pilot group showed, but also of the fact that no matter how difficult the company attempts to make this effort, we will overcome and we will produce. There is no stopping this team, and my pride and gratitude for them is beyond words. Being that this is truly a team, I will not mention individual names. I would like to publicly and clearly thank each and every one of you for the awe-inspiring effort you all put in. Some were more visible than others, but all contribute greatly. In fact, some of the biggest contributors are also some of the least visible. My respect for each and every one of you will remain far beyond the signing of this next contract. Thank you, each and every one of you.
As we move forward from this point, let’s all enjoy what we accomplished, take a day or two to rest up, and start planning for the next event. This was game one of a long season. We won, and we won big. It’s time to start working on the game plan for game two. Again, to all the pilots and volunteers who made this event such a huge success – THANK YOU!
Job well done.
Fraternally,
Jayson Baron
CAL ALPA SPSC Strike Preparedness Committee
Now that the recent Wall Street event is over and we’ve all had a few days to sit and reflect upon it, I thought I’d finally add a few words here. First and foremost, this event was a huge success for many reasons. Far and away, the prime reason was the enthusiastic participation of almost 500 of my fellow Continental pilots, along with the generous and much appreciated support shown from our brother and sister pilots from other carriers.
For those of you who were able to attend, we thank you. For those of you who weren’t able to be there, we hope you will be able to attend our next event. You haven’t lived until you see a double column of CAL pilots marching with rigid military precision stretching as far as the eye can see. I will never forget the sense of unity, camaraderie and most importantly pride that I felt that day. Speaking on behalf of our entire SPSC and Strike Committee team, we thank and salute you all. Wednesday, March 12, 2008 will go down in history as the day the book of our past was slammed shut and burned. It will forever be remembered as the birth date of the new CAL ALPA. With honest, focused and motivated leadership, which our Union now has, and a unified pilot group, which we clearly now have as well, there is no stopping us.
The challenge we face now is to build upon our success. Don’t allow yourselves to simply rest upon your laurels. By all means, reflect upon and enjoy the success of that tremendous day. However, always be aware that there will be more rallies and picketing events to come. We challenged you all to attend the Wall Street event, and you answered the challenge. There will be more challenges to come, and the expectation of support and attendance will be there for those events as well. This is not the end of expectation of support and attendance, but rather the beginning.
I mentioned our team above. I wanted to take this opportunity to point out not only the contributions and importance of our pilots turning out in the overwhelming numbers that they did, but of equal importance the indescribable dedication and work produced by the Strike Preparedness Committee TEAM and the SPSC structure as a whole.
Without each and every one of them, this event would never have happened. I can’t tell you how many conference calls dragged on into the early hours of the next day, how many hundreds upon hundreds of emails flew back and forth, strategies and plans being made, modified, printed, compiled, tested, discarded, and rewritten, again an again. The workload these people endured and the product they produced speaks for itself. The company did everything in their power to make this event as difficult as possible to plan.
Everyone involved worked right through that intentionally placed barrier as if it didn’t exist. The company did their very best to trip us up, and they have now learned that we are no longer what we once were – we are a focused, dedicated and unified force to be reckoned with. We are an Army, ready willing and ABLE to fight to regain what was taken from us. We extended a loan to our company in their alleged time of need, and now THE LOAN IS DUE !!!!.
This event involved over 3500 man hours, from over 43 different volunteers. Not one hour of flight pay loss was paid to the team on this event. Not one! Every single request for trip drop and flight pay loss was flatly rejected by the company. There were no individual stars on this team – each and every member of the team was a star in their own way. No contributor overshadowed another, egos were checked at the door, and the results were self-evident.
Let the company take note not only of the unity that this pilot group showed, but also of the fact that no matter how difficult the company attempts to make this effort, we will overcome and we will produce. There is no stopping this team, and my pride and gratitude for them is beyond words. Being that this is truly a team, I will not mention individual names. I would like to publicly and clearly thank each and every one of you for the awe-inspiring effort you all put in. Some were more visible than others, but all contribute greatly. In fact, some of the biggest contributors are also some of the least visible. My respect for each and every one of you will remain far beyond the signing of this next contract. Thank you, each and every one of you.
As we move forward from this point, let’s all enjoy what we accomplished, take a day or two to rest up, and start planning for the next event. This was game one of a long season. We won, and we won big. It’s time to start working on the game plan for game two. Again, to all the pilots and volunteers who made this event such a huge success – THANK YOU!
Job well done.
Fraternally,
Jayson Baron
CAL ALPA SPSC Strike Preparedness Committee
Last edited:
) TC
