Yes, I do plan on having a family and the goodies, but only when I am at a point in my life and career when I can afford to support myself, my wife and my kids. Jumping into a commitment like that without the resources to back it up is not the smartest move.]]
In your earlier post, you claimed to have made "many personal sacrifices" to this effect. Tell me, how does one "sacrifice" something they admit they never had in the first place? Perhaps you meant to say "you chose to forego" some of those things. Your choices, however, are not unique, special, nor are they anything more than those any teen makes on how to spend their allowance wisely. Most people make the same ones when beginning a career. Your problem seems to be that you can't comprehend that nobody can forsee or plan for every contingency a few years (let alone 10 or 20) down the road. Your pompous attitude to those who have been furloughed in the last year who happen to have family & financial responsibilities, which get greater as every month goes by, and accusing them of financial irresponsiblity when you know absolutely NOTHING of their situation, strikes me as immature to the extreme.
You say you "chose not to buy a house?". Don't congratulate yourself too loudly, because everyone knows that if your wages are as low as you say they are, then you would have never qualified for a loan in the first place. Those furloughees you think you can judge actually did prove their history of financial responsiblity and earning power, or never would have been able to get them either. In other words, without making the money in the first place, nobody's going to let you make a decison about it. It has nothing to do with being "smart", it's a simple matter of arithmetic.
But fight your anti-Freedom Air battle all you want. It's easy to make issues like this the be-all/end-all when all you have to worry about is yourself, and can accept a teenager-like hand-to-mouth existence. I've done it and one time and so have most pilots in here, but you're view seems to be that the only acceptable conditions and choices are those that match your own. Personally, if you can "barely feed yourself", then I'd say you only helped exacerbate the problems of this industry by willingly accepting a job at such slave-pen wages. Now you judge others harshly, and proclaim that someone else's slave wages don't measure up to yours? Is this because your slave wages are somehow "noble" simply by virtue of being union-ratified? Your viewpoint reminds me of what George Carlin said about other drivers on the highway.....anyone driving slower than yourself is a "idiot", and anyone driving faster than you is a "f'in maniac".
So I guess you see anyone who has been in a position to take on more responsibity than your young self, and couldn't predict the future like you apparently can, must have been the aforementioned, irresponsible "f'in maniac" to find themselves in the position they are in. Hopefully, you will never be in a position where you will suddenly have to decide on taking a job that, even if it's non-union and short-term, would allow access to medical insurance for your spouse and kids, and free up the money to pay an already-late mortgage so you don't face foreclosure. You tell me what the "adult" choice would be, because thats an "adult" situation, unlike your example of "not buying a new car" ("hey, today I didn't go out and buy the 180-foot Feadship I have had my eye on, OR the Ferrarri.....wow, I'm responsible!).
Nobody's talking about crossing a picket line here, but your stridency and attacks against the personal characters of those who aren't as unemcumbered as you are by simple virtue of career timeline, and your dismissal of their situation, won't win me over. Let me just remind you that the impact of those who take a job at Freedom Air on "the Industry" is no greater than your decision to take a job flying for a place where you can "barely feed yourself". Sounds to me like you climbed aboard a low-lying ship and now want the pull up the ladder behind you.
