2) that you see nothing wrong with mistreating a sincere pilot, who doesn't agree with a strike, for the rest of his career.
Why in the world do these opinions inspire such anger and vitriol? The completion of my Union education is that seemingly decent people see nothing wrong with hooliganism is a revelation to me. I thought such detestable actions were only practiced by the extremists. I was wrong, apparently.
Honetly, who is the hooligan? The person who watches his fellow pilots trying to improve things for everyone, including himself, by making the ultimate sacrifice (believe me, a strike is a HUGE sacrifice by the pilots, unless you think most of us really don't need a paycheck), but actively works against them by crossing the picket line, or those pilots who shun the scabs for working against them? Personally, I'd call the scab the hooligan.
Look, imagine I'm digging a hole. It needs to be 40x40x20 (a swimming pool maybe?) A pretty big task for one guy with a shovel. Luckily, most of my other friends with shovels agree to pitch in and help, greatly reducing the time needed to complete the task, allowing all of us to more quickly reap the benefits of the new pool, for ourselves and our families. Now imagine there are a few guys out there who don't see a need for the pool. A couple just shake their heads and walk away. But a few pick up shovels and begin throwing dirt back in the hole the rest of us are trying to dig out. Hey, maybe it's just 3 guys doing this, and ultimately they can't stop the inevitability of the efforts of, say, 40 guys digging out the hole. Still, those 40 guys are working, sacrificing, trying to create something good for everyone. Do you think those 40 guys in the hole are going to be particularly pleasant to the three guys who were actively working against them while they were breaking their backs? Would you? Especially considering those 3 guys will still get to enjoy the benefits of the pool when it's finished?
So maybe we go on strike (but I hope it doesn't happen). Perhaps you don't agree with it. No trouble there. You now have a choice. You can simply walk away and let everyone else do the hard work (like the guys who walked away from the pool project) but NOT cross the picket line. Yes, that means you're on strike, but not actively supporting it. Or, you cross the picket line (the guys who are actually throwing dirt back into the whole everyone else is digging out). Even if it's just by a few days, you are increasing the duration of the strike, keeping thousands out of a paycheck for the extra time, and basically sh*****g on the hard work and sacrifice of all those people, and in the end reaping the benefits of that hard work.
And you really don't understand why scabs are shunned and generally made miserable?
Look, I get it. You didnt ask to be in the union. You didn't sign up. You never wanted to. Understood.
The thing is, you ARE in the union. Sometimes life doesn't go down the path you wanted or expected. Sorry about that. So here you are. Part of the union. A union that only wants to protect and enhance what you have. You have far more to lose by crossing a picket line than not. Think about. If it comes to a strike, well, it happens no matter what you do. You could decide to not cross the picket line (even if you refuse to walk it with everyone else) and reap the rewards along with everyone else and maintain your standing amongst your peers, or you can cross the picket line, thereby becoming a scab, reaping those same rewards but becoming shunned scum in the eyes of your peers.
I know you're against a strike. Truthfully, it's not the best thing to happen. It'd be better if it could be worked out another way. But sometimes the reality is it just HAS to happen that way, no matter how we'd prefer it go. And if it's going to happen anyway, why would you choose the path of being a scab? I just don't get that. Not being a scab yields so much better results.
