Mentoring
Captain Jay Pierce and I began road shows together this week and we found them very beneficial. We know the frustration that you feel, and as I said to those of you who attended, no one is more frustrated than I. The best part about road shows is they provide an opportunity for an exchange of information – we can inform you about what is going on or not going on, we can clear up misconceptions and we can hear from you. As I have said, we do not have a monopoly on good ideas. Thank you to those of you who took your summer day to meet with us.
For those of you who attended, my message this week will be repetitive, and I apologize in advance. When you do MEC jobs, you find yourself thinking about what is wrong and why things are as they are. You contemplate why guys don’t understand what you consider to be the basic tenets of unionism and how things work. Having “grown up” here at United, I and my peers were mentored by those who came before us. They shared their experiences and beliefs, and told us “the way things were.” They talked about the industry, the airlines, unionism and pensions and why pension funding was so important. In my twenties, pensions weren’t my primary concern, but I listened, and I stored the information. They had all kinds of sayings, advice and wisdom such as “hotels specialize in sleeping, restaurants specialize in eating.” They talked about saving, not using credit, and were sometimes a little outdated in their thinking like don’t use credit cards, not realizing that it was just a means to your money and you pay the bill every month. They had a lot of information about life and living to share. They were crusty old guys, and we listened.
Ok, we didn’t emulate everyone we flew with. Upon realizing that no coffee was coming about an hour into the flight and asking what could be going on and suggesting that it was time to make a request for this important sustenance, the Captain confessed that it might not be too forthcoming. It seemed that his first ex-wife was the A, and his second ex-wife working the aft galley, all with his current wife sitting in first class. From him we learned what not to do.
But we learned about the Railway Labor Act, about the history of our union, and about how to start volunteering at the bottom, as the more active union jobs required seasoning and proving oneself. We were told what the leadership meant and the strategies and considerations involved. There was little question about what he means when he says, “ … because we had been educated.” Captain reps told first and second officer reps new to the MEC table to keep their mouths shut unless something just had to be said, and to listen and learn for the first several meetings. From that how to influence the process was learned effectively. We were well mentored by those gray hairs that came before us.
So what has happened in the years since those guys flew their last flight? We have become the gray hairs, and we have not mentored and held up our end of the bargain. Why is it that we have so stepped over our responsibility?
Again, when you do an MEC job, you think about the whys. It used to be that you couldn’t be hired after age 31. As a result, old guys were senior and young guys were junior. The line was a consistent incline with age and seniority laid over one another. We flew first and second officer for Captains that made it to the left seat after 20 years or more, and who retired off of the 727. Things changed sometime thereafter. I don’t remember when it changed, but it changed. You no longer had to be 31 or younger to get hired. We hired retired military guys in their 40s, unheard of previously. We hired corporate guys who had been around the industry for a while. So our young Captain group was met with first officers our age and older. These guys were experienced aviators but new airline pilots and union members. Our society is set up for the old to lecture the young, and we were taught to respect our elders, but not the other way around. As a result we did not mentor and the education has not been continued.
Having said all this, it is important to note that mentoring can be two way. We have had CLR for 30 years. Information, education and wisdom can be passed in both directions. It is our obligation as union members to explain the history, what things mean and why to each other, and to pass it on. Hopefully someday soon we will have some new hires to pass our knowledge along to.
So please, let’s all step up and start educating each other. It is long overdue.
