hockeypilot44
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Posts
- 893
The Northwest mechanics, cleaners, and custodians are on strike right now. There are cleaners over there making $40,000 per year doing a job that requires no prior skill and has no real responsibility other than making a few customers unhappy if they do not do their job. We have hundreds of people's lives in our hands throughout the day including our own yet there our regional pilots out there making less than half that flying a jet. These cleaners had their wages threatened so they went on strike to protect themselves even though Northwest threatened to replace them. Northwest did replace them with scabs. Here is my problem. The Northwest pilots are still flying even though there are scab mechanics working on their airplanes. Northwest wants it's pilots to take paycuts also. Not only will ALPA encourage the pilots to take the paycuts, it will also encourage the pilots to keep flying. Are the pilots and mechanics not both unionized? What happened to the good old days when unions backed each other up? If everyone at US Air was not on the the max payscale, there would be pilots at US Air mainline making less than $40,000 per year, and there would be pilots that would happily do these jobs, yet there are cleaners at Northwest that refuse to clean the airplanes for less than this. Why are pilots happy flying airplanes for nothing? I am a bitter F/O at Chautauqua that a lot of people do not like because I complain about how much I hate my job. Most captain's response is to quit and let someone who would be happy to do my job have it. I get told about how it could be a lot worse for me if I worked somewhere else because I will upgrade in the next few months which will put me at about a two year upgrade. Then I will be making the big bucks, aproximately $55,000 to $60,000 per year. You cannot even support a family comfortably off those wages anymore, and I have a bachelor's degree with a skill and a job with a lot of responsibility. What is it about this not-so-glamorous job that forces people to want to do it for absolutely nothing? Everyone likes to point the finger at the regional pilots, but the major pilots are voluntarily taking paycuts left and right to save their airline. All pilots are the same. We are all bottom feeders. By the way, I am saving up as much money as I can right now so I can start my own restaurant and quit this god dam job. I will not even call it a profession anymore because we are far below professionals. We are pathetic, low-life scum that only care about ourselves and look down on everyone else. If we had half the intelligence or courage of the NWA mechanics, we would all be much better off. Why are these scabs at Northwest not getting beaten to death? Why does the pilot group at NWA not walk off the job? Why does Duane Worth not organize a nationwide strike to get everyone their pensions back? I will tell you why. Duane Worth only cares about his $400,000 per year salary. After all, he was a pilot, was he not? Pilots only care about themselves. If Duane Worth organized a nationwide strike, he would probably go to jail for violating the railroad act, but he would also cut his own salary since it is paid by ALPA dues. Both things would be very bad for him even though it might save our profession. A great leader puts the whole ahead of himself. Mr. Worth and the rest of ALPA's leaders obviously do not do that. Sorry this was so long, just me venting. I am also sorry for any spelling or grammar errors. I am not a writer. Thank you.
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