Pilots, White Collar or Blue Collar

[GuppyWN]

You're labor bro. Pure and simple.

Gup

 

[AA717driver]

You wear a uniform. You get paid by the hour. You generally work under a collective bargaining agreement. You pay union dues.

I've contended we were blue collar workers for years. Too many pilots want to buy into the line that we're really management. Yeah. Right.

Re: Bush bashing. This downward spiral has nothing to do with political parties. It is about the "elites" in this country controlling everything. They believe it is their manifest destiny to run the country. The educated middle class is a threat to their position.

I've seen this first hand. My daughter has gone to the top private school in my city since K. We thought we'd fit in with the other parents because I was a pilot for a "major airline". Not exactly. There is a club among those with money. We weren't invited. Never mind that alcoholism and drug abuse is rampant, these are the superior beings on this earth and they are destined to ride herd over the rest of us.

Make no mistake about it--there is a concentrated effort to weaken the middle class in America. To assign blame to one political party over the other is only helping the effort. If you are a Democrat and think "your" party rises above such actions, you are WRONG. Same for Republicans.TC

 

[Turbine Pilot]

Back when it was a regulated industry it was all white collar. Now under deregulation we are blue collar at the regionals and slowly turning from white collar at the majors to blue collar. The funny part is almost every pilot thinks this industry should not be regulated. I guess pilots get what they want and so does management. They will get all the money and we will do all the work since so many pilots LOVE to fly so much that they don't care about a nice wage anymore.

 

[shooter]

Re: Bush bashing. This downward spiral has nothing to do with political parties. It is about the "elites" in this country controlling everything. They believe it is their manifest destiny to run the country. The educated middle class is a threat to their position.

Make no mistake about it--there is a concentrated effort to weaken the middle class in America. To assign blame to one political party over the other is only helping the effort. If you are a Democrat and think "your" party rises above such actions, you are WRONG. Same for Republicans.TC

I am not pointing to political parties, just pointing out the current administrations anti-labor track record.
And I do not vote "party". Only fools and liars vote for a party. I vote on the issues and how the individual sees them and their plans for them no matter the party. But I do agree with the rest of your post and have seen it/lived it too.

 

[inline]

taken from an online interview....

"In this exclusive interview, Barbara Ehrenreich talks about the thin line between the middle class and the working poor and why she wants to slap the next person who insists on the power of positive thinking.

In general, I think it's easier for liberal affluent people to be concerned about those who are chronically poor. Harder to have compassion for the IT person down the street who may be heading to the working poor. And by and large, I found the white-collar people more withdrawn and depressed. Even if they had a job, they were terrified of being laid off. The white-collar person might be only six months away from being in a blue-collar job, if they have a job at all. But part of being in the middle-class is absorbing certain prejudices; white-collar workers may believe they are smarter and more hard-working than those in blue-collar jobs and so this shouldn't happen to them."

Not to start a Bush bashing, but he is killing the middle class...and guess where Pilots are on the class scale. If anyone thinks it goes up from here needs a pee test. The downward spiral is in full motion.....HOLD ON!

Blame Bush. Yea, that'll do it.

 

[shooter]

Blame Bush. Yea, that'll do it.

It may have taken you 3 minutes to type those 6 words...please read post #14. Yes, I will blame him and his administration. If it were Clinton in office and things were the same I would blame him too. I assign blame where blame is due.

 

[njcapt]

I've always contended that in spite of the fact I wear a white shirt, I'm blue collar.

When airline pilots forget this, it is to their eternal peril.

 

[Prop Trash]

we are blue collar at the regionals and slowly turning from white collar at the majors to blue collar.

Why would you consider a pilot at a regional airline to be "blue collar" and a pilot at a major "white collar?" Thats like saying the guy driving the city bus is blue collar but the guy that drives the Greyhound bus is white collar.

Its a hard pill to swallow; white collar workers don't wear uniforms to work, they're not paid by the hour under union bargained wages, they don't operate heavy machinery for a living, and they don't go on strike when they don't get what they want.

 

[pilotyip]

I believe the dept of labour defines workers, as unskilled, skilled and knowledge workers. Pilots fall into the skilled worker definition.

 

[GogglesPisano]

You're labor bro. Pure and simple.

Gup

I second that. We are just beans on a counter's desk.