Teamsters Push for Southern Air

[OrionFE]

Remember, the unions are made up from your own peers (volunteers). It is a thankless job. The few that are passionate and want to make a difference get involved. Most just sit back and think if you want a Kick a$$ contract, you just go tell the company this is what we want and you get it! Wrong! If more people would get involved and support your union and have a little bit of business sense, so you can understand the difference between what is Mgmt BS and what is economics 101, the unions would get more done.

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

I have to ask what did ALPA do for you guys with DHL?

ANY of these "unions" are really like franchises. When a pilot group joins ALPA or IBT, what they're really getting are access to their resources, I.E., a legal staff experienced in contract negotiations, enforcement, and regulatory matters, engineering resources and expertise that can be used in accident investigations, and of course whatever political connections the organization may have. They provide the tools. But like any other tool, the employee group still has to know how to use them, when to use them, and most importantly of all, be willing to use them as necessary.

What an employee group doesn't get when they join a union is, paradoxically, unity. They may get the tools and resources under which to create and foster unity, but they don't get unity. That's important, because unity is the single most important factor in the success of any labor organization. It is lifeblood of such organizations. Unity cannot be bought, sold, or forced upon a group. It doesn't come from the fact that everybody wears a certain lapel pin or carries their ID badge on the same color lanyard. Unity comes from the hearts of the members. An organization either has it, or they don't.

How DHL/Astar wound up where they are today is a long story of interest to no one. Yes, the economy sucks. Yes, the company could have done more. And yes, ALPA could have done more as well. But if you were to narrow the focus of what went wrong down to just one factor, it could well be that it was the pilots themselves who (unwittingly) played the pivotal role in their own demise. And that would not have been any different regardless of who was representing them.

Just my $.02, and worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[fob727]

ANY of these "unions" are really like franchises. When a pilot group joins ALPA or IBT, what they're really getting are access to their resources, I.E., a legal staff experienced in contract negotiations, enforcement, and regulatory matters, engineering resources and expertise that can be used in accident investigations, and of course whatever political connections the organization may have. They provide the tools. But like any other tool, the employee group still has to know how to use them, when to use them, and most importantly of all, be willing to use them as necessary.

What an employee group doesn't get when they join a union is, paradoxically, unity. They may get the tools and resources under which to create and foster unity, but they don't get unity. That's important, because unity is the single most important factor in the success of any labor organization. It is lifeblood of such organizations. Unity cannot be bought, sold, or forced upon a group. It doesn't come from the fact that everybody wears a certain lapel pin or carries their ID badge on the same color lanyard. Unity comes from the hearts of the members. An organization either has it, or they don't.

How DHL/Astar wound up where they are today is a long story of interest to no one. Yes, the economy sucks. Yes, the company could have done more. And yes, ALPA could have done more as well. But if you were to narrow the focus of what went wrong down to just one factor, it could well be that it was the pilots themselves who (unwittingly) played the pivotal role in their own demise. And that would not have been any different regardless of who was representing them.

Just my $.02, and worth exactly what you paid for it.

Considering that you haven't been part Of ANY pilot group for a few years, how would you know what caused our demise?

 

[Mach88]

Sorry to get off subject but I am curious about the ABX severance package. Did you guys get 10 months severance for the furloughed pilots? Is there any cap on that? Im sorry to hear the guys working have to work more days but that seems like a good deal for the furloughed ABX pilots. I would say that is comparable to the minimum of 6 months of pay, medical, and retirement benifits the Astar guys got, which is also decent.

Maybe unions dont have much power these days but considering the severance package these 2 pilot groups got I would say they did a lot better than non union pilots would have.

 

[nitefr8dog]

Yes, last week DHL released the 75M and the furloughed pilots received up to ten months pay if you were out that long. And you are right it is a great deal for the furloughed pilots but it came at a cost. The working group who still do not have any job security going forward are still working under the DHL cloud. The company just announced 40 additional furloughs, the union told the company the pilot group would be willing to start the new work rules at this time without a new commercial agreement going forward if the severance was released which only helps the furloughed pilots does nothing for the working pilot group.( correction; It does allow us to spend more time away from our family at a very stressful time.) The company announced the retirement would be frozen and the new higher medical costs would start in Feb. all without the contract being completed. This with the Union's blessing. (Can you tell that our president of 1224 is on furlough and will receive the severance money and will not have work under these rules?) Just my 2 cents.