JetPilot500
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2001
- Posts
- 335
enigma said:I have worked at a non-union carrier that did not respect seniority. I can tell you that in such an environment, the amount of inequity was huge. Upgrades were based upon how well you kissed up, schedules always seemed to reflect who happened to be the favorite, and who was on the outs with managment. Oh Yea, getting on the outs was as easy as refusing to fly a broken/illegal airplane.
There may be some operations out there that are poorly run without a union. But, I worked at several non-union aviation jobs including flight instruction, part 135 and part 91 corporate. I can tell you that in all of those jobs, you were rewarded for hard work and not because of the day you were hired. A pilot was upgraded on ability to do the job...what is wrong with that. The guys who didn't have the ability or weren't "team players" were not given opportunities for advancement. And being a "team player" does not mean bending the rules or kissing butt, it means helping the company out when they need you.
At my 135 job, one day we all got a 25% raise! And that raise had nothing to do with a union strong arming the company into giving the raises. We started to have some turnover because good people were leaving to take higher paying jobs. Well, the laws of economics took over and the company gave everyone a raise to stop the bleeding.
A union contract has its benefits, that is for sure. When you get that many employees, it is nice to have an agreement on how certain things should be handled.
IMO, UAL is in trouble, in part, due to the UNIONS. The Unions have strong armed the company into paying rediculous salaries that the company simply could not afford. And in the process of strong arming the company, they scared away many of the customers. The company didn't agree to those contracts because they suddenly realized they could afford them, they agreed so the UNIONS would stop pushing away all of its customers! No customers, no airline! I don't know one person who tells me they enjoy riding on UAL. They all talk about how bad the employee attitudes are. I choose AA any day before UAL, even if I have to change planes versus going non-stop. A bad attitude should get you fired! However, the unions keep protecting these people who don't deserve the jobs they have.
I've worked for an ALPA airline, and I'll tell you, it is definately part of the reason I did not go back to that job when I was recalled.
There needs to be some reform to all this mess, the system no longer works.
JetPilot500