It's time to get down to the meat and potatos of the real issue: Is all the cutting on assigned maintenance checks affecting the safety of the carrier? Is the decline in the morale affecting the final product? Is the defecting of "top-notch" mechanics to other carriers because of higher pay and benefits contributing to the future success of the airline? Answer honestly.....
Are you safer now than you were pre-9/11?
- Thread starter Man of the People
- Start date
Yup. Safety costs money. How much safety are the airlines willing to pay for?
Also, the decline in the quality of work done will show up more as time goes on. For example, you can buy a new car and not maintain it at all for the first few years. As time goes on, the better-maintained cars are cheaper to maintain than the poorly maintined ones. Many people and businesses trade every two years to avoid the expense or hassle of good maintenance. Good maintenance costs money, and pays off in the long run. But many are not looking that far ahead.
I suspect that many of the management-friendly posters here would not want their cars maintained by the cheapest possible labor they advocate for the airlines. But if they trade every year or so for their ego boost, the issue is lost on them.
eolesen
Veteran
- Jul 23, 2003
- 15,988
- 9,428
I think you'd be wrong about that -- look at the number of people getting their oil changes done at Walmart, PepBoys and JiffyLube instead of by a master mechanic. Plus, with the detailed reporting available from the OBD2 ports, you've got most of the diagnostics being done by the onboard computers.
Plus, cheap labor doesn't necessarily mean poor quality, and high priced labor doesn't necessarily mean high quality. I could go to the dealership to have all my work done, but instead choose to go to a local garage where it costs half the price and I have more faith in what the mechanic is telling me.
I could have a master mechanic do an oil change, but I'm not getting any better oil or filters than I get at Walmart for a third of the cost.
yes you could.....but try pulling over at 35,000 ft and pop the hood cause the $6.75 per hr mechanic pinched the o-ring on the oil filter he just changed for you...
Perhaps. I don't frequent those place. Do people take expensive cars there? There are some horror stories about some of those places. My son detected a leaking oil drain plug just before driving across the country. Lucky him. Could have cost him an engine. I have had some scary stuff done at tire stores, too. There seem to be very few quality workers at any of them. Impact wrenches on alloy wheels are my crank.
Ya got me there. All my stuff is OBD-1 or earlier.
Not necessarily, but the market does speak. All things being equal, most people rise to the highest pay they are worth. In so many instances, the better can charge more. Surgeons to gardeners. I pay my painter more, and his work is better and lasts longer than the Splat and Scat illegals. For example, the hired help in WalMart is of lower quality than in Nordstrom's. The mechs at AA are generally better than at the chop shops. People who stay in a low wage job usually have a reason. Very often it is the inability to get hired at a higher wage. Many of the chop shop mechs have a rather checkered past, and cannot get a better paying job. Or hold it.
When I do break down and have somebody else fix my stuff, I pay dearly for high quality work. It is worth it to me. It turns out that I have ended up at independent shops, too. but they are not cheap. Just good and honest. Dentist, too. I don't know about your community, but in El Lay, cheap dental work is more expensive in the long run.
You should not pay a master mechanic to change your oil. But it would be better if the oil changer were under the supervision of a master mechanic at his shop. I suspect you are not getting the best oil or filter at Walmart, but that is really a different subject. If you are interested, I have a good link on filters. Many good shops sell top grade oil and filters for owners who care a lot about their vehicles. As an example, my BMW bike gets the oil my indie shop tells me to use. Keeps the starter sprag clean. Only master mechanics know about that. But, there is an example of an oil change that benefitted from the input of a master mechanic.
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"look at the number of people getting their oil changes done at Wal-Mart, Pep boys, and Jiffy-lube"..........
Funny, but I NEVER see any ESCALADES etc, in those places !
Hmmm.
NH/BB's
Hopeful
Veteran
- Dec 21, 2002
- 5,998
- 347
Never mind oil changes!
Engine work?
Transmissions?
Suspension?
Brakes?
Emissions?
Electrical?
If what you are saying is true, good mechanics are leaving,their hard to replace, reliability is suffering, etc..... then AA will have to raise wages, they obviously haven't gotten their yet, but they probably will at some point. The entire country will shortly face a shortage of "skilled" blue collar workers.
Unfortunately for you guys, your union contracts will prevent you from enjoying much of this increase in wages, but hey you'll still have your seniority.
Unfortunately for you guys, your union contracts will prevent you from enjoying much of this increase in wages, but hey you'll still have your seniority.
Hopeful
Veteran
- Dec 21, 2002
- 5,998
- 347
The country doesn't care! They care about WALMART!
The flying public could give a rat's ass about who fixes the aircraft and who flies them!
They only care when their loved ones die in air crashes!
UNION CONTRACTS?
YOU MEAN NEGOTIATING UNDER A BOGUS BANKRUPTCY THREAT?>>>>>>
WHAT DREAMWORLD DO YOU LIVE IN!
AGAIN, THE AIRLINES TOOK ADVANTAGE OF 9/11 TO BREAK UNIONS!
THEY ONLY WANT TO PAY EXECUTIVES OBSCENE WAGES!
THERE IS CLASS WARFARE IN THIS COUNTRY, AND SUCK ASSES LIKE YOURSELF WILL SELL YOUR MOTHERS OUT LOOKING FOR THAT NEXT PROMOTION SO YOU CAN JOIN THE GREEDY INEPT MANAGEMENT RANKS!
I find it interesting that you take so much pride in being an AMT, but yet anyone that does anything else is a "Suck ASS" or has a useless job.
When you started working you made a choice to make a career out of a job that required a limited degree of education and provided a stable, seniority based income with little opportunity for advancement. You chose to work for a union which, YOU gave the right to negeotiate contracts for you which determine your pay.
I didn't I chose to educate myself and negeotiate my own salary based upon my education, experience, and work ethic, not someone elses. I don't have a seniority safety net or a union contract to protect me, my company can fire me tomorrow, but is my choice. For making this choice, I get paid more than most. If I continue to produce, I'll get promoted, if not I'll probably get demoted or fired. That is fair, a lot more fair than saying "i've worked here 30 years" so now I really don't have to work because they can't fire me.
JS
Veteran
