that is a very valid point..
to me, it would seem very difficult to state a worker bankrupted their company or the fact they were making a certain amount of money was the sole problem because I do not understand the full job description of an auto worker or what the job entails, what they are responsible for regarding so many different areas of technical aspects..
(I do not think people are necessary overpaid in this country taking into consideration, inflation does not always seem to be brought into picture..for the most part people want to make sure their families are taken care of, who can fault anyone for that?)
its just like how some think a Flight Attendant is 'overpaid' even with pay concession..
because all we do is serve food/drinks and put on a fancy looking uniform (which I happen to like very much...just had to throw that in there..)
there is so much to the profession and what we are responsible for from information to procedures that it seems we are just not paid enough..
(I do not think we are paid enough for how many aircraft we are/will be trained on)...JMHO.
the media or general opinion in this country doesn't always seem to fully grasp what a worker may actually do on their job.. but always seem to have a perception of how it is ...but in reality have no real idea.. sometimes the focus is just one aspect..because of how the media may portray a group...
sort of like..
they pay them how much just to serve peanuts...
(and then people believe that is all we do based on what they hear, see on tv, the movies....)
you know?
Dignity,
My ideas and thoughts and opinions are my own. Yes I do look at both sides of every issue to the best of my ability, to do otherwise would be narrow minded.
In reference to flight attendants: (This is just my honest opinion)
Flight attendants have been
sold to the general public as flying waitresses. The flight attendants as a whole have not countered this effort effectively AND THEY MUST. I do not see flight attendants as flying waitresses I see them as safety professionals who are simply diverse enough to be able to offer very valuable additional inflight services to the customers. Here again the flight attendants unions have failed their membership miserably possibly to the future complete decimation of the profession. You stated you do not feel you are paid enough, well I agree, but you will not be the pay will continue to decrease until flight attendants re-market themselves as a profession, therein gaining public respect and ending the flying waitress mentality.
It is not that Americans are overpaid its bigger than that. It is we, all of us, have allowed the globalization of our own work force in doing so we have consequences to face and to negate those consequences is simply wishful thinking. We have to turn this around on many fronts in order to regain what America as a whole once had which was a genuine standard of living which companies could afford to provide their employees. As a country we produce virtually nothing now, we used to produce everything, as professionals from multiple professions within aviation we have allowed the degradation of our own professions all of these actions or lack of actions have consequences.
You mentioned public perceptions well here are afew:
Pilots, they are just overpaid babysitters you know there is auto pilot they just push afew buttons
Flight Attendants, flying waitresses, sky ho's (sorry about that one I really hate that one)
Rampers, Bag Throwers, Thieves, Knuckle Draggers and other such degrading garbage
Mechanics, Grease Monkeys, Unskilled Grease Monkeys, nothing but tire changers
EVERY ONE OF THESE VIEWS (and more and worse) MUST BE CHANGED!!!!! No one can do that but
US. The unions sure as heck are not and have not done anything about it there by perpetuating it. It is in the airlines interest to see these public perceptions changed just as much as it is in our interest to see these perceptions changed, but right now with the way labor relations work their interest are split between keeping labor cost in line with trying to have the public view air travel as something more than just people hauling. Keeping cost in line will always win out because some shmuck media firm will convince the CEO's they can out media the non-professional public view. instead of actually putting in the work to bring everyone together to change it all at once for EVERYONES BENEFIT.
The Airline would benefit because people would be more willing to PAY for seats instead of the cattle haulers. Work groups would benefit because the company could not afford not to compensate their professionals and the stock holders would benefits because rev's would increase and not all would be spent on labor cost and stocks would rise because of the publics perception of the work groups as well as the public and the streets view of positive new innovative labor/management relations which would actually provide virtually immediate benefits for everyone concerned.
