For the record, I have been posting on this forum from August 2005 and have been completely honest in my postings and side conversations. I use my REAL NAME because I've nothing to hide. When I walked out of DTW there wasn't a broken piece of equipment in our zone. And the few times that I walked the picket line in DTW there wasn't anyone "screaming" to shut down the airline. Our 'voices" were focused on the SCABs, not the company. I joined the picket line in CMH since that is where I lived. Again I ask you for some examples of equipment sabotage? In my zone everything was working and there wasn't any mechanics doing any sabotage. So get your facts straight. You said you came to nwa after September? So ANY information you have is "hear-say". I was THERE and I'm setting it straight. I don't know where you SCABs get this sense of righteous indignation towards honorable mechanics but it doesn't wash with us. I looked at a lot of web sites and read a lot of blogs and posts about nwa. When I said we didn't want nwa to "go the way of Eastern (your words)" thats exactly what I meant. All of the mechanics I associated with had a vested interest in seeing nwa survive. Unlike you and some of the other SCABS who post here, who just blow into town for a few months or a year (Play the Odds) and then hit the road when the grass is perceived as being greener somewhere else or can't handle the pressure of a manager breathing down your neck at 5 in the morning or the weather gets a little too cold for changing tires, WE wanted to work in that pit called DTW. It wasn't my home but I met some great people (in mechanics uniforms) and was committed to doing my job there. Now that you have officially "baited" the forum with your innuendo, start coming up with something that isn't hear-say. I'll see your :angry: and raise you one :angry:.
"Don Smith" I did not say I came to NWA after September. I stated I did not become a NWA employee until after September, prior to that I was a contractor a professional contractor. I was one of the first through the gate after your pathetic "strike" was called. I know exactly what condition things were left in and it was deplorable. Some feel, to NWA credit, they apparently chose not to seek retribution via law enforcement or the FAA or any other legal channels. I think they should have done everything in their power to throw the book at everyone who behaved in such a childish juvenile tantrum throwing manner. Everyone who was there knows what happened if you dont you were not there. Rehashing the ugly specifics publicaly, for those who were privileged to not witness it first hand, would not do NWA/DELTA any good at this point. In my opinion, and I am entitled to it, there is no way to refer to yourself or yourselves as a group as professional or honorable when behavior like that is not only tolerated but condoned. You can not say the strikers that showed up at DTW did not scream about sending NWA the way of Eastern it would simply be a blatant lie, nor can you say it was not posted on the internet including some stupid inane website created just for the purpose of exposing replacement workers and deriding NWA. Just to let you know, we, the replacement workers, were NEVER hiding, that includes the line crossers that includes the couple of people which were physically beaten by AMFA drones.
So adult and so professional of your organizations membership, what an example you set for your children.
This entire thread began because I honestly believe that upper management and employees at all levels can work together and make the airline and every employee happier as well as feel more compensated as well as give front line employees a larger voice in the actual management of the airline.
You do not agree apparently....Fine you are entitled to your opinion.
I have never stated or intimated that it would be some sort of nirvana rather it would take WORK and CREATIVE THINKING from angles never used before.
You do not agree......Fine you are entitled to your opinion.
Recent history has proven unions do not work for anyone but union bosses and politicians and usually the company itself in general they manage to bring down employment, facilitate outsourcing, rob paychecks via protection money and protect only the lazy and talentless and create a negative adversarial environment where non-upper management employees feel voiceless.
You do not agree......Fine you are entitled to your opinion.
I know a media consultant/strategist who actually came up with a way employees could expound on the open communication Delta offers to create and re-educate businesses/airline management and shareholders (both employees and investors) to a whole new way of labor relations. A way that would actually show progress for
EVERYONE including the airline. Though, like all 'campaigns' it could be used by either party to its own benefit.
American business management has an ingrained view of unions and of labor relations. One which unions and their members have taught management over the years, its the us against them mentality. To put it in more guttural terms, unions have fostered a 'cage match' type environment pitting themselves AGAINST the company that employs them and the management of the company. Upper management is now viewed by investors and the general public as defending the company while union membership is now viewed by investors and the general public as attempting to suck any and every company dry. You may not like it but that is the ugly truth.
It is time for change because if we do not change all work in America will be either be performed by H1 visa holders or outsourced all together in the very near future. We are not stupid 'sheeple (sheep/people) we (the American worker) in my opinion and not just my opinion is still the best in the world and we need to establish a more positive productive method of labor relations now before its too late and its damn near too late.
I think Delta employees have the biggest opportunity in recent history to be able to help accomplish that for all American workers, in part due to sheer size in part due to the openness of the "Delta Culture" in part due to the current economic climate as well as the political climate. To establish a new way of working with a company or airlines management to effect the changes that would make the company/airline better and make employees happier and feel better compensated and be more involved in the actual management of the airline and/or company.
You do not agree......Fine you are entitled to your opinion. (After all look at the state of the American worker, things are going so well right now arent they)
I remember a time, and I am not
that old, when the American worker was the most coveted worker, the most sought after, the most respected and the most educated. Businesses all over the world sought American workers. If you are honest with yourself you have to admit that big business now views the American worker as greedy and utterly uncaring about the company they work for, further we are viewed as too ignorant to understand the economics of big business.
I do not think this is true on the whole, sadly for some individuals it is unenlightened fact. You may not feel that way, you may have cared very much about NWA but you too have been ingrained with the 'cage match' 'us against them' mentality because you have not been open to or have not been presented with something different. I do not know you personally although I am asking around about you. I work with plenty of returnees some of the real old timers, someone should know of you, but since I do not know you I can not say if it is simply that you have never been presented with something different or if you just like an adversarial environment.
I do know America can not exist as a consumer nation only,
we have to bring work back to America back to Americans. To do that we have to change the way labor relations work in this country or the down hill slide will not abate instead it will accelerate.
Food For Thought:
Do you know how many VCR's have been sold in the USA? Approx 13-15 MILLION.
Do you know how many of those VCR's were made in America?
ZERO, NONE, ZILCH, ZIP, NADDA
Why did Toyota not build their US plant in Michigan where 'experienced' auto workers were readily available? They will not say this publically but the truth is..........THE UAW
Do you have an Ipod? Read the back of it. It says "Designed in California Assembled in China.
How is a contract that gives more money to employees hourly while at the same time allowing MORE outsourcing and the layoffs of hundreds of fellow union members the right choice? Is that a union contract leading an industry in the right direction? It was the wrong choice, it was a selfish choice it was a greedy choice, but it was an industry leading contract for sure. It lead AMFA right out the door and damaged the entire profession; as well as all airline workers.
By the way, I like what someone on one of these boards said about SCABS once......Scabs heal wounds caused by bacteria like AMFA.
I do not consider myself a SCAB, rather I consider myself a SCAR. AMFA is gone the wound is healed now we have to heal the disease that caused the wound....negative, divisive unions and their greedy union bosses and the politicians that feed off them.
You see 'Don Smith' pilots can not fly any plane anywhere unless there are flight attendants to ensure the passengers safety in the event 'God forbid' of an issue in flight, or unless there are rampers to handle the logistics of proper safe loading of baggage or unless there are mechanics to ensure the mechanical safety of the aircraft or unless there are gate agents to organize and inform passengers and unless there is upper management dealing with business issues. Flight Attendants can not work to ensure the safety of passengers if there is no pilot to fly the plane or no mechanic to fix the plane or no rampers to load the plane or no gate agents to organize and inform passengers prior to boarding or no upper management dealing with the business issues. Mechanics can not fix the planes if there are no pilots to fly the planes or no flight attendants to ensure the passengers safety on the aircraft or no rampers to load the planes or not gate agents to get the passengers boarded or no upper management dealing with the business issues.
THAT IS WHY ITS CALLED A TEAM, WE ALL HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER FROM THE TOP OF THE TOTEM POLE ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE!
