Airbus "s" Checks

Atlantic,

I just love urban legends.

On the opening pages of the IAM contracts, it states management has the sole authority to operate the Company, with no restrictions save the agreement.

The fleet contract has NO language mandating staffing. If management wants to send one agent to your a/c, they can. Or a thousand. The IAM can back into a staffing discussion via safety, but that is a limited and generally fruitless approach.

FWIW, U wants (on paper, anyway) 4 agents per 737/319-21 'event.' That's one in the bagroom, an ops agent, and two guys on the ramp. I'm sure you've noticed in the small stations shortly after you taxi up, no one is in ops. Why? He's on the ramp. With these three guys, (two in the bin, one on the ground) offload commences. You know the weights involved. After offload, one guy has to run that offload up the carousel belt. You also need three guys to load. So EVERY flight, some combination of four guys busts their a$$ to get the flight out on time. Frequently, because management can't maintain schedule integrity, there are only three guys on duty. Do the math.

If guys are sitting at other gates, they are there because managment mandates it, or allows it.

On to the larger point, Atlantic. I have no idea as to your personal views, so this is not personal.

During the late unpleasantness, many of my ALPA friends supported the notion of solidarity. There was, unfortunately, an asinine subset who said the reason U was broke was overpaid mechanics and rampers. Some had the view rampers should make $8, with no pension.

This ignores the facts. Fleet was not under contract until 1999, and at complete management discretion prior to that. U was losing money just fine then, too. Who were we blaming for U's predicament then?

The main reason we organized was to stop the subsidy flowing from the unrepresented groups to the represented groups. I never held ALPA or AFA accountable for that sorry state of affairs - I blamed management.

I continue to be awed at how willingly we give management a pass, and are so willing to attack one another.

Have we learned NOTHING the past year? :unsure:
 
a320av8r said:
"all the unionized groups should be honoring the picket line"

WHY?
So you like Piedmont. Me too. It was my first plane ride ever when I was a little kid. And back then I thought I knew what "Union" meant, but when I got older I realized the unions of today use "Animal Farm" as the union Manual. <_<