You need to attend roadshows, ask questions and make a decision that is right for you. I've been flying for many years and quite frankly, if you want all these "industry standard" benefits, then start looking and acting like you deserve it. Most of our f/as look like they just rolled out of bed, and are rude to the customers and to each other. It's a joke....and "I want $60.00 an hour". Step up and give the impression that you deserve it!!!...and remember............there are no locks on the doors........ feel free to leave at anytime! And the AW f/as complaining that they have to pay for healthcare..........get real and educate yourselves about the real world...........all the whining and complaining...........go out in the "real world" because flying 40hrs a month and getting full time benefits is unheard of anywhere else in this country. How about being more concerned about people that have taken 9 months of voluntary leaves, worked 11 days in the past year and get the same benefits as you and I who bust ourselves....that would be more important on my list of concerns!!
Really? Is it a fact that "
Most of our f/a s look like they just rolled out of bed and are rude to the customers and each other?" I have heretofore been unaware of this startling statistic. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, because I must exist in a magical parallel universe where co-workers are generally cordial and cooperative with one another and passengers, and expected grooming standards are met or exceeded. There are, of course, always notable exceptions, a small minority, I thought--I didn't know it was actually the majority of our workforce who are slovenly, surly and quarrelsome! Why, knowing that, a person could easily become a misanthrope. I'm certain that's not the case with you, though, you're just trying to enlighten everyone. Okay, so what we need to do in order to eventually enjoy a living wage is to "start looking and acting like [we] deserve it?" and "Step up and give the impression that [we] deserve it?" This is where I need clarification. Specifics, because I'm ready to start earning the kind of largesse (undeserved now, of course, but you're going to tell me how to change all that!), anyway, I want to be worthy of being paid enough to go to the grocery store any time I feel like it, not just the day after the pittance is direct-deposited into my checking account, and I'd love to buy a new coat or go out to dinner without the crushing guilt of adding to my mounting credit card debt. I've been flying for many years, too, thirteen on the reserve system, and most of that with no respect for my seniority, and for the last seven years, I have been engaged in an existential internal debate about "hanging in there," as the kitten barely clinging to the tree branch in the popular 70s era poster would cheerfully exhort, versus cutting my losses and seeking other employment, because, clearly, conditions aren't likely to improve much. (To be fair, I have been entertaining one kind or another of existential internal debate since I was about four-years-old, but this one has been especially persistent and angst-ridden). Lately, I was coming down on the side of enduring until I could examine the richly-deserved improved conditions bound to be brought forth by a new contract, but, to my chagrin, I see none of that in the hazy, concessionary parlance of the recently proffered tentative agreement. The reserve section alone is enough for my nay, even if I'm never forced to work under it, and the pay (top-out in four-and-a-half years, what will the prices of gas and groceries be then?) amounts to The Man's middle finger in my face. I don't have to "educate myself" or "ask questions" about any of that hooey. I won't be attending any tentative agreement Q & A congresses because, for me, the number of deal-breakers contained in just the reserve and compensation sections is enough reason to reject it. Back to the point at hand, though. Please give me detailed instructions on how to "step up" and behave as if I deserve a decent contract.
