What a sad person you must be.............You placed
people in a bad situation and boast that your at peace.
Just a sad remark from a sad individual.
To all others I'm hearing that reductions will start as early
as March 31st. The reductions may total around 172 and the
breakdown may be as follows:
MIA...........5 JOBS
PIT...........49 JOBS
CMH.........9 JOBS
Which totals 63 jobs lost from the East the remainder will come
out of the West, thats 109 jobs lost in the West.
Stations that may be affected are, LAS-OAK-SJC-SLC-TUS-AUS-
LAX.
Also major downsizing may begin in PHX as early as August 1st. I
hope the raise for 7 months was worth it. You voted out your
protection. I know some of the people are realizing this now but
with posters' on this site like ''freedom'', your not being heard.
I wish you all the luck with the exception of some who knew what
lied ahead and after the TA was approved now boast ''they knew it
would happen'' and thier at ''peace with it.''
I believe ''freedoms'' association with the fleet may be one
from the managerial side with the hopes of breaking this union.
All his posts and suggestion sound like thier coming from the other
side of the desk.
We shall see............
Perseverance
Where to begin …
{sigh } I’m a baggage handler like yourself …been one for a long time … Not only do I like the job , but I consider myself extremely lucky to have ever stumbled upon this it .. I never got a college education , it’s doubtful I could have completed college at any rate, my math skills are so poor … I’m a simple man , been living this life we all go through …. I won’t lie , it’s been hard out here in Arizona , people always looked down on me if I told them my profession , stereotyped me etc (Snottsdale) .. so I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder , people with their college degrees thinking their better than I … Being poor was never a fun thing either … that’s one of the reasons I fought so hard for this new contract … perhaps you’ve forgotten what the TWU pay scale was , but those of us who worked under it will never forget …. When the price of gas began to rise last year, life just became crushing , having to drive into work everyday paying 3.00 a gallon and that was a lot when we were making what we were … There were numerous reasons that I fought as hard as I did for the yes position …. Mostly it was for my own self interest , I had envisioned a new life balling …. LOL … it’s true what they say about the more you make the more you spend because I’m back to being poor again .. I never entered into the 401K program that was offered to a lot of our rampers back in the day . people used to be very concerned about my future always trying to talk me into it …. At the time that was sound advice but I was too wrapped up in the moment …. Now I feel for my fellow peoples seeing their 401ks decimated …
When we had our discussions about the future and waiting for DEC 31st 2009 I used to mock those on the east side who wanted to wait …claiming things would be bad economically at that time ETC … that line of attack wasn’t really high on my list of reasons why I wanted the new contract althou I was vaguely aware that there was a problem with the US economy , but I don’t think I ever really thought it would be THIS bad …
Now when I say I’m at peace with the decision I made in voting yes , with all of the different stings attached it’s true …. I’ll never forget this one post that jester wrote on here when he was being cynical about our future .. He said something like “well at least with the new pay scale it will help our unemployment benefits because they go on the last six months of your pay level in determining benefits “
Some people see the glass as half full , others as half empty … I see the glass shattered with all of the water on the table … did I ever tell you how I started reading the wall street journal ? As you all know we have a lot of free time , and a cheap thing to do is scour the planes or waiting areas for left behind papers .. That’s how I got hooked on it , so just about everyday for the last oh maybe year ? I’ve been reading it daily …. When I was poor I never had an interest in the economy or money …. But one day it became important to me , maybe it was the whispers in the dark corners of the internet talking about economic troubles ahead , but whatever it was , I started paying attention ….and I’ve been paying more and more attention everyday now for along time …. What you see on your local news channel where they explain what’s going on is now kids stuff to me …
When our company decided on XYZ percentage of job cuts for this new year , aka 6% they made that determination last year under a different economic forecast for this year …. But now this year has arrived , and by all accounts predictions that were made last year in all areas of the economy are now believe to be too optimistic … I know some of you think that this 6% could just be the start , and I feel that way as well … PHX and Arizona in general is getting hit hard by this downturn … job fairs are like rock concert entrance lines with long long lines … our state budget is in the red and I think our state is going to just go down the tubes … as that happens less people are going to fly in and out of PHX , much like LAS where people are no longer flying in to gamble away money they no longer have ..
So when you tell us that we’re going to see more job cuts …. Well we know that …. And this isn’t happening because we voted yes on the contract , but because the economy it’s self is contracting ….
Some of you think I’m anti union or that I’m a sell out … I’m not … I’m really , really really glad that I’m in a union …. If I do get laid off I’ll get a severance package and it has to go by seniority … with my skills , if I wasn’t here I’d be some guy at a convince store or some other low level position , and without a union , when they let you go , it’s just goodbye and you don’t get squat .. Being a union member also protects me from discrimination which is an ugly thing . Having seen other workers fearful of their supervisors because their desperate to keep their jobs , I’m glad I’m not in that boat …. ( here’s a scary scenario for you …. You’re a chick and your boss want’s to sleep with you , how do you say no and still keep your job ? ) So no , I’m not out to break the union , I pay my dues just like the rest of us …
I do like our company , I think we’ve got good management and I also believe that they’ve bent over backwards to keep people employed lately … but even with everything that’s been done to cut costs and reduce the head count I know it won’t be enough . I remember when I was once scared that our company might go under that I advocated the company cut everyone’s wages , I was all like RAH RAH go company go ! … but today , I’ve come to the conclusion that with our airline being the smallest out of them all , we’re most likely going to go away … and I think it’s inevitable so you won’t hear me calling for wage reductions or anything else …
I’m just going to sit here quietly until my ticket is up .
