- Feb 15, 2006
- 3,244
- 274
When I first heard about our Merger being derailed my initial instinct was to strike back , immediate action !!! and that would have been the right thing to do ...At that time the media was hungry for a story , and if our company had mobilized faster we could have provided another perspective other than "large corporation seeks to squeeze flying public via monopoly "
But that ship has sailed ....and while I appreciate the great lengths this company is going to in order to lobby our congress ... I can't help but sit here and wonder if the people who have set this up have EVER had any dealings with their elected representatives ?
Does our company think that a bunch of chanting , shouting and marching is going to change ANYONE'S mind ? ( I should mention that when we do this to YOU , it doesn't seem to have much effect ) ...
Even if Representatives from all of the different work groups are able to sit down with elected officials and have a heart to heart it will have almost little to no effect ...
Politicians today have competing interests , they want to be everyone's friend , but at the end of the day , they always say they have to look out for their "constituents "
Let's say our pilots are able to sit and chat with an elected official from a state that doesn't have direct service to DCA ... our pilot is going to tell them how wonderful this merger will be in terms of wages and job security , he or she will read the company script that bombards the recipient with all sorts of cool sounding facts ...
Yet at the end of the day , after our people have gone home , after hand shakes and smiles have been exchanged , the consummate politician will make a cold calculated political decision ..Go against the current Media narrative of a merger that will only end up further raising prices on American consumers ? or side with a few workers who are only in this for themselves ?
If I was an elected official , democrat or republican , I would shake your hands , tell you I'll give it some serious thought , and then later come out against the merger " in the interests of the American public which is already dealing with high prices and difficult times , now is NOT the time to raise prices and stifle competition "
To be successful in DC , you've GOT to change the narrative .....you've got to make this merger worth wild for every single politician , not just the ones who fly out of DC ...
there IS a way to do this .....but this corporation ISN'T going to like what I have to say next ...
What are the headlines of the day right now ? (besides Syria ) ... Bank of America lays off 2,000 employee's , GE lays off XYZ employee's ..company after company is laying off massive amounts of workers , and while the jobs report each month reads EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ! , everyone knows that the jobs being created right now are either on the very high end ( technical , or requiring lots of certications) or the job growth is on the low end , part time workers at Wal-Mart with no benefits who get sent home after working 29 hours a week ...
The NEW AMERICAN , is going to have to change the narrative of a merger that hurts the public , to that of a company that is HIRING THREE THOUSAND NEW EMPLOYEE'S !!!!!!!!!
and what kind of jobs are they hiring for ? Full time work , with health care and a LIVING wage ....
In many states the ground Services has been contracted out to companies such as service Air where people slave away for 10 dollars an hour with no flight benefits , no healthcare and no prospect of wage increases ...
If this company can tell our congress that they intend to start hiring for fleet service and mantaince in THAT congress person's state , if we can change the narrative to that of " you WANT this merger to happen congressman , that way you can go back to your state and tell people there that you helped to bring REAL jobs to the state " then we will conquer congress ...
If our company simply thinks that Congress will just listen to reason , then I suggest that those of you over in the ivory tower pick up a phone right now and call a representative in another state to share how you feel about some political issue of the day ( don't tell them that you work for US airways )
In order to save time i'll cut to the chase , elected officials are not interested in hearing what people outside of their district have to say , you can chant scream and shout all you want , you can make the most impassioned intelligent speech about why logically we must do or not do something , and it will fall on deaf ears ...
These guys need some skin in the game if you want them to play on our team .... the ONLY way to do that is either very large campaign contributions , or you have to offer them something that they CANNOT refuse , and right now in this country , the ONE thing that this government CANNOT say no to are Jobs that pay a living wage ...
well those are just my two cents ...
But that ship has sailed ....and while I appreciate the great lengths this company is going to in order to lobby our congress ... I can't help but sit here and wonder if the people who have set this up have EVER had any dealings with their elected representatives ?
Does our company think that a bunch of chanting , shouting and marching is going to change ANYONE'S mind ? ( I should mention that when we do this to YOU , it doesn't seem to have much effect ) ...
Even if Representatives from all of the different work groups are able to sit down with elected officials and have a heart to heart it will have almost little to no effect ...
Politicians today have competing interests , they want to be everyone's friend , but at the end of the day , they always say they have to look out for their "constituents "
Let's say our pilots are able to sit and chat with an elected official from a state that doesn't have direct service to DCA ... our pilot is going to tell them how wonderful this merger will be in terms of wages and job security , he or she will read the company script that bombards the recipient with all sorts of cool sounding facts ...
Yet at the end of the day , after our people have gone home , after hand shakes and smiles have been exchanged , the consummate politician will make a cold calculated political decision ..Go against the current Media narrative of a merger that will only end up further raising prices on American consumers ? or side with a few workers who are only in this for themselves ?
If I was an elected official , democrat or republican , I would shake your hands , tell you I'll give it some serious thought , and then later come out against the merger " in the interests of the American public which is already dealing with high prices and difficult times , now is NOT the time to raise prices and stifle competition "
To be successful in DC , you've GOT to change the narrative .....you've got to make this merger worth wild for every single politician , not just the ones who fly out of DC ...
there IS a way to do this .....but this corporation ISN'T going to like what I have to say next ...
What are the headlines of the day right now ? (besides Syria ) ... Bank of America lays off 2,000 employee's , GE lays off XYZ employee's ..company after company is laying off massive amounts of workers , and while the jobs report each month reads EMPLOYMENT GROWTH ! , everyone knows that the jobs being created right now are either on the very high end ( technical , or requiring lots of certications) or the job growth is on the low end , part time workers at Wal-Mart with no benefits who get sent home after working 29 hours a week ...
The NEW AMERICAN , is going to have to change the narrative of a merger that hurts the public , to that of a company that is HIRING THREE THOUSAND NEW EMPLOYEE'S !!!!!!!!!
and what kind of jobs are they hiring for ? Full time work , with health care and a LIVING wage ....
In many states the ground Services has been contracted out to companies such as service Air where people slave away for 10 dollars an hour with no flight benefits , no healthcare and no prospect of wage increases ...
If this company can tell our congress that they intend to start hiring for fleet service and mantaince in THAT congress person's state , if we can change the narrative to that of " you WANT this merger to happen congressman , that way you can go back to your state and tell people there that you helped to bring REAL jobs to the state " then we will conquer congress ...
If our company simply thinks that Congress will just listen to reason , then I suggest that those of you over in the ivory tower pick up a phone right now and call a representative in another state to share how you feel about some political issue of the day ( don't tell them that you work for US airways )
In order to save time i'll cut to the chase , elected officials are not interested in hearing what people outside of their district have to say , you can chant scream and shout all you want , you can make the most impassioned intelligent speech about why logically we must do or not do something , and it will fall on deaf ears ...
These guys need some skin in the game if you want them to play on our team .... the ONLY way to do that is either very large campaign contributions , or you have to offer them something that they CANNOT refuse , and right now in this country , the ONE thing that this government CANNOT say no to are Jobs that pay a living wage ...
well those are just my two cents ...
