USAirBoyA330 said:
I can tell you this as an AFA member... AFA best head off a 23% cut however they must. If those 3 members of the negotiating committee need to lock themselves in a hotel room the entire weekend and duke it out then DO IT. I am still AMAZED that we have only 3 negotiators on a 4 member negotiating committee and our Local 70 President for AFA refuses to fill the 4th seat. We have people in there with very little to NO experience negotiating. And please don't count Ms. Burt. We have Perry Hayes and Mollie McCarthy and then Carol Austin which is not even an elected official of AFA. So, tell me my after repeated attempts to fill that 4th, why seat certain AFA LEC's refuse to fill the seat> Political BS power plays. It's a disgrace when your sitting across from 17 of the nations highest priced labor attorneys, company VP's, ect....and then on the other side we have the AFA 3 people. For the love of Mary! :blink:
I better get a cup of coffee before I really get riled up on this crap.
[post="186470"][/post]
USAirboyA330,
Did you see the movie Titanic when the crowd was panicng and one of the characters says "it's falling apart"?
That's our company. In the past few weeks I have sat quietly by reading the insanities of people here, inparticularly some of our union "leadership". Emotion is important as a human but it has taken over the mess that IS US Airways. As an AFA member who pays my dues, it's time for Teddy to resign. Her emotion has taken over logic. She is not fighting for the collective f/a group. All that "I represent my membership" BS is a smoke screen to an overinflated narsisistic, selfish ego that insist on being right. If anyone disagrees with her, all her years of bent up emotional pain is lashed at you or in this case it will be me. While the good of the PIT f/a's should be a concern, the PIT LEC is part of the MEC, which is the ENTIRE US Airways AFA. Right now, the overwhelming majority could careless what happens to PIT since the base is getting smaller. We are fighting for our survival and anything short of doing what's right for ALL the f/a's now is crazy.
This attempt to make demands at a time when we are 4 months of being history is part of the old union thinking that most people in this country hate, including myself. If anyone thinks a judge is going to agree to what Teddy is suggesting, well I have a piece of land in the Everglades that will perk. This is the same judge that stripped the pilots of their pension with no hesitation. Do you think he is going to all of a sudden care about labor now? All I have to say about that is, Thank you Teddy, the part of Norma Rae has been cast.
There seems to be no middle ground here. On one side you have Norma Rae, a.k.a. Pitbull, and the other side Scarlette O'Hara,a.k.a,. a certain 320 capt. Both think and so desperately want to be right. If not , one comes at you LIKE a Pitbull and the other stabs you with a condiscending "Respectively Yours". Neither are right, neither are wrong. Most of us are in the middle.
Here we go. I, just a run in the mill f/a on the line, has had my eyes and ears open to what my co-workers are saying. 90% want us to do what we can to keep the company going. We want much less than a 23% cut but know we will have to still bite it. Most of us realize that while educated, entry level jobs will still pay less then the cut that will eventually come at around 15%-17% (est) if an agreement is reached like the pilots.
We like our lifestyle. There is still no other job that offers the kind of flexibility and manipulation of schedules and time off that we have. That is worth it's weight in gold. While this will be compromised, it is still better then a 9-5. We like that every day is different and genuinely like our jobs. We would like to see those that are so miserable take the skills they brag about and go elsewhere so that those that are here to work can work, as opposed to those sticking it out for the cause. Most of those I fly with are tired of the feeling that if you aren't a hardliner who feels full pay to the last day, that you are weak or bedwetters.
I and many others are fed up, but for many of us workerbees, we would rather have a more stable US Airways (if that is possible) and have enough breathing room to look for another career without an element of pressure or panic, then to just go out there and grab something out of fear.
I have spoken to many former US Airways employees. All have said there is life after US Airways, but most admitted they regretted leaving. I have also spoken to many VF1 and most of them coming back are excited even though things suck here. They have gotten a dose of the grind of 9-5, 2 weeks vacation (if), and insurance premiums much higher than what we pay...if you even HAVE insurance. And lets not forget having a boss that you must answer to and see everyday.
So please understand that most of us would love to come out of this smelling like roses and would love all bases to survive, all old ones brought back, all 500 a/c we use to have flying, all 10,000 f/a's back, and an utopian airline where everyone flies for $39 and we all get huge wage increase, and everyone loves us. BUT, we DON'T have that leverage. That DON'T need us...we DO need them if we want to survive. If we don't cooperate or "capitulate", they will just simply liquidate. They have the upper hand and all the threats of work stoppage will gain no sympathy from them OR the flying public because you see, my dears, the country doesn't need US Airways. Until some around here fully register that in their brain, they will go around in circles like a puppy chasing his tail.
Having said that, let the bashing begin.
