Worst Contract Carrier

[Light Years]

youngblood, you can absolutely join Metro and me... as long as Kt and Kev can come along too. I've got the first round, plus a shot later for all....

oh yeah, someone call Colby too!

 

[youngblood]

It's a deal as long as you let me get the second round and something called Tequila Sunrise for everyone.

 

[Dea Certe]

Can I come too? I promise I won't bore you all with the "we worked 17 hour days in stillettos and liked it" stories.

I do have a few amusing bits in my repetriorie.

I'll buy the first round, OK? And I'll not use the "special eye cream" lest the aroma disturbs you.



I believe someone once said "Airlines are worse than dope, you get hooked and that's it."

In every profession I think you'll find people who really care to make it special and those who don't get it. It's a shame we can't weed out the "losers" and hang on to the "keepers".

If you want to read some really good books, not about aviation but about history, I recommend "A History of Their Own" (womens studies, can't recall the authors) "Who Built America" (an American History Study, wonderful!) and "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. Also, you might want to give a peek at "Nickeled and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich. It's about trying to live on the minium wage.

Need some laughs and politics too? Check out P.J. O'Roark's "Holidays in Hell". It's about his travels as a reporter for the Rolling Stone, before he became a traitor to his generation. Anything by Michael Moore will make you laugh and want to scream at the same time.

I don't have any answers for this time in history. The best we can do is educate ourselves, make informed decisions and VOTE! Sign up to do Voter's Registration and make your friends vote too. Call the League of Women Voters and volunteer to do work. Write your Congress and Senators. Speak out against the off-shoring of American jobs. Speak out against the robbing of pensions and Corporate Greed. Demand some accountability from our leaders.

Or, send me money so I can retire and you can get back to work.

Dea
😀

 

[youngblood]

Dea,

As far as the "special eye cream" - wear whatever you want. Just bring a bottle of Febreeze with you. Sure you can buy the first round but I demand seconds or thirds or whatever. The night lasts forever if you want it to, right?

Pay you? Hell, I can barely pay myself after taxes. Since I'm getting to like you more and more I'll cut a deal. If I ever win the lottery, I'll give you enough to retire.

Thanks for the history lessons. As I become older, I find history has a lot of lessons. I'll look into the books you mentioned.

 

[youngblood]

Dea,

Did you really wear stilletos?

 

[Dea Certe]

Youngblood,

I wore 3 inch-heels, bad enough when your job is walking across country! I have the feet and bad back to prove it. But, it was like those Chinese women who bound their feet to the point of being crippled because it was the style and all "classy" women did it. Again, another example of how we hobble ourselves to the standards of the day.

And a lot like the airline industry and other business. We're being "hobbled" when we accept less than a livible wage. It's the industry in the death-grip of Capitalism. Every airline hobbling itself to offer the lowest fares, even if it means cutting corners that ought not be cut.

History is repeating itself here. There was a hard depression back in the 1870's that nearly killed the Rail Roads. It was then the Stock Market closed for the very first time. Oil and coal production was involved, I can't remember the details. People were on the streets starving, immigrants, women and people of color were especially hard hit.

Check it out. Seems I recall some Corporate Boss saying that people would accept any kind of wage to keep eating and give as little back as possible. Sound familar?

Unions started to get stronger then, people were seeing the disparity of the Boss, fat and sassy, while thousands struggled just to feed themselves. The concept of the eight-hour work day was gaining popularity and scaring the Fat Cats. People were actually killed in strikes for what we today take for granted.

I believe it was in this period that the term "social darwinism" was coined.

I'm telling you, this is history. Read up on it. Maybe we can find a solution before it's too late. But it's going to take the voices of thousands, joined together to be heard by our government. I'd much rather see a strong turn out at the polls than soup lines in airline uniforms.

Dea

 

[PITbull]

Bob,

Sometimes you make me Laugh......howl.....

 

[BIGDOG]

SHUTTLE AMERICA IS THE WORSE.........

The Captians and F.O's are so RUDE and MEAN.

I can't help you fly for a JUNKIE COMPANY.

The other day i saw there so called coffee pot....

IT WAS A GAINT PLASTICE COFFE CUP to hold maybe

12 cups of coffee.

WHAT A JOKE.....

I WONDER IF THE BIG SHOTS FLY THIS AIRLINE.....I DOUBT IT.

 

[Light Years]

Bob, how was your latest ride on Shuffle America?

Hot off the presses, Pan Am Clipper Connection (Boston-Maine) will be picking up the BED-TTN route they are dropping.

 

[PITbull]

Dea,

Did you really wear stilletos?

Dea is right on point on this! Like her I am a student of history. whether it be the near collapse of the railroads in 1870 or the Steel Industry of the 1980's or the airlines today some parralells can be drawn.

In 1870 their were no unions for the most part. That's about the time the "Molly Maguires" formed which were the violent beginnings of the United Mine Workers of America. By 1921 the coal fields were ablaze with activism and the blood of miners was spilled all over Appalachia. Those coal fields gave woman a voice in society and IMO led to the womens movement of today. Mother Jones, Aunt Molly Jackson, Sarah Ogan Gunning, Florence Reece and even today Hazel Dickens. All of these women faced the "Gun Thugs" hired by the coal operators in order to form the union. See they found out that the Gun Thugs will kill their husbands in a NY minute but they wouldn't fire on them. That's why I chuckle when some NE Liberal like Molly Ivins comes on TV talking about the "Struggles" women face today. Try facing down armed Gun Thugs at the mouth of a coal mine surrounded by other women and all of your children trying to break an economic stranglehold so that your husband can risk his life daily so you and your kids can eat. That's putting your money where your mouth is. and I often wonder if Molly Ivins could stare down a gun thug who has a vintage Enfield Rifle inches from her nose. PITbull could! She'd bite the damn barrel off! LOL
Fast forward to today. Read the above and you'll see why I have such disdain for what unions have become. They IMO are nothing more than dues collecting social clubs set up for the benefit of a few leaders who in many cases take salaries near $200,000 per year and deliver exactly what to those who support them? Look at what happens at US. You have 28,000 workers give or take and something like 7 national unions. Jerry Glass comes in and pits you against yourself and now look where you are! on the brink of extinction. Contrast that to ONE UNION for ALL of US and you go to Jerry and politely inform him that changes will be made or the company will cease to be. Then after having used your hard earned dues to purchase a comprehensive study (Instead of paying MR Ford and Buffenbarger of IAM close to a half Million) you give them YOUR plan and a negotiating deadline. So what if the law says you can't strike! Just the public threat will be enough to lower bookings. If Glass called your bluff and you all walked off on an early Saturday Morning it would take at least a day to get an injunction but by then the damage is done. Thousands stranded. Think about who is in the driver seat in my scenario. Union or company? So they fine the union? There are ways around that too, you just need creative thinkers.

I'm done! RANT OFF, but maybe now some of you know why I tweak certain people on here.

I was laughing at how you express "me". 😀

 

[PITbull]

Bob,

I know, and I thank you. It's just, I had to do the visual, and it made me laugh.

Hey, can you hurry up and pass me up with the postings.....I have been ahead of you for sometime at 2,500 and its getting embarrassing.... 🙄

Folks are starting to feel I have no life...LOL....

 

[Light Years]

Bob, Clipper Connection/Boston-Maine Airways is a subsidiary of Pan Am, no relation to US Airways at all. They fly Jetsteam 32s (similar to a Beechcarft, 19 seats).

There is a Pan Am (the third incarnation, sharing only a logo with the original airline- blasphemous if you ask me). They fly to some secondary New England and Carribbean airports with 727s.

 

[Light Years]

LOL.... I think they were as low as you go with 'ole Shuttle....

let's hope...

 

[youngblood]

Piney,

I have a sneaking feeling that I may be going off the mark here but just in case I'm not let me clarify myself. My question to Dea about stilletos was in fact an attempt tp lighten things up a bit. I just started my vacation, had a rotten day at work, and wanted to join in the fun. Sorry if it hit a nerve. I, of all people, don't take our current situation or history lightly. As a matter of fact, just from my inquiries on this board I have made more of an effort to learn from history. You see, it was just one of those days that if you didn't laugh you would cry. Know what I mean? One more point, in recent weeks I have grown to admire some of the posters such as LightYears, Metro, Pitbull, and Dea. They have opened my eyes to many things and I thank them. In all honesty, since I have been working for US I have grown to accept my collegues as family; therefore, I have grown comfortable with livery. It is one of the few things that helps me cope with the current "work" situation.

P.S. Sorry if I misinterpreted your reference to my quote.

 

[US1YFARE]

I have flow on Mesa for US/West and I thought the people were great--a big change from the east side of the operation. I was so surprised, I asked the FA why the West side was so much better and she said, "have you been in Terminal F'd lately--I hated PHL." Shuttle America is by far the worst.