Republic May Now Be Worse Than You Know Who...

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by SpiraMirabilis

I don't think that it is fair to equate crossing a picket line with starting a criminal career. It is not fair to the criminals.

Actually, its an INSULT to criminals.

[Firebird2XC]

I'd not cross a picket line. Incendiary as he can be, I agree with Velo on this one.

In our profession, a strike is a last line of protest to advance our careers and force a company to directly understand our worth in what is often the only way they understand.

My father was a NWA pilot in the 70's. He's not with us anymore, but hearing my Mom tell the tales of when he was junior and got furloughed, or the pilots were on strike YET AGAIN- crossing the line was not an option. He shoveled concrete. He either saved enough for the duration and rode it out or did whatever was necessary.

I think the immediacy that some state they would cross a picket line IS a bit disturbing. Even in this murky, horrible economy, there are still jobs to be had and things to be done if you really look. As I understand it, many strikes don't even last that long. If you haven't saved enough to ride out the strike, odds are you weren't that prepared for just about anything else that could happen in your career.

If you lost your medical, would you just say 'screw it' and go to work anyways? Not entirely the same situation, true, but the scenario applies- what option do you have other than simply disregarding the situation and going in anyways? If you've left yourself no other option, well, dang, kid. Pilots are the guys and gals who are supposed to look ahead and anticipate contingencies. Are we so daft that we don't see the merit in doing in life what we'd do in an airplane?

I sincerely have a hard time imagining a scenario where there was absolutely *no* way you could not avoid crossing a picket line. Sell something- borrow from friends, borrow from family, borrow from your fellow aviators, if need be. Possibility, opportunity, and hope abounds endlessly if you look.

Crossing a picket line in this profession is cutting the throat of your career expectations and your hopes and dreams as a professional. If the truly last-resort scenario of an organized strike is all your pilot group has left and you're so quick to consider violating that effort, just do yourself and everyone else in this profession a favor and quit now. You'll be happier that way, I assure you.

Study the history and note the treatment of true scabs and consider that. Is years and years of an icy, cold shoulder from everyone you work with worth not shoveling concrete for a few weeks or months? Also, have you considered what Union benefits might be available to you in a strike? If you're organized enough to strike- you might just have more at your disposal than you realize! I kindly suggest you look into it!

I'll be the first to admit that right now, I'm not prepared for a strike. I've focused on paying down debt and have just started putting a tiny bit of money away. My "life contingency fund" is dangerously small. Considering that, my "strike fund" is almost non-existent. The concept of it all is scary, yes.

Even still, I'd rather move back in with my mother and endure a crappy commute than cross that picket line. It just might be coming for my pilot group in a few years.

Fortunately for me, by then, I'll be ready.

Will you?

[Velocipede]

Firebird, you're my hero today. You're batting a thousand!

[mikecweb]

Seriously....
The guys that are saying they'd cross are saying they'd cross the line if it was THE LAST JOB IN THE WORLD.
Not the last flying job, not the last desirable job, not the last job in their home, the last job in the world. They are saying if it was starve to death or scab they'd scab.
This thread is so ####ing rediculous because if there wasn't any other job in the whole world I doubt you'd have crappy regionals around where you guys would scab at. But Velo and the like keep telling these folks to get other jobs but the scabees are saying in this impossible situation THERE ARE NO ####ING JOBS. Seriously how thick can you be. The Scabees are saying that not even dog #### tasting is available.
My god how can this thread still be going on.

[MQAAord]

In Charlie's post, we have seen a magnificent display of how to say something eloquently, effectively, & in a manner that's not like brushing a cat's hair the wrong way.


*applause from the balcony for Charlie!*

[WacoFan]

And this is an example of what watering down what the word "Scab" means has done, in my opinion.

JB (and other non-union carriers) may fly for less than union wages - but they didn't cross. Some call then Scabs, or proto-scabs.

Gojet, while created in a dubious fashion, did not create true scabs.

The effect of calling these people scabs is that it diminishes what the word means. People see Gojet pilots and while many shun them, it isn't the same as what happens to a true scab. JB pilots seem happy, and don't get hammered constantly. When people call them scabs, others see some of the negative but also see the positive - hey, they fly new planes, some hate them but most don't, etc.

This is nothing like the treatment a real scab gets. It leads to people saying "if I had to...". Real scabs - and I am talking the CAL, UAL EAL thing - do not have a similiar experience to what the "proto-scabs" are experiencing. It is amazing that some people would cross to feed their families by flying jets...because perhaps there was "nothing else they could do". The ironic thing about that is the fact that whenever the strike ends that you scabbed...you life will be misreable and you will very probably try to find something else at that point. Don't underestimate the ability of the union to make your life bad once the work action stops. I have witnessed it up close and it is ugly.

[MQAAord]

Originally Posted by WacoFan

Don't underestimate the ability of the union to make your life bad once the work action stops. I have witnessed it up close and it is ugly.

Somewhere in an APFA publication is a story of a AA F/A who crossed in '93. She, too, used the "I have to feed my family" line.... In this written interview, done in 2001 (I think) she talks about her decision to cross, and how it was the worst mistake of her life. She said she'd give anything to be able to go back and tell herself not to do it. Everyone turned their back on her. Her classmates, friends, everyone. At work she's ignored, no F/As speak to a scab except within the bounds of what must be said to accomplish work duties. It sounds "trivial" to read like this, but believe me it's anything but when you're out there working with that stamp on your head for the rest of your professional life.

[minitour]

Originally Posted by mikecweb

My god how can this thread still be going on.

Why not? I've got nothing better to do today....

-mini

[Firebird2XC]

Much thanks, Velo and Amber. It's great to be appreciated. I'm glad you like what I've been saying.


I woke up feeling awfully inspired this morning. It's nice to have an outlet to put it to constructive use.

(If this is how my mind works after last night, I'm going swing dancing more often! )

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by mikecweb

Seriously....
The guys that are saying they'd cross are saying they'd cross the line if it was THE LAST JOB IN THE WORLD.
Not the last flying job, not the last desirable job, not the last job in their home, the last job in the world. They are saying if it was starve to death or scab they'd scab.
This thread is so ####ing rediculous because if there wasn't any other job in the whole world I doubt you'd have crappy regionals around where you guys would scab at. But Velo and the like keep telling these folks to get other jobs but the scabees are saying in this impossible situation THERE ARE NO ####ING JOBS. Seriously how thick can you be. The Scabees are saying that not even dog #### tasting is available.
My god how can this thread still be going on.

Thank god someone got it......



Just trying to see if we can hit 11 pages before the lock stick gets thrown out.

[Firebird2XC]

Originally Posted by minitour

Why not? I've got nothing better to do today....

-mini

Bite your tongue, sir!

CaptainBob's DFW BBQ M&G is today!

I'd say more, but if I use anymore abbreviations or acronyms in one sentence the military might recall me. Hyuck!

[minitour]

Originally Posted by Firebird2XC

Bite your tongue, sir!

CaptainBob's DFW BBQ M&G is today!

I wasn't invited.

-mini

[JEP]

I believe this has reached mind-numbing status.

Thanks for your participation.