[New Perspective]

Having worked the ramp on ready reserve for the flight benefits I can tell you, with question, there are 2 sets of rules.

Both my immediate suprivisor and department head(who is white), would cater to the minority community. They did not have to show up to work on time, did not have to wear safety shoes, may times they would work the ramp in flip flops. One time I was waiting to push an aircraft from the gate and the minorite, who was a wing walked, was watching his phone so I had to wait until he was finished. There was a rule as well, no cell phones on the ramp. They would refuse work, would hide when a plane arrived, would purposfully slow walk while on the ramp, would take the supervisors electronic time card and over ride the system to enter a false start time, etc.

When I would call them out they would file a racist complaint against me. One morning I worked at the same the same pace as the slow walkers and as a result all 4 planes went out late. Since I was the AIC, agent in charge, of readying all the planes, crew, baggage, etc, I was called and asked why they went out late. I said I worked at the same pace as everyone else. My bosses immediate response was, "You can't do that".

I miss the free flights but not the low life that work the ramp. I am actually surprised there are not more mishaps with the type of people working the ramp.

[V_TWIN]

Was that a union environment by chance?

[CodeJockey]

That same work ethic is slowly working its way into the flight deck. Equity over competence.

[avenir]

I’m well aware of the phenomenon you’re describing. It’s funny that they said “you can’t do that“. That’s exactly how it is for a productive person and if they step out of line management’s on their butt because they can’t afford to have a productive worker be a loser too.

[SamAdams76]

In the mid 1980s I worked for Hudson General for a while doing this exact same type of work. The job was called "ramp agent" back in the day and I could be doing anything from handling baggage, taking mail to the post office, supplying fresh water to the plane, or emptying the lavs, which can be a whole thread in itself. I never did wave the plane in those wands however, I saw "Airplane!" and I didn't want to be that guy!

Below is likely the type of conveyor belt that was involved in the tragic accident. I can absolutely picture how this happened. She was probably the one slapping the bags onto the belt as another employee deeper inside the hold was feeding her the luggage by sliding the bags across the floor (or even tossing them at her if they were light enough). It's a fast-paced job and all you can think about is getting the bags thrown your way onto the belt. She might have had a bag about to go off the edge of the belt so reached over to grab it, allowing her long hair to get caught in the machinery.

It must have been a horrible scene. Only the person at the bottom can shut the belt off and he/she was also probably too occupied getting the incoming baggage onto the carts to see what was going on up top in time to turn the belt off.

Even back then we had a long list of safety rules to follow but most people get complacent and stop following many of them after a while. And this is how accidents like this happen and anybody working on or around heavy equipment can tell you.

[kelly4c]

It’s similar at my workplace. And somehow it’s the white people that have privilege. 🙄 I really wish they would stop living in the past, it’s not reality any longer.

[PUGACHEV]

It always strikes me that when flying into different cities, you will look out the window and always see different ethnicities working the ramp, with correspondingly different approaches to the job.