Replies

"What's a steward have to do with your point about the mechanic?"

They are supposed to be turning wrenchs too. But that's ok, they'll have plenty of work as plumbers or something soon.

"If there's nothing to do at the moment do you propose the company have the mechanic sit in the corner and stare at the wall?"

There is ALWAYS something to do where my relative works. He works at Minneapolis where Northwest is headquartered and most of their planes are based. Don't give me that union bs sympathy crap. It doesn't fly with me and the airline's problems and it won't fly with the UAW when Ford files.

"Maybe they could have him do wind sprints through the hangar?"

At least then they would be productive instead of flatuating and tying down valuable bandwidth.

"Maybe you're a little jealous about someone else having a pretty good job and you want him to earn less to make you feel better?"

Hardly. I'm quite comfortable semi-retired and running my own business. My relative summed it up: The unions are killing the airlines because they are not pushing productivity, they are more interested in protecting jobs which are not needed. Maybe your just one of those union goons who compromise the less than 14% of the working population nationally that belong to unions and helped along with management to kill US Air, United, Eastern and soon American and Northwest. Maybe you should take your brie cheese and whine to DU, you'll have a much more sympathetic audience there.

If there's always something to do where your relative works and he's a union mechanic then what's your point about his productivity? Is he a slacker? Here's a little clue about unions. The mechanics at the airline where I work aren't unionized. The company puts them on planes to ride the system and uses them for up to 30 hours straight with no overtime. They've cut their pay in half in the last few years and are proposing another 50% cut. Guess what/ They're talking about forming a union. Unions are a result of mgts inability to treat its people like human beings. If mgt is saddled with high union costs it's because they brought it on themselves. In the case of United, the immediate problem is mgts inability to come up with a viable business plan. Unions have already given back huge amounts but mgt says it isn't enough. That's because they're too damn stupid to run the business and unions are a handy whipping boy and uninformed yahoos like you suck it up. Open your eyes and educate yourself.