gnadenburg, it's an honourable thought, but it's not reality, and it never has been.
Let's go back to that year, and once again, I have no desire to open a slanging match over what happened then, but it's a great study in human nature.
The pilots didn't stick together then, despite a segment of the pilot community pushing the line that they did, and the very people advocating a united approach, the most senior, were off overseas within a week, announcing that when the issue was resolved they'd be back to take their jobs.
How could they ever expect that the junior guys would sit back and watch their jobs disappear, because from day 1 it was obvious that not everybody would get a job in the washup.
They saw those going overseas and made the call that if they weren't here, then their jobs wouldn't be filled, not everybody would get back, so make a move.
You can spam the scenario up however you like, but the cold, hard facts are that there was NOT unity, in spite of protestations
to the contrary.
Let me say it again; aviation is NO different from any other industry. People look after themselves first, and if that appears to fit with the union's line, then OK, but if not, they'll do it anyway. They will look after themselves first, and it can be no other way, because if they don't, then they'll sit on the sidelines as a spectator rather than be on the field as a competitor.
Pilots who held themselves out to be stalwarts of the union went overseas willingly and signed individual contracts, the conditions therein over which they had avbsolutely no control. What does that tell me about those people? They're bl00dy hypocrites, pushing a line on others and doing quite the opposite themselves.
Regrettably I have had to use the events of that year to make a point. Please let's not start a punch up over it, and please HI'er if you're going to quote ridiculous payrates etc., in an attempt to sway opinion your way, get a hold of the facts before doing so because you do no more than make youself look foolish when you quote garbage.
Last edited by relax737; 31st Dec 2005 at 00:20.