After 19 years I guess nothing sould really surprise me. For thos with less T.I. her is a review of the various "events" of the past 19 years.
The first few years was great. Then our fearless leader R. Eddington decieded that our Vol1 and CoS needed to be "cleaned up" a bit. Just a "review" to ensure evrything was well presented.
This led to the infamous "commitment days"
For this pleasure we were gathered at a downtown hotel and the big brass baffled us with charts showing cash cover and various horrendous senarios all of which ended with the company broke and us out of work.
B Scales were announced, and against the AOA's recommendations were brought in, and of course people came.
Then the first imposed deal. While sitting in my cockpit at the gate in Paris just minutes from pushing back, a ground staffer ran in with a personalized package for each crew member. Basically sign or never get a base, no raise etc etc. It wasn't too long after that that CX wanted to unilaterally rip up the signed basings agreement. Off to court we went...and the survey said........ binding in HONOUR only, the deal was nixed.
Next came another "review" of our CoS. While sitting at home a FEDEX package was delivered to each of us. Sign by... or quit. It was then time to make the frieghters more "profitable" Keep it in house we said, oh no better to be a separate company, we can hire direct to the left seat easy. After a misserable year or so of that positions were offered to CX pilots, some jumped ( no comment on that). This still didnt reall help. Soon the company had a great idea. Lets bring it back into CX, keep it "in house". A "negotiated deal" saw my salary reduce by 22% and my monthly hours increase and my 13th month dissapear, just whos side the AOA's negotiators were on I don't know, not mine.
The 49er fiasco was next when the company fired , without due process, a number of our colleagues. We as a group,(AOA) collected commitments from members to help the 49ers. This cost each of us a lot of money, but it was something we had to do. sadly, I saw several mebers, mebers that had voted FOR the showdown that resulted in the firings, quit because they "couldn't afford" the extra dues....thanks a lot you F$%%$%# ers. We then saw the company go on a tear, failing numerous command candidates. A number so far beyond any statistical probability as to render it laughable. And so we arrive here, today. the company is making absoulte buckets of money, (good for them), but we see 0% increase, ok 3% for some and they want us to bail them out of their frieghter mess...for nothing. Its been quite the ride. Through all of this I still mostly enjoy the job, and the money, but I don't understand why people still come if they have other options. And to think all of this started with just a bit of house cleaning.
