positionand hold;
411A might be a cynical old f**t ("40 years in the business", etc.), but try to ignore this trait and you may find he speaks some valid points.
Perhaps in spots, but I think most here tend to eschew polarized thinking in favour of at least some subtlety. The universal solution 411a offers regardless of transgression, afaics, is showing "recalcitrant" (read, they disagree with his views) and otherwise "troublesome" (read unionized) or merely "whining" employees, the door.
While I agree there are cases in which firings are deserved and most airlines have adopted similar safety reporting policies which clearly exclude intentional or criminal acts, most screw-ups are cases of helmet-fires, or possibly the absence of a robust safety culture (which, under SMS, is the sole responsibility of the CEO and his/her executive) or a lack of clarity in SOPs. People do not set out to make mistakes in aviation,
(although there are some pretty hairy intentional acts committed in the name of "watch this...")*. but 411a's clearly expressed attitude towards underlings has shown that there are no excuses and that summary firing is the only solution. For a lot of good reasons, I and likely many, disagree.
Flight safety and a robust safety culture are not created by threats or cajoling of employees and is instead an immature response, (not personal immaturity, but in terms of what is known today vice 40 years ago) about flight safety. As well, a manager who has the attitude which 411a has consistently expressed as showing people who have made mistakes or who have expressed contrarian opinions "the door" is really poor management because, if actually carried out, (and we have no reason to believe the expressed attitude has actually been put into practise at his company), it is an extremely expensive solution not only in terms of settlements, (and I have seen my share of these situations) but also in terms of the experience and training lost and which must be replaced.
Perhaps in better times they did, but today's corporations do not deserve employee loyalty but nor do they deserve continuously unrequited employee wrath. Corporations are not (and never were) "caregivers which cater to employee welfare" nor do most employees expect such today. That is not "the bargain" and, with almost no exception, working for an organization is a free individual choice - if one doesn't like what's going on, then they should fight for change or leave. However, the practicalities of leaving, especially within a seniority system, are such that staying and fighting for solutions is almost universally the only opportunity. I understand that hatred for anything "union" is automatic
Fourty years in the business grants anyone significant benefit of doubt. Such experience gives anyone the right to comment and to be given, initially anyway, wide and respectful acceptance but such "time in" does not automatically make one right or even wise.
The key here is flight safety and SMS. Whacking flight crew with a rolled management newspaper across the nose and calling for firings rather than intelligently determining the source of the problems through various flight data/safety reporting programs as contemplated under SMS or in more serious cases through employee assistance programs, does not resolve the original problem and heightens risk thereby. There are plenty of ignorant, short-sighted, parsimonious operators still out there who prove this point every day, in some cases tragically.
That the repartee between 411a and many responders is entertaining, there is no doubt; this is an anonymous forum and people may say anything for a miriad of personal reasons including pretense, attention or entertaining oneself, and do. But if the representations made by someone in management authority are the reality at least at one person's organization, then the undercurrents and implications in such attitudes towards employees in terms of building a constructive safety culture which also gets business done, are serious and that problem is, after all, our only interest in aviation.