You really think the 49ers were brought on by the Unions stubbornness. You call over nine years of being bullied, having our contract degraded, being forced to sign a new contract or be fired, being handed a new contract with the options sign or sign, being pigheaded. I beg to differ.
An over-reaction by the company, at least you are correct on that point. All the Union published was to work to their contract. The company thought we were going to walk out and chartered 17 Mainland aircraft. Now how does the company explain 17 aircraft to the board when all the Pilots were willing to work? The company said we were on a sick out that week, but we were all sitting home on reserve. They hired the 17 mainland aircraft so they may as well put them to work.
This was all very embarrassing for David and Nick. How do we get back at them? We will fire some of them. Twenty-five managers had less than a week to pick names. There were no reason except if one of the fop managers, crew controller, personal manager, etc had a dislike for an individual, and they were gone. I don't think that is a good enough reason to terminate someone. It was all done very quickly.
Nick is such a nice guy saving 150 jobs. David and Nick don't have a problem destroying 50 plus lives. WOW, I should put Nick and Dave on my Christmas card list.
They probably wanted to fire 200 Pilots. It sounds like something our managers would do, but when they did the numbers they could not afford to do so. If they knew 9/11 was going to happen, they would have definitely fired 200.
Nick must have told you he would accept all 49ers back. The interviews were a condition so they could not select any of the union guys. They don't want them back because they have shown real leadership, but Nick sees them working for the other side. They are loyal union guys, but also can be loyal company guys if given the chance. Stop attacking the Pilots and the Pilots will be very loyal. It has happened in the past, but Nick was in New Guinea. Nick sees it as me against them. He has no idea of what being a Pilot is all about.
The day we start to have two unions at this company is the sure death sign of the working conditions here. People will start to leave. Not what the company wants in the expansion that they want/have to do.
Why don't you get the other 50% of the non-union pilots into the union and vote down the current way the union is going? That would make a lot more sense than starting another union. Those pilots outside the union don't have representation from anyone. They are the biggest whiners but don't want to do anything about it, but keep their head in the sand. All the rules are in place to vote the current President out if you have the numbers. If I voted for Gore, I would not give up my citizenship because "Six Shooter" Bush got in. If you got the numbers, get back into the fight to get this affair settled. Then maybe all the current non-members will be the majority and the so-called militants will be the opposition.