HerkyBird

The issue of the A-380 pay scale being kept for the B-777 is an interesting one, and raises valid questions about this LOA. For example:

- WHY would management do that? Certainly not to play nice. There had to be an underlying economic benefit to the company; on that much, we can agree.

- When replacing their MD-11s, other airlines have replaced them with the 777. Thus, here at FDX, it would be expected that the MD pay scale would apply to the 777, yet it didn't. Why not?

- Little to no due diligence was performed by our Neg. Cmte. before sitting down with the Company to work out the terms of this LOA. A cursory 2-3 day trip to look around HKG/CAN. No conversations with the "first bidders" at SFS to see what mistakes were made in opening THAT F.D.A., so those mistakes wouldn't be repeated in HKG/CDG. Not one conversation with one particular SFS Captain who has lived in HKG for 6 years. Then, what was handed to us to vote on is a P.O.S. that is so hugely concessionary, they should have been embarrassed to sign their names to it.

- Was that it? Was it already a done deal with the 777 pay scale? Was that the reason the Company kept the A-380 pay scale ... they kept that pay scale for the 777 in exchange for a big sales pitch by our Union Neg. Cmte. for a concessionary LOA? A little mutual back-scratching would certainly explain a lot that otherwise makes no sense at all.

If this LOA passes (hex, hex, bad joo-joo, BAAAD JOO-JOO ...), it will be most enlightening, I think, to see which LEC voters and members of the Neg. Cmte. bid for an FDA, and which do not ... and how many of them bid the 777. Most interesting, indeed ...

rjlavender

Contributors,

Thank you. Thank you for exactly the responses I not only anticipated, but caused.

It is probably not a bad idea to remember at this point that union membership in this country is now at about 7.4% of the private workforce, the lowest rate in recorded modern history. It lost another 360,000 members last year. Undoubtedly, this is partly because many union members and officials are, for some reason, resistant to "outside" advice, counsel, and example. They simply want to do business the old incestuous way, and nothing is going to stop them...except, apparently, attrition. Unfortunately, general Labor weakness caused by attrition is directly related to the lack of union leverage encountered at FedEx. Union members are just too few in numbers and too divided to accomplish much these days, either at FedEx or anywhere else in this country.

While the comments on this board range from perceptive to downright goofy, the common thread is that the primary contributors are extremely predictable and easily manipulated emotionally. If it is possible for me to easily provoke certain desired results with my posts, one can imagine what the company can do with these types of characters when it comes to dividing and conquering.

One of the many things we learned during our two years on strike at Continental is that the chest-thumpers and name-callers are emotionally fragile. They are the first to crumble and cross the line when the pressure is on. If you, the reader, are a novice to such airline experience, you should know that the emotionalism expressed on this board is a sign of weakness, not strength. As Bob Chimenti explained:

This group demands an inordinate amount of the Union’s time, stimulates a modicum of constructive debate, but at the same time does significant damage to the process and desire of good people to participate in it....[they] will never be willing to make a deal, because the consummation of an agreement renders moot their discontent.

I will take it a step further and promise you that many of the contributors here will use their "discontent" to justify crossing the picket line if and when there is one. If you have not experienced such a scenario before, you will see dynamics occur that you will not believe. The mantra among strike-breakers at CAL (and I am not kidding) was "Frank will take care of me." (One can imagine what the mantra might be at FedEx.) When they turned their lives over to the "master," it was a sight to behold. We are witnessing the same metaphysical preparations going on right here on this board in embryonic form. Narcissism under pressure is a beautiful thing to watch.

I am not a know-it-all, but I do believe that my strike experience at Continental (along with deep involvement in all facets of it: political, legal, communication, financial, and things you don't want to know about), losing ten years of my career and a million dollars in compensation because of the stand I and others took, starting over several times before arriving at FedEx, and having an open mind to new things probably qualifies me to have an respectable opinion on the matters at hand.

Last, and this amuses me, one writer referred to my latest posting as "drivel." This is the same word that one ALPA official used several years ago to describe my "diatribe" on the Age 60 matter. I suspect he is eating that email about now. ALPA has suppressed and ignored good ideas that could have saved it a lot of trouble on a number of issues. But when it censured my writings simply because they dissented from established policy, I knew it was time to terminate the relationship.

I am a striker at heart, and when ALPA started pulling the same stunts as Frank Lorenzo, it was, for me and a few other long-time ALPA members, clearly time to Strike. I suggest that anyone who is tired of ALPA's inability to deal with modern problems consider doing the same.

Bob

a300fr8dog

And here I thought I was the only one reading between these lines:

BC: basically, don't get distracted, because:
"In short order we will begin preparing for the introduction of the B-777F into our fleet. There have been some questions asked concerning pay rates and ultra-long range work rules for this aircraft type. I caution you to not also allow this subject to distract us from our proper focus."

Add to this the talk of "fighting" during an MEC hub-turn standup, definately displays a feeling of a very personalized nature from BC. Yeah, made me wonder, too.

iarapilot

Bob. you do make some very valid points.

I have always believed that Divide and Conquer is the basis for managment thinking. Among other things, of course. That is a simplistic view, I know. But I think history will show it to be correct.

iarapilot

But I must add, it is better for the membership to have everyone as a member.

Busboy

Like I've always said:

You're either a member...Or, you're a "MEMBER"!!

Daniel Larusso

ia,

Of course it is, because we as a group so readily accept the notion that XYZ is ok because you are junior and we've all been there before. It is something that we really believe in between ourselves, unfortunately those that we negotiate with (company and sometimes the government) find it silly, antiquated and use it to negotiate things away from us piece by piece. Look at how they broke down the pax carriers after 9/11. First the no furlough deals were broken which was ok because such things happen to junior people and they'll be senior one day. Then went nearly unlimited 50 seat RJ flying to 'stay competitive' and keep the company alive so that those junior furloughed folks would have something to come back to('they'll thank us for it later!'). Then came the bigger RJ's and parking of the DC-9/737 style planes and either furloughs or pushing the active junior pilots into subsidiary carriers at sub-regional wages/rules-that was ok because 'at least they have a job, at least we have the flying and the excess money will allow us to order new mainline planes once we get out of bankruptcy.' Next came the narrowbody pay, rigs, and workrules, followed by the widebody pay, differentials, and other perks. This all led to what they wanted in the first place, the A funds. All very orderly and very predictable. The worst thing about it is that neither Worth, nor Prater nor much of our list seem to understand how and why it was done. I'm not advocating getting rid of the seniority system, that won't work. We do however need to negotiate from the bottom up to counter the other side of the table who negotiates from the top down b/c they know we lap it up. I'd rather have OUR bottom come up our top vs. the other way around which has happened at the pax carriers.

matty

.............

hamfisted

NMB....open your wallet.....get caught up on your dues...and you just MAY have a listening audience. Until you do...you are on the upper deck telling Sammy Sosa he took the juice....funny to the people immediately around you..... but pathetic to the rest of the folks who bought a ticket to the game.

Busboy

He is a member.

From Merriam-Webster's:

Main Entry: mem·ber
Pronunciation: 'mem-b&r
Function: noun

1 : a body part or organ: as a : LIMB b : PENIS

2 : one of the individuals composing a group

You choose which definition fits.