A United Airlines mechanic, clearing the air. (Long Post)

[triple7]

Hello my fellow simmers. I know that this is off topic but, I feel that I need to say this due to all of the negative publicity we have been getting. I am sure that all of you have heard about what is going on by now. We as mechanics have been the whipping boys of the media as of late and I think that everyone has heard the company's side, the Union's side but, not our side. We were villified in the press last week for our rejection of the concession package. It was indicated that it was over a vacation dispute and this is completely false. I can't speak for all of us but, my personal reason was pretty much the same as the government's reason for rejecting the loan. Because of things in the past as far as the way the company was ran, I felt that I was throwing good money after bad. In 1994, we accepted 15%+ in concessions over a period of 6 years. The company made astronimical profits over that time. Executives shared bonuses and raises while we were locked into a contract. Instead of saving money for a possible rainy day, they squandered billions on outsourcing maintenance, trying to launch a Business jet service and the infamous purchase of USAir. They promised us that at the end of the agreement, we would get what they called a seamless contract. We never did, and a restraining order was filed against us to prevent slow downs. Many mechanics were unlawfully terminated while this was going on and even the President was used to keep us from striking. September 11th came while all of this was going and we were emotionally wrecked just like everyone else. It seems our rainy day has come. Due to the company blowing billions, that rainy day was devastating. The other blow came from the company's arrogance to alienate leisure travellers in favor of Business travellers. Not long after 9-11, the government paid United as well as the others bailout money to offset the losses from the 3 days the country was grounded. They turned around and sent most of that to Dassault Aviation and Gulfstream for the bussiness jet venture that was abandoned not long after this transaction. When it came time for these discussions to come for all of us to take concessions, none of the executives came forth until this tuesday with any type of contributions to this cause. As far as the recent report of fines being levied on United for poor and negligent maintenance, most of our fleet is maintained by outside vendors and the quality control isn't there. We often find ourselves sitting in empty hangars wishing we had work to do. Without any type of work coming, we questioned our job security and therefore we couldn't see a future for us even if we did take the concessions. Thank you all for your time and I'll keep you all posted from the inside.

Eric Bolden
Mechanic, United Airlines

[aspong]

Interesting.

Shows how emotions can be an asset to the PR gang and a liability to the grass roots workers.

[Buchek]

Hi Eric,

it may sound to easy but my experience is that it is allways that way with bigger companies; it's not only an economic acting heap, but also involved in a sometimes strange political environment. We won't ever know what might have been the presidents reasons keeping the workers apart from a strike...do we? The same things often happen here in europe. If you're a critical person and you try to not allways believe the media but look behind the curtain, it is ashaming what you see...

I'm with you and your collegues. Best wishes!


Cheers,
Hank

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Pentium 4 2MHZ
512 M DDR-RAM
MSI Geforce 4 TI4200
3dBench 9248 Pts.
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[tjkotula]

Thanks for clearing things up. If United has blown billions in the past and if they weren't on the verge of bankruptcy, they'd continue to do it in the future as well. Every airline has done it at some point.

Tim Kotula

XP 1800+
MSI KT3 Ultra Motherboard
512 MB Crucial PC2100 DDR
Diamond Stealth III S540 32 MB VRAM

How do you know when it's time to upgrade your computer? As soon as you get the latest copy of flightsim, it's time!

[Blowhole]

Eric,
I feel for you. As an A&P with 20 years in the military working on Falcon 20's I know all to well the the poor mechanic is the one that keeps the whole outfit going but nobody at the top will ever recognize that. I saddens me to see what poor managment can do to peoples lives. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and all the guys who's lives and families are affected by this situation that so very clearly could have been avoided by better decision making somewhere along the line.

Ken

The Difference between God & a Pilot: God doesn't think he is a Pilot!:-wave

[AlaskaAV]

Eric
I becaame an IAM member in 1966 and after reading lots of information over the years, I suspect you are a shop steward. Correct?

Ernie

[CAJETTER]

I too know a United mechanic, or should we just call it misguided airlines. To blame the mechanics is soooo stupid I cant stand it! The CEO's are the ones that ran this poor airline into the ground not the employees!!!
I can't put into words how badly I feel for the United employees, but this is a trend in corporate America where the CEO's rape the company and the attitude to the employs is sucks to be you, I have a $20million house ha ha.
We as American's have to really start getting mad about this wreckless running of corporations when the workers get shafted out of retirement and every thing! This has got to stop or it will ruin this country, we'll be no better than Mexico.

[mikeymcc]

Morally speaking, and in my opinion, the priorities should be: 1) Employees. 2) Customers. 3) Vendors. 4) Stockholders. 5) Management.

Any disagreement?

[aspong]

>Morally speaking, and in my opinion,
>the priorities should be: 1)
>Employees. 2) Customers. 3) Vendors.
>4) Stockholders. 5) Management.
>
>Any disagreement?

In an ideal world, all would receive equal treatment.

2c.
Andrew

[triple7]

Not a shop stewart, I am alittle P.O.ed at my union for not fully representing us.