"Aluckyguess" wrote in message
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"Jim Knoyle" wrote in message
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"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
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(snip)

From where I stood, right there on the front line, 'HOW' began
when the hotel people saw a cash cow and took over UAL. When
one of the upper hotel types referred to us mechanics as "overpaid
bellhops," it sure didn't help. My neighbor, a service writer for a
car dealership, had a lot more take home pay than I. I suppose
the satisfaction from being able to maintain and certify a DC-10
for a pea soup fog landing at SFO was supposed to cover the
difference. ( In a way, it did. I sure loved that job. )

I imagine a person with this talent could demand quite a good salary. This
person would not need a union he could make more money on his own.

For a reality check on day two you would probably get to
crawl through the inner reaches of some fuel tank to
replace all of the fuel quantity probes.
There was no equiv. non union job available and the cost of
maintaining calibrated test equipment and a supply of approved
servicable spare parts made being a self contractor unrealistic.
There was no choice but hire on with a major airline.
Also, guess whose labor was contracted out to fix the aircraft
of the fly-by-nighter that was cutting your throat in the marketplace. :-)

Do you suppose that the overfunded IAM pension fund, if left
to draw intrest, would be in much better shape today instead of
being ripped off to buy the Sheraton Hotels and put into the
shape it is? The ESOP buyout was intended to save an airline
that was on a downward spiral. Too bad it didn't work.
I guess when the U logo morphed into a WI it was too late.

Oops, Hilton, not Sheraton, sorry.

(snip)