Reply #20: I'm still up and I just happened to read it. [View All]

[MercutioATC]

I've posted on this before, but nobody really thinks about air traffic controllers...and we usually like it that way. If we're doing our jobs, you shouldn't even know we're there...but rest assured, we are.

I guess most of my frustration isn't about the pay cuts or the ridiculous schedules...we're only 14,000 or so people. It's about the fact that most of us know the system could work better, but nobody will listen to us.

It's also about the death of the American union.

I'll be the first to admit that union power, like any power, can be abused. That's not the issue here. Unions were established to protect workers from owners...and there are still one hell of a lot more workers than owners in this country. The nature of business (or a government agency that's "run like a business") is to minimize costs. There are a very few businesses that realize that workers really ARE a company's most valuable asset, but most have either forgotten that or never knew it in the first place. The simple fact is that, especially with a friendly government, it's easier for owners to reduce costs by taking money from workers than fixing problems. That's where we stand.

Whether you're in a union or not, you'd do well to remember this. You're not an owner, you're a worker. Union or not, we're all going to suffer when the owners win. I'm certainly not asking anybody to protect my paycheck...I'm asking you to stand up for fair treatment. You can choose to start with www.fairfaa.com . You can start by bringing a couple of cups of coffee to those picketers outside your local grocery store. You can write you your Congressmen and demand your rights.

We're on a fast track to the 1890's...all I ask it that you think about that. Where would you be without unions and the worker protections they brought to every worker, union and non-union alike?