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True Story, Bruh





True Story, Bruh  

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Author: One Who Was There   Date: 10/28/2022 8:09:48 PM  +8/-2   Show Orig. Msg (this window) Or  In New Window

In the 1995 during the union push at PHI but before the actual vote, I happened to be shut down at the company's heliport in New Orleans in my little Bolkow. One of the corporate attorneys (not one of the labor attorneys), who I knew, happened to be there, waiting for the CEO. They were catching a flight out in an S-76. The CEO had not gotten there yet.  The attorney took me aside and quietly asked me whether I thought the upcoming union vote would be successful? I expressed my misgivings; helicopter pilots are generally not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree.  "Oh, it has to pass!" the attorney said.  "You guys need a union!  I mean, $25,000 to start? Come on!"  I sh!t you not, that's what he said.


See, this lawyer knew the value of a professional...how much training and experience we pilots have to have to do what we do. He understood. He probably commanded a very nice salary from the company, and probably had a employment contract to boot. Yet our pilot starting pay back then was a pitiful $25,000 per year. And the company routinely messed with our benefits. It was when our CEO announced that our sick-leave was "seven days per year, use it or lose it" that I put my hand up and became a union supporter. Any secretary or admin (or even said CEO) can come in and work with a broken arm or leg. We pilots can't. We can be "down" for weeks. We have to be able to accrue sick leave until our LTD kicks in (if necessary).  "Oh, just your vacation time."  Our CEO make a union believer out of me!


It is weird to me how emotionally anti-union some pilots are! They get all bowed-up about it - as if working for a unionized company will just ruin their life! If you know helicopter pilots, you know that most of them think that they're waaaaaay smarter than you (and me), and they only care about themselves, not the industry as a whole, and certainly not other pilots. Ironically, at the same time they don't have enough self-respect to stand up and say, "By God, I *AM* worth more than they're paying me!" It's sad. And it's why helicopter pilots will never achieve the kind of status and get the kind of respect that airline pilots do.

 
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AMC Check Airmen over 50% votes are in and they already have (NT) +4/-4 Over 75% YES votes!! 10/27/2022 1:58:55 PM