Wednesday, March 21, 2001

So what's a conservative to do? Ostensibly wanting to avoid government interference and class warfare, how does he advocate both, to keep those pesky unions from interfering with the big money clubs, and still give the appearance of self-righteousness? Well, the methods seem to vary by conservative.

[U.S.] Senator [John] McCain calls into question the patriotism of those threatening to disrupt the business fabric of the nation. This method is a little dubious since the people he was talking about have such a high percentage of veterans and combat experience in their ranks.

Trent Lott just generalizes, stereotypes, and misrepresents, kind of like he operates in the Senate. His Fraudulency Deux says he'll declare a PEB "for the good of the nation" while he brings pressure to bear on the union "bosses" (union elected representatives are never called leaders; bosses gives such a greater threatening connotation) to accept the demands made by those who paid for his presidency.

Our own Dave Hamrick's method is to state he's not going to engage in it, followed by his own version of class warfare, and a boatload of bad data. A federal appeals panel rules that the effort by some individuals to get pilots to stop flying voluntary overtime is a violation of the status quo under the Railway Labor Act of 1936, and Dave calls it an illegal sickout, later amended to an illegal slowdown.

He thinks we ought to quit and see how much we could get on the "free market," even though the act cited above gives us the specific right to organize, negotiate and strike if necessary. By the way, such an unlikely mass action would cause the demise of the airline. I don't think they'll get Dave trained before collapsing under the weight of their 600 aircraft.

We never heard a word from old Dave when some large international corporations in Peachtree City were laying off hundreds of workers, but let a union stand up to its management and watch out for the claws at your back.

He mentions in passing Delta's seeming inability to bargain in good faith, but spends a whole paragraph on how good we pilots really have it. He fails to mention Delta's hiring the negotiator from the last major airline to suffer a pilot strike, and what a coincidence to be here again?

Here's the scoop, Dave. We didn't form the Airline Pilot's Association as a benevolent society. It does not negotiate for other employees, nor is it there to help the free flow of commerce. ALPA's mission is to negotiate for its members the best possible pay and working conditions. I for one don't apologize for that and don't believe it's any of your business. So bash away. Your vote doesn't count.

As for the fellow Delta employee who took the time to register his displeasure if time with the company is so important, write to the new hires Misters Mullin, Reid and Erskine, and ask that they return to the table with some contract movement so this showdown can be avoided.

Timothy J. Parker

Peachtree City

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