Unions were once part of the regulatory/oversight/safety process..

[Union Yes]

because they fucking demanded accountability and held employers accountable.

Then America de-unionized.

Imagine that. Accountability.

[LiberalLoner]

1. I've given up hope for our country. We are going to become a 3rd world country soon. rop

We are headed that way - Mexico and Haiti, we're right behind you. And most of the stupid American people will be saying it's all the fault of unions and liberals. I give up.

[Union Yes]

2. If things don't change soon. what you said could likely come true. nt

[Union Yes]

3. Kick.

[DemoTex]

4. Few industries have benefited from union safety initiatives like the airlines.

Airline management, their mouthpieces at the ATA (Air Transport Association) lobby group, and the FAA have fought almost every significant enhancement to passenger and crew safety in the last 50 years. It was the airline unions (pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, etc) and NTSB that prevailed to make the US airline industry the safest in the world.

Crew duty limitations
TCAS (collision avoidance system)
GPWS and EGPWS (enhanced ground proximity warning systems)
Cargo compartment fire detection and suppression
Etc., etc.

It took a gruesome body count after the crash of ValuJet 592 in the Everglades on May 11, 1996, to embarrass the airlines and the FAA to require cargo compartment fire detection and suppression. Cargo compartment fire detection and suppression had been recommended by the NTSB and fought for by the airline unions since the near-disastrous cargo compartment fire in an American Airlines MD-80 almost a decade before the ValuJet crash. The airlines and the FAA argued that such a system was too expensive and unjustifiable with respect to its cost-benefit ratio. The families and friends of the 111 killed on ValuJet 592 would argue differently.

[Union Yes]

8. Years ago, I applied for a union machinist job..

at Northwest Airlines. Part of their union airline mechanic crew.

But, instead I accepted a union machinist job at another company, Dana Corp. Auto/truck supplier. Then that plant got Nafta'd. That was 2000.

The prospect of non-union mechanics is scary. Big airlines are already outsourcing mechanic work and bringing in non union contractors to do some mechanic work.

Union workers are almost always better trained and perform better on the job due to higher job satisfaction.

:fistbump:

[DemoTex]

9. Airlines are not only OUTSOURCING maintenance .. they are OFF-SHORING it, too.

When you fly nowadays, there is a good chance the aircraft's engines have been overhauled in an off-shore, low-bid facility. That should give you the warm and fuzzies!

[Union Yes]

10. Yup, scary stuff.

[amborin]

5. yes and EFCA is now gutted; another campaign "promise" abandoned

[Union Yes]

6. It passed the House then went where bills go to die. The DLC Senate.

We've got to keep the pressure on Senate Dems to keep card-check alive and keep pushing the bill forward.

The Massey miner tragedy is highlighting the importance of passing EFCA now.

[Greyhound]

7. And in Germany, 50% of the board of directors of large corporations are required to be elected

by the workers.

Imagine that...
:kick: & R

[Union Yes]

11. Meanwhile, in the good ole USA, workers are completely left out of policymaking..

as lobbyists for our corporate overlords continue to write anti-worker legislation.

I want to move to Germany.

:fistbump:

[Greyhound]

12. Thinking of becoming a burden to their society myself. n/t