Dec. 17, 2002 - 20:31 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Totem Pole ?

United Airlines, are they in danger of becoming Untied Airlines ?

There is one obvious thing, United has the mechanics between the rock and a hard place. Either they will voluntarily allow us to pay you less or we (United) will file for full bankruptcy and get the government to void all labor contracts (and then of course you will take what we deign to give you).

Who is in the position of ultimate responsiblity to take the blame for having a company in such a perilous position that it might fail. Even though 9-11 has hampered everyone alive in one way or another. Didn't the big United execs put by any reserve for unforseen emergencies ?

Now where do we stand on the Homeland Security thingy, are those employees to be without Civil Service protection or union representation ?

For a long time it seems that the unions are being squeezed out one way or another. The company I retired from sold off pieces of itself and the new owners of the various endeavors are now trying to bust the union.

Are we as a nation headed back to the early days where the common man was at the complete mercy of his employer ? Having to work as many hours per week and any other conditions as the boss deems necessary ? I do hope that some young people study enough real history to understand how the eight hour day, time and a half for overtime, vacations, decent working conditions came about. Many people sacrificed time, body and sustenance to get those rights. Many times I have worked along side of a man who would say, "I don't believe in unions," that was his red in the face battle cry. Funny thing though, he expected his hours, pay, vacations and benefits to be the same as people who paid union dues. But those people don't believe in unions.

I am no history expert, but somewhere at the beginning of our country I think the words were said and even written down perhaps, "in order to form a more perfect union." So technically the United States is one damn big union -- and there are termites in our woodwork. In the end, when we go out with a whimper, how long will each of us have been the low man on the Totem Pole ? . . . . . . . .

Blog