THEY WANT ME TO BE AS LIGHT AS A FEATHER

The American worker is familiar with the carrot poised in front of them - incentive. In many workplaces this amounts to free coffee, donuts and a yearly company party. United used to have a company party at their world headquarters for their employees. When United started to go through bankruptcy they stopped having their company party, they cited that it was because of the bankruptcy.

Removing a carrot is understandable in hard times. Most of us have gone through a hard stretch at one time or another and have had to cut back. American workers are not unfamiliar with tightening the belt and working harder. United management feels the tightening should only be done by the rank and file. CEO Glenn Tilton and other managers have received bonuses while United has been going through bankruptcy. Why did they receive bonuses? Because of the hard work and sacrifices of the United employees. United workers have made United one of the best “on time” airlines and one of the most productive.

Corporate entities in America keep bashing the American worker telling us we are not productive enough to compete. They have moved operations to other countries in hope of higher productivity and lower wages. United expects reservationists, customer contact employees, to meet a goal of 100% productivity. Lower than 95% productivity can endanger an employee’s job. United’s reservationists meet or exceed these goals. Could we say this of the mangers who have continually failed in their goal of resurfacing from bankruptcy? Do they hold their selves up to the same standards they do of their employees?

Why has the American worker taken less and given more while CEOs are making more money than they ever have? Why is the gap between CEO pay and the average workers pay widening by the minute? Why are some companies cutting pay and benefits of workers while they are still making profits? Why do we see United airlines trying to take their employees pension away while CEO Glenn Tilton has a guaranteed pension of 4.5 Million?

You cannot starve the ox and still expect it to plow the field.