LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22029 posts, RR: 51 Posted (1 year 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 1476 times:
Group of 346 engineers and professional employees at the combined United Airlines voted against union representation by the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers the organization which previously represented the 195 pre-merger United employees.
Off eligible and voting employees 163 voted against representation, with 136 in favor per results released on Monday.
DeltaMD90 From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 5297 posts, RR: 47 Reply 1, posted (1 year 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 1430 times:
RoseFlyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 8739 posts, RR: 52 Reply 2, posted (1 year 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 1288 times:
The engineering union at United was only 5-6 years old and came out of the bankruptcy when people were getting laid off and those who were kept were having to spread the work over fewer people. However the union never successfully negotiated a contract, so it was virtually worthless. I'm not surprised they voted against it. Paying dues to a union that can't even come up with a contract does not make sense. The union was a threat that engineers would not take the constant cuts when UA was whittling down. That threat has passed for the most part.
Engineering unions are not as common and usually not as successful or strong as other unions at airlines. Pay in engineering is not really union dictated, but rather industry dictated. An engineer with 15 years experience at UA will easily get hired by another airline or Boeing, etc and maintain the same pay and be treated as a senior engineer (except when non-revving) at whatever new company he goes to. Unions help when management forces relocations, forces uncompensated overtime, cuts healthcare etc. Seniority is not key as it is pretty meaningless except when flying standby or weeks of vacation.
If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!
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