Originally Posted by H2O_Goalie
I am, quite frankly, irreplaceable. Because I do a hands-on job that about 200 other people in the country do. In addition, I voluntarily work at a lower wage than I could get. If I were to decide to leave (or for some insane reason my company was put in a position to let me go) it would literally take me about 3 hours to find another job (likely at higher pay...though my quality of life with my present company is so high it's virtually insane).
I was not always in this position. For 7 years out of college I worked a gig where my pay was minimal, where my bosses felt nothing of asking my to take concessions or skip increases in pay/benefits. In that time I learned first-hand that growing your skillset and finding a position that was mission-critical was the key to keeping your job and getting paid what you want.
LTRS, it's already been demonstrated earlier in this thread that you're a liar. Why don't you just go away to whatever little socialist utopia will have you? I'll bet they're waiting for you down on the picket lines at the airport...though I wouldn't want your putting your money where your mouth is to interfere with more productive things, like planning your next trip to the WTO meetings for a protest. Though with you eliminating your transportation options left and right due to moral concerns you'll probably have to get there by oxcart.
I'm a liar? Link to that, please? Look, you're talking out of your butthole on ALL these issues. You haven't got clue one what you're talking about, which is pretty much the same with many others here. A few of the more ignorant examples:
1. Safety isn't an issue anymore -- Reality: ask OSHA if "safety isn't an issue anymore"
2. The average Mechanics make $70K and want $92K -- Reality: The average mechanic makes $54K, the avg custodian makes $30K
3. Mechanics don't go to school to learn their trade. Reality: LOL!, oh brother the ignorance of posters here is nothing short of asounding.
4. The mechanics haven't agreed to cuts, they are asking for a raise. Reality: they agreed to 16% cuts in wages, management wants 25%.
5. Manangement deserves millions in bonuses and stock options no matter how grossly incompetent they are, while workers who keep the planes flying making in the range of $50K per yr are overpaid peons. Reality: It's hard to even know where to start to deconstruct an argument that ignorant.
In general, this thread is very instructional about several things:
A. It's no wonder this country is so screwed up with elitist idiots running things at most companies.
B. The wealth gap in this country is now beyond ridiculous, and the reason is pretty clear. Some people really walk around thinking they are god's gift to the economy, deserve immense wealth (and first class seats), while also believing that no one else's labor is worthy of much of anything much at all. This likely accounts for why they need an entire discussion forum to complain that there are soy nuts in their peanuts while normal people spend time worrying about how they will pay for jr's college tuition.
C. The REAL elitists in this country aren't "intellectuals" as a certain segment of the political realm likes to claim -- it's the wealthy, greedy, corporatists who look down their noses at people who do more than just sit in meetings and TALK about how things should be done, yet have no actual experience actually DOING any of the work.