We MUST Act Professional

First of all, I want to thank all those who responded to last week's blog The News Still Looks Bad for Maintenance. We had plenty of reader comments that contributed to the discussion on the recent BTS report on airline employment and what it means for airline mechanics. Sadly, not all the comments were able to be posted. In fact, some of them were so crude and obscene, they would make George Carlin blush. The comments were childish and very un-professional. I understand the fact that airline mechanics have had it bad the last several years. I have talked to many airline mechanics during my time here at AMT. In fact, I got a chance to talk to quite a few Northwest mechanics in the first days of the strike last year. As could be expected, none of them were happy about the situation. They had nothing good to say about Northwest management outsourcing their jobs and busting the union. But guess what? They communicated their displeasure in a professional way. That doesn’t mean they weren't emotional about the whole situation. There was evidence of the resentment, anger, and distrust they felt. But they acted as professionals. It is a shame that there are some out there that act childish with vulgarity and personal threats. This type of behavior does nothing to help our cause to be treated as professionals. If anything, the behavior adds to management's list of reasons for not treating us as professionals. And airline managers have plenty of excuses for the job cuts and concessions we have been seeing. We don't need to give them any more by un-professional behavior. If we want to be treated as professionals, we must act as professionals. Thanks for reading. Joe Escobar