Airline Unions Deserve Our Thanks

American Airlines followed through on their promise to screw their rank-and-file employees last week. While their employees work for reduced pay (which they agreed to in an effort to save the airline from bankruptcy), American rewarded these employees by using their reduction in pay to finance huge bonuses for management.

The five top executives at American Airlines split about $20 million, while 874 other executives and managers split another $160 million. This is a real slap in the face for the employees who sacrificed to save the airline by agreeing to work for severely reduced pay.

Now the airline wants these workers to continue working for less while management gets richer off their sacrifices. It's no wonder that the airline unions are protesting this outrage! If they let the company get away with this, they will be marginalized forever and forced to work for ridiculous wages.

But these unions are fighting the corporation, and I believe they will continue the fight when union contracts start coming up for renewal next year. That is why I say we owe these unions our thanks. The airlines are not the only corporations trying to get away with this kind of selfishness.

Corporations all over America are treating their workers like crap while rewarding management with ever larger bonuses. Corporations seem to think there are two classes of people in their organizations - the "real" people in management who deserve to get rich, and the "peons" who do the work and deserve as little as management can get away with paying them.

The airline unions are taking a stand not only for themselves, but for all of America's working people. We need to remember this next year if the unions decide they must strike. Workers all over this country need to step up and back these workers when the time comes.

We need to take what the airline unions have started, and spread it all over this country. It is time to let the corporations know that workers are not going to stand for the abuse any longer!