SITTING UP ON CINDER BLOCKS


Almost everyone has seen the image of a car stripped clean of all useful parts sitting up on cinder blocks. Who hasn’t watched a movie or television show depicting the scene where an unsuspecting victim goes to the wrong side of town in search of something at some store or business only to return minutes later finding their car laid waste with barely any valuable parts attached. Kind of funny isn’t it?

Unless, of course, it happens to you!

Well, it has happened to us; all of us. We had great jobs less than a decade ago with pay and benefits that were worthy of our efforts. We were able to save money and take care of our families’ wants and needs. Our kids looked forward to after school extra-curricular activities that cost just a few more dollars. We had health insurance choices that allowed most of us to take care of all our medical needs with hardly a worry. Our sick time and OJI coverage was adequate and mainly hassle free if all the rules were followed.

Life was good and then Delta came calling almost in the middle of the night and stripped us clean. Without union representation, we were left at the mercy of our executives and they spared us little but the bare ‘chassis’ of our original benefit and pay package.

But don’t worry, Delta has been promising to take us back to ‘industry standards’ for a few years now and every so often they throw us a few of our car parts back in the form of modest, partial pay restorations or they slightly modify our benefits cosmetically.

These small enhancements are appreciated, don’t get us wrong, but they don’t get our cars off the cinder blocks. A windshield wiper or bucket of bolts and nuts doesn’t make up for the missing engine, drive train or the wheels.

As a matter of fact, if we ever hope to have our cars leave the drive-way again we need all the parts returned and someone willing and capable of putting them back together; a master mechanic. We need the professionalism of the IAM.

They’ll get us back on the road with a smooth running car and full tank of gas; not to mention the kind of insurance and backing that will give us peace of mind should the thieves come calling in the night again.

That promise of industry standard pay and benefits will always be something just around the corner, just out of reach without the power and backing of a union and an IAM contract. Don’t be fooled by modest benefits and pay enhancements; they will never add up to what we had before without the power and backing of a legally binding contract.

It’s time to get the car off of the front lawn and back on the highway. It’s time for the IAM.