Van, can you tell me the history of our pilots. Why and how they Unionized? Was it because of Flying Tigers?
Let me add this. When I used to be an RTD based at the ramp, I had access to the pilot break room, because I knew a lot of them, had been a ramp agent, and it wasn't secured. There were all sorts of information posted indicating that Fred was going to not only screw with pilot schedules, but that he was contemplating a "People Express" style of operation where pilots would unload containers etc. in their downtime. Needless to say, this was not well received.
Also, Flying Tigers pilots were already unionized on T-Day ( 1989 merger day) with ALPA. There was a huge mess because they had to de-certify, and then figure out how to merge seniority lists, and the Tigers pilots got screwed. Seniority is everything when you're a pilot, so a lot of Tigers people had to downgrade from captain to FO, or FO to flight engineer. This made for some very pissed-off individuals, and really started discussions about unionizing FedEx pilots.
One of my favorite jumpseat stories is of a FedEx pilot "training" (check ride) a much more experienced downgraded Tigers pilot on how to be an FO on a 727. These two argued most of the flight, and they were so pissed-off that they overflew the destination airport because they were just going at it so hard. The FE and me were just sort of sitting there in stunned silence. After they were informed that they weren't where they were supposed to be I told them we had already passed over OAK, and the FE verified it.
The enraged Tigers pilot was flying and just said "*uck", and glared at the FedEx captain, and we had the fastest, greased landing I had ever seen, right on the numbers...almost like a fighter pilot landing a plane. When we got off in OAK, they were still arguing in the cockpit.
I think the Tigers pilots really started educating "our" pilots in short order, which has worked out well for them, but not so well for us, because we are paying for their excellent contract.