Globe: Flying into the two-tier wage world

[sourdick]

AirCanada is having labour problems. After unions representing their flight attendants failed to secure a ratified vote on (a second) agreed upon deals with the airline, the attendants were ready to walk. Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to review stalled contract talks at the airline. In so doing, she

Comments

[737_700]

[sourdick]

I do appreciate service workers. I worked retail and service all through highschool and university. I respect the work they do.

That being said, simply because someone has a PHD doesnt make their value to that job any more significant. Thats a choice that person made to do a job that does not use all of their skills.

Nothing changes the fact that the union and airline agree upon: these people are very easily replaced.

[suitablyemoname]

I'd venture if anyone here was actually involved in a actual emergency while flying, they probably would be speaking a different tune.

Flying back from the UK four years ago, the flight attendants were serving coffee and tea. She'd just poured out three cups for the row in front of me, when someone's kid came racing up behind her and smacked right into her.

I took all three cups to my chest and neck.

I'm damn glad that not only did we have airplanes equipped with lovely things like burn gel, but that we had flight attendants who knew how to use them--and that they didn't expect me to give them a tip for the service!

[suitablyemoname]

And to be clear: yes, okay, fine. Applying a burn gel pad and rubbing it over someone's skin is not rocket science.

But there's a difference between someone who instantly knows what to do, where to find the equipment necessary to do it, what steps to take to protect the passenger's safety and dignity while you cut off parts of their clothing, how to identify the precise nature and extent of a burn, which tools to use, how to clean the area, how to best apply the gel, how to dress the area, appropriate after-care (treatment for shock, checking for burns in the throat and mouth, etc.) and how often to re-apply the gel and change the dressing, and someone who has either only been trained as a sky-waitress and who has to constantly flip through a barrage of forms and guidebooks and first aid manuals as she tries to do it all.

It's expensive and difficult to get staff to that level of snap-to-it expertise. Degree, no degree, whatever: once you invest that much in someone's training, it's worth keeping them on.

[sourdick]

Not according to a group of people who might know just the tiniest bit more about it than you do: the airline.

[northern_dirt]

I have respect for service employee's
Worked as a bartender for years..

I just don't see the difference between a server at Kelseys and a stewardess..
Yeah yeah they have some first aid training.. My Ex gf gave the heimlich as a server at a bar she worked at.. I patched up a drunken bums head who tripped over his own feet as he walked into my bar, then drove him home.. Ive had to deal with unruly patrons, drunken bums, had to take keys away and stand in between them and their vehicles.. Did this for $5.95 an hour and tips..

[737_700]