On August 4th, I made the decision to go ahead and apply with a rival company at DFW Airport. I have been getting the overwhelming sense lately that my current company for the past four-and-one-half years, Allied Aviation, is not concerned about safety, and its union is not concerned about my well-being.
Anyone that I interact with online knows that I am an anti-union person, so being in one was a severe embarrassment to me and my credibility towards not liking them. The union, followed closely by poor management, was the ultimate deciding factor to apply with my new employer. This is an undercut to my fellow union workers, but I have made my disapproval widely known within the union leadership circle
I will still be working at DFW airport, which is my home airport after leaving Little Rock National a few years ago.
Change is hard
Anyone knows that changing jobs/careers is not easy. I am going from one position to another, doing the same job, in a different company. You would think the transition is going to be easy, but it never seems to go that way. Things will be up in the air for the first few weeks, until I get used to differing procedures, and methods of working with different equipment and people.
Change is scary
What will happen after the last day at Allied, and the first day at Swissport? I am not completely sure. Everything should be OK. This was a big step that will violently shake the stable ground I have been on for the past four-and-one-half years. I have doubted my decision over and over since I first applied with Swissport, but every time I look at the conditions that my company makes us work under, I know my decision is the right one. At the time of this post, I have two days remaining that I could call and resend my resignation notice, but no, I have come too far, and worked too hard to get my new position to just throw it away. With that said, I will say my final goodbye to Allied on Sunday the 30th of August.
Change is necessary
I have looked long and hard at my current position with the union, and as I said, their interest are not my interest. The union’s stance on everything from work ethic, to safety, are not the primary concerns of the union leadership. They seem to be more interested in holding the title, rather than representing me or my interest. The company does what they want, how they want, when they want, and the union leadership just takes it, and does nothing to correct what is obviously a bad policy. Safety is not important to my union leaders, or so it seems. I have been told in the past that my safety is not a concern, and the company would rather me “go on workers comp. [compensation], than get delays.” Typically at any given time ten, usually more, of my one-hundred and seventy co-workers will be on “WC.” That is poor policy.
If there is only one reason alone to change employers, it would be completely because of safety. I was told in both interviews with Swissport Fueling, that safety is number one in practice and not just a laughing joke. With that now said, I am ready to start with my new company Monday the 31 of August. I believe this is a change for the better, even though it will be a massive change in the way I do my job. No regrets, no looking back! So Swissport, I will give the best I have to offer, just like I did at Allied for the past four-and-a-half years, for the Glory of Almighty GOD.
So goodbye Allied, I will miss the actual job and friends, but not much else. Hello Swissport, let’s do this thing.
Awsome son!!! Good for you and there is NOTHING wrong with writing how you feel. That is our God given right and touche' to you!!! Your saftey IS important for YOU and your FAMILY. They depend on you and believe me you dont want to end up on WC for the rest of your life…or even temporarily, whether they care or not. Glad you love your new position!!!
if safety was an issue, maybe you should have been more active with the union stewards in addressing these problems. i know i never saw you at any union meetings, unless you went at a different time, i cant say for sure.
what i do know is, every time i saw you, you were always sitting against the wall, with your little earphones in your head, when you werent fueling that is.
and allied/ogden hasnt lost a contract yet. so i guess you dropped the ball on that.
i am curious as to what kind of benefits you are getting over there. from what i'm hereing sounds like you aint getting much of anything.
Never heard anything from any employer I have ever worked with that encouraged me to go out on workers comp if I couldn't work safely. That seems to defeat the purpose of hiring you and creates overhead for them. Maybe you missunderstood them or you did not get correct information from a reliable source or maybe they just wanted to see you quit.
Anyway, wish you well in your job change at DFW airport.
@harley I did bring it up with the stewards. It got to the point where I thought about withdrawing my membership from the union. that is where Eddie J. stepped in and gave me the speech about the benefits of being in the union.
I also addressed my frustrations and issues with him, and rather than saying that they would look into them, or something like that, he ended the conversation saying I feel the same way.
I did sit over at the table listening to my little headphones all the time. It made for a much more enjoyable day. I did not have to listen to the stewards, sitting by the leads office, complaining almost all the time. That is not the work experience I wanted.
I did go to two meetings. I sat through them, and was not impressed. News, and a lot of complaining is what I saw. I chose not to go to any more of them, because of the experiences I had at those two meetings.
Last thing. You can say that Allied/Ogden has lost no contracts if you completely ignore the fact that Allied has lost: Delta, Northwest, USAir, United, Continental, AirTran, and UPS (and all the regional and city-hopper flights associated with these airlines).
Swissport is a multinational/international corporation that is much larger than Allied is, and they do offer us benefits of all types for us to choose from.
@Connsernedcitsen I was told that, and I even remember the duty manager that told me that… Guzman. It makes bad business sense to say that, but I promise you, that is what I was told by him. Of course, maybe that is why he is no longer working for Allied anymore.
Thanks for the well wishes too.