"Miracle on Hudson" pilot boycotts Walker-loving bank

Madison, March 12

Passenger airline pilots are among the many workers getting screwed by greedy employers. Which is why we've been seeing "Teamster Pilots" signs at the Madison protests, held up by our brothers in solidarity with all the other workers getting screwed by greedy employers.

So we were delighted but not surprised to learn that Jeff Skiles, the first officer in the "Miracle on the Hudson" landing in 2009, has taken his money out of M&I Bank. M&I executives, you will recall, supported Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's political campaign.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports

Jeff Skiles ... has been involved in the budget protests that engulfed Madison in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, he took another big step, choosing to withdraw what he said was hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money from M&I Bank to protest the actions of bank executives there who backed Gov. Scott Walker..."They have supported Gov. Walker and I wanted to send a message to them," Skiles said.

Seven unions -- police, firefighters, teachers and sheriffs -- sent letters to M&I Bank and Kwik Trip Inc., reports the Journal-Sentinel,

...for either supporting Walker directly, or its executives supported Walker's campaign, or because the companies are members of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, a pro-business group that supported the governor, or all three.

The Miracle on the Hudson was a case history in how unions make us all safer. As People's World pointed out back then, the "Miracle" was pulled off entirely by union members:

Once again, the nation has witnessed the difference between life and death that comes from having trained, experienced union members on the job....every single one of these heroes involved in pulling it off is a union member. Passengers on many commuter airlines, flown by poorly paid non-union pilots and staffed by non-union crews, might not have been as lucky.

All of the airline and airport workers involved in the Jan. 15 miracle were union members who received extensive training that was provided for and required under their union contracts.  

That includes the pilots, the flight crew, the air traffic controllers, the seafarers, the marine engineers, the firefighters and the police officers.

It just makes you sick to think about greedy corporate executives giving money to trash these brave people.