Originally Posted by slowplay

Can you give me some examples? The most "buddy-buddy" relationship in our industry is SWA. .. FedEx now has a pretty good relationship with their management. ....

There are at least 2 concrete examples here at Delta. 1. Having management's business plans and access to proprietary corporate financial data (whether from management, creditors committees, Board of Directors, etc.) was critical in preserving Delta pilot jobs and fighting off the US Airways hostile takeover. We were able to use financial data to prove the Delta standalone plan was better for everyone than the risky path Parker wanted to go down. That preserved over 1500 Delta pilot jobs that Parker wanted to cut. 2. We were able to improve pilot pay by being included during the NWA/DAL merger while all our other legacy competitors have been frozen out. Real money got put into pilot pockets. Assuming 85 hours of pay the average A330 capatain saw a $141,102 increase in take home pay from October 31, 2008 through December 31, 2012. That doesn't include the average 4000 shares of stock we received, or enhancements to the profit sharing plan that paid twice what the NWA plan paid their contract employees. Alaska, Hawaiian, AirTran and Spirit were all able to pattern up off our success. So far UAL/CAL, AMR, and LCC have been unable to deliver contract improvements. I hope they are successful - and soon - so they improve the pattern for us.



I believe the results show engagement to be an effective strategy. There is a place for confrontation and conflict(like NWA '98, Spirit), but it is a tool, not a strategy. When used as a standalone strategy, it doesn't appear to me to be very successful.

jmo, ymmv