Originally Posted by
duffrick
Well, that's all good and well except for a couple small details:
Management's "offer" was so bad that the repurcussions would have been just about irrepairable harm to the pilots contract. Most of the bankruptcy judges are activist pro-management judges whose interest lies solely with the creditors and the survival of the corporation. That is their responsibility, not my contract.
Furthermore, accepting the Judge's ruling and come back to fight another day would not have been possible in a Bush administration with a Republican congress, since the nuclear option would have been of the table. The thought that any pilot group would have the strike option leverage with Republicans in power is just simply wrong. The only time Republicans will allow a strike to happen is if they are assured by management that the work group striking will be replaced by scabs, just like in the NWA mechanics strike. This is ideal since it provides for the busting of a union, plus the lowering of wages and benefits for all.
IMO you had more bargaining power than you thought. The judge had to listen to your side, otherwise he would have just imposed what the company "graciously offered". I bet the company got just about what they thought they could get from the courts. They would have been stupid to waste the golden opportunity that 9/11 gave them.
Short term you probably would have done worse, but long term is where you really got hurt, IMO.
Furthermore, accepting the Judge's ruling and come back to fight another day would not have been possible in a Bush administration with a Republican congress, since the nuclear option would have been of the table. The thought that any pilot group would have the strike option leverage with Republicans in power is just simply wrong. The only time Republicans will allow a strike to happen is if they are assured by management that the work group striking will be replaced by scabs, just like in the NWA mechanics strike. This is ideal since it provides for the busting of a union, plus the lowering of wages and benefits for all.
George Bush is President, not King. He will, ever so thankfully, be outta here in about two years, well before most, if not all the contractural amendable dates. There's no guarantee, but I find it hard to believe that his succesor will be as anti-labor.
But if you want to think you did the right thing, that's fine. We'll never know who was really right, will we?
