Go to the NMB web site and look up the history of Presidential Emergency Boards (PEBs). You'll find that every railroad labor dispute in the past decade has been stopped by a PEB. That's because railroads are pretty much a monopoly, and a rail shutdown would have a direct, immediate, and serious effect on the national economy. The government will never allow another rail strike.

There have been a lot more airline strikes in the history of the RLA, but only because before the recent industry consolidation, other carriers could pick up the passenger and freight loads of the shut down carrier. If the NMB were to allow, United, American, or Delta to strike these days, it would have a similar catastrophic effect on the national economy, such as a passenger rail strike would impact the economy of the Northeast.

Northwest's mechanics were allowed to go on strike in 2006 because:

• Management had trained and had a readily available pool of replacement maintenance technicians to replace the strikers on Day 1 of the walkout.
• Management had received assurances that other unionized employee groups, pilots, flight attendants, and agents, would not honor the mechanics' picket lines.

Other than strikes by pimple-on-the-butt regional and boutique airlines, such as Spirit, there will be no ALPA "battle stars" issued in the foreseeable future. No Democratic administration would allow it. No Republican administration would allow it.

That's not the way it ought to be. That's the way is is. BTW, McCain's baseball arbitration idea would not be accepted by either side.