I don't have to imagine, I lived it at NWA. I worked one case where the crew agreed to extend their duty day past 14 hours. A crew member was injured after the 14 hour point while still on duty. The company tried to escape all workman compensation liability due to the extended duty hours and the crew violating the working agreement. Something the crew did at the "urging" of the director of crew scheduling.

ALPA was totally incompetent in this case and only the employees private attorney was able to save him from it becoming a very bad situation.

The contract was a book a rules and not a book of suggestions. It is also a limitation on good customer service, along with inept management, the two usually go hand in hand.

I think for the most part (outside of air safety issues) most unions have out lived their usefulness. In this day and age, their are plenty of Federal agencies that deal with workplace safety, despite it's shortcomings the FAA is not all bad at regulating the industry and believe it or not, the insurance industry will deal with the Mesa's better than ALPA has to date.

At one time, you were right about the union-company relationship being brought about by company caused problems, but not anymore. If it were an issue at the newer fractionals, the pilots would be seeking out the Teamsters or ALPA, not the other way around. As was the case with the original posters intent with this thread.