Originally Posted by
Sink r8
I don't think that SWAPA guys alone swing this discussion either way, since there isn't a strong correlation between being independent and having greater success.
The corollary to that is the fact that there's no strong correlation between being ALPA represented and having greater success either. ALPA folks had the greater success 20 years ago. The independents led by SWAPA and IPA have the greater success now.
Originally Posted by
Sink r8
...I'm happy to stipulate that SWAPA, the in-house union to a company that founded it's business on "falling in love with employees and taking customers along for the ride", does well.
That was indeed how SWA was "founded", but that company is no longer there under the leadership of Gary Kelly. They still have a great working relationship between management and workers, but the LUV that was there with Herb is simply not there anymore. SWAPA has had to fight harder than ever for what they have now.
Originally Posted by
Sink r8
Can't we get some consensus around here on the basics? SWA does well. They have great Scope, which hasn't been tested all that much.
Almost a consensus. SWAPA has undoubtedly great scope, but it has indeed been tested and tested hard. Their last Section 6 took 3 years. A full 18 months of that Section 6 negotiating time was SWA management fighting SWAPA on allowing them greater code share and other scope relaxations. SWAPA would not budge. In the end, the new contract contained provisions that actually tightened scope. SWAPA paid a price for that by taking less money than was offered the SWA management had they taken the scope relaxations. Since then, there's been at least 2 additional scope challenges...both won by SWAPA.
Moral of the story, SWAPA has never sold scope for pay. In their last Section 6, they actually PAID to tighten their scope.
Carl