Some interesting posts about the work slow down that lead to the beginning of the end as they call it.
The truth is UAL pilots started flying the contract that summer and didn't bend like most pilot do - at any airline - to make the operation work. A work slowdown - hardly!
What made the "summer of love" so bad was that airline was under-staffed in the narrowbody fleets and ORD just got HAMMERED by summer thunderstorms that year. The ALPA scheduling committee had been telling the company that the operation would reach critical mass (WELL documented), and it finally did.
Instead of running an airline that summer, UAL Corp was offering $60/share for US Airways, and trying to start a fractional jet operation. They threw away around $4 BILLION in those two blunders with nothing to show, and failed to leave anyone behind to mind the store (to run the operation).
What happened in the Summer of 2000 was NOT a work slowdown by any stretch. Pilots had been "saving" the operation by bending the contract in favor of the company while telling the company that this type of operation was not sustainable. ALPA was met by a "you fly, we'll manage" attitude and the pilots finally stopped bending the rules and the operation imploded.
ALPA and UAL were in contract negotciations so it's really easy to blame labor for a "slowdown" as part of the barganing process, however, that wasn't the case. At some point you get tired of beating your head against the wall and simply stop.
In the summer of 2000, ALPA pilots at UAL simply started flying their contract as any suggestion to increase staffing was met with a deaf ear by UAL. It IS unfortunate that it came to that, but it's a universal trait in managemnt that they only listen when money is on the line.
I guess that's the difference between leaders and managers.