Well no, actually that's not a fine distinction at all, but thanks for taking a shot at subtlety, as that's been sorely lacking on this board.

Actually wait, I just re-read the last half of your paragraph and I take that back, that's not subtle at all, it's the same old hyperbole.

But fine, be that as it may, where we have a major difference in opinion (and no it's not that I or anyone else have "ignored" your points or "don't get them"), is that you appear to believe that it's what's on paper that's of prime importance and I believe that it's the intent behind what's on paper and the motivations of the people involved that's most important. Which is why I said I'd rather work under no contract at all for a company I trust than under an eternal contract for a company who I know is looking for every angle to weasel all they can out of me. Not only is that a gut feeling of mine, but as confirmation I point to the last 20 years of the airline industry, with bankruptcy after bankruptcy, with contracts broken and/or tossed aside regularly, particularly in the last few years.

I understand that this idea is foreign to you and to anyone who has been in this industry for a long time. The system has been built on mutual distrust for years -- both sides plot and scheme about how to wring all they can out of the other for a few years, then the contract is re-negotiated, everyone goes back to their corner and either congratulates each other or gnashes teeth and tosses blame around for a while, and the cycle begins anew. And frankly, I think that historically management earned that distrust, many times over, so the system has had to work that way.

Right now though, I work for a company that has done its best to break that cycle and build teamwork and esprit-de-corps based on "hey, we've got your back, we're not going to screw you. It works out better in the long run this way." What's more, and this is key, it's that trust that the two groups use as leverage -- both sides know that once it's broken all bets are off. Leverage by mutual trust in place of leverage by lawyers and threats. So far they haven't earned our distrust and by and large we're pretty happy with the way things are going. Is this so strange? Doesn't anyone find it just a bit odd that the people saying it sucks at JetBlue and it's a horrible place to work are all people who don't work at JetBlue? And all you can come up with to rebut this is that it must be like Scientology?? Come on...

How about we agree to disagree on how things should be run, we wish each other well in our respective jobs and we cool it on the insults instead?