NewK and TOGA LK nailed it, but TOGA got the most important part. Our CEO at the time was John Dasburg. He was somebody I thought I knew and had a friendly relationship with. When he pushed us toward a strike, it was absolutely unreal. We had turned the corner from the leveraged buyout and were solidly profitable again, yet he wanted a B scale and pay freezes. It was like he'd lost his marbles. Many of us tried to tell him that we'd shut the place down, but he was sure he had us by the nads. Apparently his hired union busters told him that we'd long since lost the backbone to strike. They assured him it would never happen.

After the strike ended two weeks later, John left the company to "enjoy more time with his family." Then became CEO of Burger King. Every airline CEO saw that. Richard saw it up close because he was in executive leadership at the time. There's a chance that strike set the stage for United's record setting contract, and maybe even Delta's.

So yes, that strike was a tough one. But I think it paid dividends in many ways.

Carl