Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
LM's "proactive engagement" (I would say "proactive appeasement" is more like it) has certainly kept labor peace at Delta... but it's also set expectations that restoration or anything even remotely close to restoration is off the table. Management has every reason to believe that the "pilot cost dragon" has been slayed once and for all, never to be revisited.
Would JM have made this mistake? Who knows? But my gut instinct is he would not have.
Here's the thing DAL88, Lee Moak didn't think it was a mistake. Moak pursued this appeasement as an affirmative strategy to "keep the peace" at all costs. What his reasons were, we may not know until we see where his next occupation takes him. But I think we can fairly say that Moak didn't pursue this strategy because the majority of Delta pilots wanted the strategy. Moak didn't ask.
It's easy to keep the peace when you side with the opposition. You'll even be called "a new style of union leader" by airline management and stock analysts. Why we pilots tolerated it as long as we have is beyond me.
Carl