Originally Posted by
Flytolive
And you are no exception. Strike when multiple airlines were in BK after 9/11? Brilliant.
Are you familiar with the gains Dubinsky secured by forcing UAL to park their brand new 747-400s? You might have noticed we have a new CEO and that UA operational reliability has lagged DAL until recently.
Your view is that of a "minion" with delusions of grandeur.
Originally Posted by
AxlF16
No kidding! Joe is an intelligent guy, but it appears as though his elbow rubbing with corporate big wigs has resulted in a touch of Stockholm Syndrome. For example, I pretty sure the 'company' wasn't pulling the important levers while we were in BK.
You guys need to review your history lessons. UAL went into Bankruptcy in December 2002 and Delta and Northwest didn't file until fall of 2005. Furthermore, APA took a strike vote while in Chapter 11. The concept of whether a union has a right to self help while a corporation is in bankruptcy was untested and is still untested. We had a heinous contract rammed down our throats because we didn't stand up to the judge or the company. There was no question concessions were needed, but the opportunity to add things like snap back clauses and such were absolutely given away without a fight. The UAL network was worth billions and corporate America knew that very well. The fact that the airline industry was next on the list of US industries to have their pensions stripped does not mean the union had to roll over and play dead. UAL-ALPA was scared. I actually emailed all the members of the MEC at the time and got answers back from most. The truth was they knew fighting was an option but they were genuinely scared to try assuming the worst would happen and United would close its doors. Today we know that the United network was and still is worth billions and the robber barons of that day knew that as well back then but they're the ones who had the patience to finish the poker game with ALPA where the prize was the pensions. There are rare times when unions have real leverage and that was one. If you don't see that . . . well what can I say . . . you're wrong.
And, Axl you're 100% correct the company wasn't alone in pulling the levers and THAT is exactly why the union had leverage. Corporate America didn't want to kill United; they wanted her pension knowing full well once that domino fell the rest of the industry would get in line. Sadly the tool they used was BK. All of that was planned years in advance and 9/11 just sped up the process a bit. In fact you could take classes on labor relations in the top MBA schools of the '80s that discussed that exact issue. Go watch the 60 Minutes interview if you think my conspiracy theory is hokey.