Originally Posted by
JoePatroni
He wrote a newsletter called the "Magenta Line" that highlighted every management shortcoming and fu- especially calling into question Fred Abbott's decision making ability. He was told to cease and desist (allegedly) but kept writing anyway. Shortly after, they issued a bid that moved a huge anount of 737 flying from EWR to IAH which tilted the division of the house vote from EWR to IAH. No one seemed to give a **** then when a ton, I think it was somewhere around 60-80 positions, moved from one base to another purely out of spite. It was a great day when Abbott got booted.
I believe Kaye was the 170 (CAL EWR) S-T at the time. The number of positions lost in EWR was well over 100 in just the 737 CA BES... going from over 500 to well under 400 before all was said and done. Some of those were due to the contraction that created 148 system wide furloughs, but most of it was flying being shifted from EWR to IAH. I didn't believe business decisions like that could be based on hurt feelings until I heard it directly from someone in management, who also said it was costing us millions per year in hotel rooms alone.
It sucks to see any base contracting because of the human cost to those living there, but IAH is apparently not where the money is now. I don't get it either, it's a large population center in a market we dominate, but unlike the move of flying out of EWR, this is not a punitive decision.