Originally Posted by
ERJ Driver
It's this damn RLA. If we were allowed to strike whenever we decided to things would be much different I promise you. Longshoremen make bank because they can shut the whole country down when they strike. We should have the same empowerment, but we don't so we have to settle with this crappy union deal. Got a better solution, I'd like to hear it. Going it on your own at Airways aint gonna work either. It will just be a different set of jokers/bureaucracy to deal with. AND, if you think the company won't have their fingers in it more than they do now... good luck with that.
I actually posed that question to a very senior ALPA type from FDX. He explained that alpa is reluctant to open up the RLA for revision because there are provisions which benefit labor also. The airlines are afraid to push for changes for the same reason...nobody knows what we would end up with in the end if congress opened up the RLA can of worms.
For example, our contracts do not expire they become ammenable but are still in force. Non-RLA contracts apparently expire, and management is then free to change compensation and workrules any way they like until a new contract is signed. Of course the workers can walk out immediately too...
Not sure I agree, but this is what alpa thinks.