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Old 06-19-2019, 04:37 PM
  #3  
iPilot
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Joined APC: Mar 2007
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Ultimately both management and the union have enough legal tools to keep negotiations stymied indefinitely. The goal is to use those tools to force the other side to settle. Often its the management using the purposefully glacial speed of the National Mediation Board to make unions settle versus wait years for a raise. However in this case the union can equally drag things out for years in litigation in the hopes that long before all of the legal tools are exhausted the company will be forced to settle.

After all, business plans must move forward. Those Amazon 737s will be here long before the amalgamation process outlined in the ruling last week would be played out. Not to mention DHL wants 777s and who knows what other customers are out there begging Atlas to take their money.

For an example consider Southwest's latest contract. The union knew they wanted Max jets and without new contract language they simply weren't coming. All the union had to do was wait it out and lo and behold right before the first Max showed up the company settled. Without that leverage the union would of had to settle for far less (granted they were already sitting pretty) or risk having to wait an eternity for another opportunity for leverage.
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