Originally Posted by FleetSnarl

That's exactly what this is about. Take an informal poll of pilots on the line at SWA and ask them what they think our leverage is in negotiations. Probably 80%+ will say "pilot shortage" as the number one thing or in the top couple of things.

Starting an ab initio program allows the company to fire back at us, and say, "What pilot shortage? We've addressed that. We've got XXXX number of people signed up for our ab initio program. No pilot shortage here. Next?"

Basically, this is management's way of neutralizing one of our strongest points of perceived leverage and taking the wind out of the sails of the vast majority of guys who think management should bend to our asks because, if they don't, nobody will want to work here.