Originally Posted by
TallFlyer
I don't have all the history, but keep in mind violations of the status quo is something that labor unions can be sued for under the RLA. So if there's a union out there suggesting that the group should change its behavior as a way to impact the company to achieve leverage in negotiations, understand that's illegal and the union could be sued, and if my memory serves APA has had to pay some fines related to similar lawsuits in the past.
If there's anything that drives cautious communication from APA, it's this, and my understanding is that if a group of pilots attempts a job action APA is still liable.
Again, still an outsider looking in, but it still looks like the overall environment is still in favor of the pilot group.
Yea, that's what I'm talking about. In the past, when unions were actually strong, and used to do more than add a couple percent to 401k contributions, they created legislation like a 40 hour work week. People just point to the RLA like it is a force of gravity instead of a rule put in place to heel labor. When you have real power you make rules, and pilots (especially at the top) seem way too comfortable to ever actually make lasting or visionary change the way corporations do when they literally write legislation that is put into bills. The lack of political power will always show itself in a weaker negotiating position.