Originally Posted by
WHACKMASTER
I suggest doing a little research into how the RLA works. They can stop you a couple of times from striking but they can’t stop you indefinitely no matter how big you are.
I think you're living in a dreamland. congress can intervene, you can have a PEB, or just more cooling off periods (the railroads just had a Presidential Emergency Board in June).
i'm an allegiant pilot and we are in the midst of negotiations like everybody else. we want major gains, and an eventual strike is what is being spread. the difference is that a I can imagine a world where a President allowed allegiant pilots to strike (instead of calling a PEB); there is no way any President would allow delta pilots to strike - and your management likely knows that.
even as a niche airline, its unlikely that we at allegiant will ever be able to strike given all the obstacles littered throughout the RLA and the politics involved, and we are just flying families to their vacations a couple days a week.
Entire economies rely on a carrier like Delta to operate and I just can't fathom a world where a President, even one like Bernie or AOC, would allow pilots to strike because they are only get 5 weeks of paid vacation instead of 6; or because we only top out at $300k/year instead of $350k; or because we only get 17% dc instead of 20%. Think about the politics of that for a President? Maybe for FAs, mechanics, groundcrews, etc. but for pilots? No politician would take that political liability no matter how much ALPA lobbies.
Delta grounding 90% of its flights for even a week would probably result in at least a billion lost economic activity due to a pilot strike and then the President would have to explain why did not prevent that from happening.
The RLA is a different animal for the majors. Its a huge obstacle for us small airlines. Its a damn that cannot be breached for delta pilots.