http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...c-victory.aspx
By Tim Beyers April 1, 2008
Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that executives at Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) are still pushing for a merger with peer Delta (NYSE: DAL), even if it means their pilots were to lose their seniority -- and thereby, a number of other promised benefits. Talk about a dumb idea.
Don't get me wrong; I'm a capitalist, and unabashedly so. But the Journal report, if true, reeks of desperation. It's almost as if Northwest management so fears another journey into Chapter 11 bankruptcy that it'll destroy the airline to, uh, keep from destroying the airline.
....
Let's not forget that Northwest already has a reputation for union-busting. A 2005 mechanics' strike mostly failed after management called in line-crossers and contractors to replace its 4,000 grease monkeys. A 2006 tete-a-tete with pilots nearly ended in disaster.
How about we prevent such a mess this time, Northwest? Take a lesson from master investor Philip Fisher instead, who asks in his famous 15 points whether a prospective investment has "outstanding labor and personnel relations."
He wrote that for a reason, sirs. Happy employees make for a healthy business. There's still time for you to have both -- but only if you abandon your merge-at-all-costs strategy. That way a Pyrrhic, and perhaps fatal, victory lies.