The reason I voted Yes is quite simple. It has nothing to do with growing a pair. Nothing to do with risking a fight now. It all has to do with keeping what we negotiate. The world for unions has changed. We simply have to acknowledge the power of market forces. If our salaries get too far ahead of our competitors, they will begin to eat away at us. That's what happened to UAL and DAL when those salaries got too far ahead of the market. Low-life LCC's jumped into an industry with virtually no barriers to entry and began undercutting. The result - UAL, DAL, NWA, etc had to give up all of their salary gains in bankruptcy court - even to levels below those low-life LCC's.

I would like to keep the gains we obtain this time around. We will do that by getting our pay above everyone else...just not too far above everyone else.
Carl