Mesaba came close to a strike in 2004. We ended the 30 day cooling off period with no deal in sight. The company didn't know if we would actually strike, so on the 30th day the company started shutting down the operation and by the evening was only launching flights to the bases. The company was shut down for 48 hours while everyone remained on the payroll. More progress was made in those 48 hours than in the previous 3.5 years of negotiating! No need to actually strike if you're making progress and have the company by the balls. This just proves that the company will not settle until they have to.