Some food for thought... I'm sitting on ready, so I've been reading the forum all morning and noticed a trend: CEO/Management bashing... what a surprise.

Did we all forget that the sole purpose of a (publicly-traded) company is to create wealth for it's shareholders? Management is in it for the shareholders (and often themselves). If they can create a profit, or the potential for future profits through growth, they will... at almost any expense (ie, the RAH and Midwest fiasco).

Is this "fair" to the labor groups? No, but it's not about fairness. We (pilots) are labor, pure and simple. We can be used an abused by management (within the legal context of our contracts) so that they can further their goals. That's the whole idea... and yet, we rant about how horrible it all is. And it is. But it seems that we forget that we're working for companies that work to create shareholder wealth at any expense.

Now, some companies have realized that they can treat their employees relatively well AND succeed. Look at SkyWest, or in the majors, Southwest (although there are other reasons they are so successful as well).

However, for the most part, we can bicker all we want. But sometimes it helps to look at the big picture and realize that most of us work for companies where the goal isn't to treat everyone fairly, but to create shareholder wealth - and we're bound by our contract (if we have one).

This doesn't excuse astronomical Executive bonuses, of course. It doesn't excuse unnecessary furloughs or contract violations. It doesn't excuse greedy management, or arcane management tactics.. but its a perspective that needs to at least be acknowledged by a lot of the people on the forum. Hopefully I didn't come off too pro-management... that was DEFINITELY not my intention.