Originally Posted by
Flameout
Pilot unions will never win here. Remember APA's "Operation Fire at Will" about ten years ago? Lasted about an hour, as I recall, before Clinton ordered them back to work.
That was 1997. In 1998, Northwest pilots walked and Clinton let it happen. There are many theories as to why Clinton stopped the AMR pilots strike but not the Northwest Pilots strike. One is that AMR pilot leadership WANTED him to. Another is that APA was a small, unaffiliated union (unlike ALPA with the AFLCIO) whose majority Texan members voted republican anyway. I don't know. It is interesting to note that Clinton allowed an AMR flight attendant strike for 5 days just before Thanksgiving in 1993. He called Crandall and the union and urged binding arbitration which Crandall reluctantly agreed to. In any case, it was a lot better then than now. Now, this administration's NMB members don't even release a union to strike until 5 FLIPPIN YEARS after the amendable date. I will bet a six pack that doesn't happen in the next 4 years. Any takers?