Originally Posted by
macflyer
I wont argue the exact fact with you here as it would take months and we might never see eye to eye. But you even you surely understand that management of a business has every incentive to run a successful one. They are not, normally, people who dont understand what they are doing. In case of the automaker they were crippled by cost, the cost of the unions. There is no justification why a janitor at GM should make 30 or more dollars an hour or when he is laid off he should have 90% of is salary paid to him regularly. These costs were the contributer to the automakers lack of ability to adapt to a new and more profitable line of product. It is that very reason why, toyota, a non unionized company, is leading the industry as is jetblue in our industry. After all, America is the birthplace of revolutionary technology. Look at our products of war, second to none.
Um, union leaders are NOT business leaders. Their function is to try and negotiate with management to get the best rates the company can afford. If the company irresponsibly signs a contract that they cannot sustain, that's not the fault of the union, because that's not their job. That's the fault of the company, and not being able to foresee the ratio of cost vs revenue in the future IS a sign of poor management.
You mentioned you yourself negotiated two months of paid vacation a year, if I recall correctly. If the company then has to cancel a flight due to a lack of a crew, therefore losing revenue, during those two months, is that YOUR fault because YOU negotiated those two months off? It's the same logic. Is it the retiree's fault they negotiated their benefits, and now the company can't afford to honor what it negotiated? No.
Also; jetBlue is the leader of the industry? When did I miss that headline? Are you really blaming the woes of the Legacies on the 6% of their costs that are flight crews (cabin and cockpit)? See, I was under the impression that it was because they had no financial sense and no idea what a "cost vs revenue" curve meant. I have this great image in my head of a group of executives dozing in a board room, one mumbles "100% load factor" in his sleep, and they all wake up screaming "100% LOAD FACTOR!!!!!!". Sort of like the "Knights who say Ni".