Originally Posted by
duvie
I don't have a lot of experience and knowledge about ALPA but is it always desirable to have somebody ready to strike? NWA and UAL had that reputation and now look at them. CAL has been regarded as the opposite and they're arguably the most successful post 9/11 major. The rules of the negotiating/striking game have changed. I don't know if that kind of leadership is what pilots need right now.
We definitely need somebody strong in our corner right now and he's a fighter no doubt, but the NWA/UAL approach to negotiation doesn't always work. My 2 cents.
What in the world are you talking about? With your line of reasoning, I have to assume you blame ALPA and the pilots at NWA and UAL for the sorry state of affairs there. The fact that NWA was considered the "Cobra Airline" due to its many strikes, has absolutely nothing to do with the NWA's bankruptcy filing.
If you had any idea of what you were talking about you'd know that NWA was a consistently profitable airline before the Checci-Wilson leveraged buyout. Your line of thinking is underscoring what many management types sincerely believes; If a company does well it's because of management's fine work, and if it does poorly it's because of labor (great ammo for union bashers.)
The truth is, most of the time the reverse is true.