Originally Posted by
hockeypilot44
This is the single reason why our profession is not what it used to be. This lead to scope concessions, our ridiculous pay cuts, lost pensions, etc. If ALPA would have told the company that we have contracts and are not willing to negotiate, we might have taken some pay cuts and still lost some pensions, but we would undeniably be in a better spot than we are now. We would have our highest paying contracts in history as a starting point in bankruptcy. It would have been at all carriers including US Airways. I put this solely on ALPA national as all the legacy airlines were in the same spot. ALPA's strategy was the same at every carrier and it failed miserably.
The other MISERABLE failure was to accept the first offer in BK. The NWA flight attendants refused the first 3 BK contracts until they got one they thought they could barely live with. The NWA flight attendants were willing to risk having a contract imposed on them, and live with it until the company emerged from BK. At which time their imposed contract immediately expired. They were willing to take that risk. Ultimately, the company was not and upped the ante 3 additional times to entice the FA's to sign a contract that was not imposed.
Hawaiin Airlines pilots also turned down their TA in BK. They were not scared of living under an imposed contract for the same reason as our FA's. Hawaiin pilots got significant increases in all areas in their second TA...which they ultimately signed.
Both NWA and DAL pilots...signed the very first offer that came down from management and the judge. No snapbacks, no nothing. Just signed it.
Carl