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.
No, the single reason why why our profession is not what it used to be is the Law of Supply and Demand. There are a lot more of us than there used to be, it is much easier to gain the skills required than it used to be, the government has lowered the barriers to entry in the marketplace (both labor and the general marketplace) to ridiculous levels, and there are few pilots required at the major carriers (fewer jets, no three man cockpits, work rules).
The elected representatives during the pre bankruptcy days may have made mistakes. Hindsight is always 20/20. Scambo is right, Ch 11 was unavoidable, probably the plan all along after C2K. Had they dug their heels in and not made any concessions, would the result be as you predicted? Or could it have been worse? Would the judge have gutted the contract even further than what was agreed to? Who knows?
One thing is for sure, the past is the past. To constantly focus on what was lost and what used to be can cloud one's vision of the future. Unless the anti DALPA crowd have a plan to change the laws of economics, I don't see their plan having any positive effect on our future.
We face huge pressures on our profession in the near future. Besides the normal Supply and Demand curve there are technological pressures, political, structural pressures (I'm talking Skyteam here). We need union leaders who have their eyes on the future, not on the past. Like Bar touts, unity is our spinach. Without it we will be crushed.