uhhhhhhh. Are you sure about that? As I recall we were within 3 days back in 2001.

Yes, 100%. That process was under the US Bankruptcy court and not the NMB.

A few months later the Northwest flight attendants were in the same boat as Delta pilots and a District court blocked the flight attendants from striking. The decision was then confirmed by the Circuit court unanimously at the same time ALPA was trying to do the same at Comair with pilots.

So to reiterate, the NMB has never released Delta pilots into a cooling off period. Had Delta pilots gone on strike they would have been ordered back to work by the same District court that prevented Northwest flight attendants from going on strike.

https://aviationweek.com/delta-pilot...cooling-period

This was in C2K and noting to do with bankruptcy. We were basically 3 days from a PEB as I mentioned above when we reached a TA with Delta.

Gotcha. I stand corrected on that stement.

Having said that, at the time President Bush said he would order the NWA mechanics back to work at the end of their 30 day cooling period (going on at the same time as C2K negotiations) and everyone expected Bush to do the same with Delta pilots.

We were not even discussing bankruptcy at that point. Your memory is very flawed.

Again previous shop, which you should read closer.

You do realize that we also have former NWA pilots and that little star on their ALPA pin means they went out on strike.

During the GW administration. '05

I dont know the specifics of Frontier and i wasnt there.

They signed the new contract last year.

We were actually in the cooling off period. It should be noted however that management did not oppose the release after George Bush publicly stated there would be no airline strikes on his watch. The negotiating climate had changed dramatically against us with losses at Delta mounting. We essentially caved to managements last offer prior to release. We had been 1.7 billion apart.

*Shrug* not sure what that has to do with my story except perhaps that there was a similar occurence during a republican administration, futher proving my point.

GW doesnt have that control and if so how did mesaba get released in 05. If management hadnt completely boned the dog we would have walked out rather than management settling in 3 days with another couple for lawyer language. Politicians sometimes just say things to get the base excited,

No one cared about Mesaba. I should have said major airlines. The president can appoint a PEB that will be given 60 days to look at each sides positions. At the end of the 60 days the PEB can allow a strike or recommend that a contract be imposed by Congress.

“The President may create an emergency board to investigate and report on a dispute over the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. Under the Railway Labor Act, the President may exercise his discretion to create an emergency board when the labor dispute threatens “substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential transportation service.”

News report as the end of the 30 day cooling off approached.
“The airline did not explicitly ask for President Bush's intervention, but it certainly raised the hope that he would block a strike for at least 60 days, as he can do under airline labor law, while a "presidential emergency board," or PEB, considers the dispute.
The statement quotes a statement from the president that he would "take the NECESSARY STEPS to prevent major airline strikes from happening this year, It's important for our economy, but more important, it's important for the hardworking people of America, to make sure air service is not disrupted."

Keep in mind that George Bush was much more union friendly than out current president.

Um, the NWA mechanics did strike in 2005. It was a disaster for them, but strike they did.

You need to provide context for why a strike was allowed. NWA management specifically requested access to self help and that there be no government intervention to prevent self help from either side. Technically the mechanics were locked out. Their only real hope was support from the pilots which did not happen.

Northwest made it clear it would declare a lockout if the mechanics union decided not to strike when a 30-day “cooling-off” period expired at midnight Friday. The company had boasted of having prepared for the past 18 months to launch a strikebreaking operation and had spent over $100 million to hire and house “replacement” mechanics and flight attendants. The airline lined up 1,200 nonunion mechanics, plus 400 vendor workers and 300 managers for a total strikebreaking force of 1,900.

how can any open border potus be considered 'union friendly'?

Well I agree the president can delay a strike, if only youd youd said that.

You can double check me, https://nmb.gov/NMB_Application/index.php/presidential-emergency-boards/ , but once again president cant stop the strike. Your own peb site info you lifted that from tells you at the conclusion of the delay you can still strike.

The president isnt the God of all unions and labor agreements. He could try to renationalise the airlines, good luck getting congress to agree. We arent france, but unions do have SOME fair power of leverage in this country.

Certainly a labor friendly president might appoint someone to the NMB that allows for a little more shoving the company around, but only to an extent. The law is the law. Follow it, respect the process, keep the BS to a minimum and youll get released. Im not pretending its a perfectly manufactured process, but it is what we have.

At an open mec meeting in atl D Woerth was asked about supporting the nwa mechanics. His answer.....screw them...they can twist in the wind....

But make sure you dont buy those california table grapes....

When GB stated there would be no strikes I suspect he was very confident that if the PEB recommended a imposed contract congress would agree. Since the president picks the PEB members that outcome is preordained.
I have zero doubt DT would attempt to impose a contract if we reached that point. The only question is what is the mechanism to do so. Vote by the Senate? Vote by the House? It might just be a vote of a Committee. I don’t know the answer but the details could be important.

Here is a example of what is happening under the current administration regarding unions. September 12, 2019

The collective bargaining rights of federal workers are being crushed. This effort is being driven by three executive orders and the elimination of contracts that have been in effect for decades.

In some agencies, long-standing contracts have been replaced with edicts imposed unilaterally by management, which has the audacity to refer to them as “collective bargaining agreements.”

In other agencies, contracts are being annihilated by the anti-worker Federal Service Impasses Panel, which is supposed to resolve disputes in a neutral fashion. Instead, the FSIP is rubber-stamping the elimination of the core provisions of contracts through management’s unilaterally designed edicts.

In both cases, the destruction of workers’ rights to participate in unions and engage in collective bargaining is being systematically destroyed, and federal workers cannot and shouldn’t have to wait years for a court outcome. Congress must intervene now to protect the rights of federal workers by passing legislation to ensure that agencies abide by the law and bargain in good faith.

Unilaterally imposed “contracts” are removing unions from the federal workplace—allowing no space to conduct specific representational duties as required by federal law.

Those are federal workers you are talking about. Who face few of the economic circumstances of private sector union members. Least of which is their replacement by undocumented workers.

See....federal employment is the ONE place immigration and employment laws have been enforced over the last 30 years.

They are federal workers but note how these changes were implemented. I would not state Trump dislikes unions but rather abhors them with every bone in his body. His dealings with unions while constructing projects reinforces that belief.

His efforts to limit illegal workers undermining union labor speaks far louder than any potus of the last 30 years.

Not to mention what he has done to check the chinese.

How so? When you cede international leadership and withdraw you open a whole can of worms. If we continue on our current vector, I cringe to imagine how China will dominate in 10-20 years.

Exhibit 1: see latest news regarding military coordination with the Philippines. Just one little domino.

Guess you missed the tier 1 trade agreement.

As with africa, failing economic states will dance with whoever brings the money.

Everyone needs to keep their politics to themselves.

If I remember correctly, a strike occurred because an impasse was declared. You are absolutely correct, NWA threatened a strikebreaking operation. The mechanics (and aircraft cleaners) set up picket lines and NWA carried through with the threat of replacement workers. Following that, NWA set a deadline for all striking mechanics to return; the cleaners were outta luck. Over the next few weeks, several of the mechanics did return to work. Yes, they crossed a picket line. However AMFA, their union, really did them a disservice. AMFA was full of bravado, slighted other NWA unionized groups, and at the end of the day mislead the mechanics. The airline was heading into bankruptcy and for some reason they still felt bulletproof. Once it became obvious the strike was crumbling, AMFA began reaching out to the other employee groups for support. "Um No" was the collective response. There are times when striking is the logical choice (ie- NWA pilots '98). This wasn't one of those times.

Unfortunately union leadership can sometimes be fatally flawed.

Haven’t heard from ALPA on their thoughts of Coronavirus pertaining to C20 talks.

Will this virus craziness have repercussions on C20? Will the company use this downturn to their advantage?

We should be in serious discussions with the company on how to handle the massive pull down in flying that looks like will happen soon. We should be crafting the best solutions for the company and pilots. That would also put us in the best negotiating position for a contract when this virus has run its course and the panic ends.