chickenorbeef

So has any union or labor group (ie. ALPA, Teamsters etc) ever tried to actively change the rules of the RLA in regards to an automatic “release” timeline?
For example, 2 years of negotiations, 1 year of mediation, 60 days to cool off and then you are allowed an AUTOMATIC release to self help at that point.
Everybody fights their own negotiations with the current rules in place with almost no hope of ever being released for self help and companies knowing this and dragging out limitless negotiations.
If all the work groups got together and lobbied for an automatic release timeline, at least there would be a better chance for labor contracts to move forward.

Droopy

Or a simple change stating all new agreements are retroactive to the amendable date of the previous agreement. Management doesn't like dealing with unknown past costs and now has a serious reason to negotiate in good faith.

rickair7777

Both unions and management are afraid to break the seal on the RLA. You have no way of knowing what you'll get, and the consequences would most likely last for the entire careers of those involved.

Unions are afraid management would buy off the politicians.

Management is afraid if they start the process (which would be lengthy), that someone like the Bern would get in office before it was completed...

galaxy flyer

chickenorbeef,

You say that now, but there was a time (‘83-‘94-ish) the shoe was on the other foot and mgt wanted the release, so they could hire replacements. Careful.

GF

waterboy

After how the spirit strike went, I don’t see an airline management team thinking they will be successful finding replacement pilots in the future

DrJekyll MrHyde

The big difference being that companies have alternative means of nixing CBAs, but the RLA is all we (labor) have to enforce. By the time any airline needs major concessions from their pilots, their blood thirsty executives have already sucked the golden goose dry, then they’ll simply declare bankruptcy, take a golden parachute, and leave the company to some cronies. Then those new cronie executives will 1113 all the labor CBAs, turn your pension over to the PBGC so you get pennies on the dollar for retirement plan; meantime those new executives will reward themselves handsomely, before the company even returns to profitability, because they’ve been “doing such amazing work to turn the company around.” But you, lowly pilot, will have to wait nearly a decade, or at least 5 years after profitability, to jump through all the RLA hoops to force your company to pay a market rate contract for your services.

I believe AMERICAN had around 10 billion in cash when they last declared bankruptcy. It’s only been getting easier for them.

My point is that it is a completely lopsided system, which exists solely to remove self-help (strike) leverage from transportation unions under the guise of “protecting interstate commence.” It’s utter political bullish!t and was probably written by a major railroad’s private contract attorney in 1926. ALPA should have amassed enough size to successfully campaign for an amendment to the RLA, but not a full re-write. We have a long history of stalled negotiations by airline management, and very few strikes in the last 3 decades. Now is a very good time, during a time of peace for legacy pilot labor groups, to push for an amendment to the RLA. Reasonable time limits for the RLA process must be established.

GogglesPisano

Have you who seen who is running this country now?


We can only hope the RLA isn’t re-written in a fashion against labor’s interest.

CBreezy

While I'm not a huge fan of the RLA, I honestly do believe it's the devil we know that is protecting us. I know it makes a lot of pilots mad, that we can't just go on strike, but self-help works both ways. The company can impose brutal contract terms, replace workers outside the union and so on.

But, I want to emphasize this, if you think that we can go to Congress anytime in the near to mid-term future and get a better deal, you are out of your mind. If the RLA is scrapped, the thing that will replace it will be much more business friendly. One only has to look at the rising tide of "Right to Work" states to see the the GOP is slowly dismantling unions.

For argument's sake, let's say get a new law that says that we could go on strike or other self-help actions whenever we wanted. What do you think the news and customers and big business is going to do? The articles can pretty much write themselves. "Pilots making $300,000 refuse to work. Iowa family out thousands in non-refundable vacation expenses." Let's be honest about your current position within the political game. The GOP hates you because you are hampering businesses with your pesky union. Democrats hate you because pilots at major airlines can make well into the top 1% of income earners in the United States with often lopsided benefit packages. We are lucky we can still claim that we ensure safety of flight but the second that's no longer the case, the rest of America is going to come at you with pitch forks and torches if you ever decide to go on strike.

rickair7777

I see two reasons....

More and more Americans are "information" workers who sit at computers in offices. With a few exceptions (ie Boeing engineers), their job titles are too diverse and their daily interactions with management to close to allow them to visualize worker unity / us vs. them (and hence unions) as an option.

The kind of conversations needed to get the average person motivated enough to do something like particulate in union organization is really hard to do with the boss in the office across from your cubicle.

Since they don't benefit from unions, they are not enthusiastic political supporters.

Two, certain "up and coming" states have populations who have historically had less opportunity than folks in other regions. They are just happy to have shiny new mfg. jobs, and happy with the companies who brought them. That might change a few decades down the line.

Qotsaautopilot

This whole thing is over in 30 years so it doesn't matter.

When the furloughs come down for single pilot ops just wait for the concessions to save jobs. It's going to be a slow terrible death from that point forward. Instead of trying to dismantle the RLA anyone with a few decades left should be planning for an early retirement or a second career or at least a very successful side business