http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/randy-babbitt-announces-retirement-from-southwest-airlines-300317280.html

Thought this deserved its own thread

 

I like how they use the word retire after four years and with three huge open labor contracts, two of them with failed TAs.
I am guessing a forced retirement, not that I care.
Now let me don my tinfoil hat:
This is obviously a move out of the company playbook. They are hanging the sacrificial lamb. What is the next move?
An actual attempt to settle the contracts?
Throw a bone and attempt to use this to get a 51 percent solution?
Make Gary into a hero by getting rid of the bad guy and making nice with the line employees who are all less than enthused right now?

In any case, I am glad to see him go, but I am not holding my breath for a contract because he is gone. The same guys are still in charge.
See everyone in Dallas tomorrow for the 1000 man march. I'll be the guy in the white shirt.

 

Adios traitor. Don't let the breathalyzer hit you in the a$$ on the way out....scumbag.

 

Heard from a reliable source that he was in the Doubletree Love Field bar tonight as everyone was pregaming for the picket.
Several guys went up and "congratulated" him on his retirement. As he got up to leave he was serenaded with "Na Na Na Na. Na Na Na Na. Heeeeey goodbye!" along with some other colorful inputs. He gave a salute and left.

 

NO WAY!!!! God I hope so!!!! That would have been awesome!

 

 

And then he veered out of the parking lot **** drunk and wiped out the Herb Kelleher Way sign across the street. True story. Swear to God.

 

That story about the bar in the Doubletree Dal (on firing day...and the day before the huge picket) is 100% true. Lots of photobombs that evening.

 

I remember when Babbit was MEC at Eastern. The IAM was about to strike and the question came up as to whether the pilots would honor the picket line. That answer from Babbit and this bunch was "no way". We don't need a repeat of Continental '83.

There is a captain now at SWA who was a golfing buddy in Houston employed at EAL at the time. He was an ALPA volunteer and swore the MEC would not call a strike.

Then..... they did. Days before the strike there were numerous discussions and offers of CAL pilots who stayed out during the entire CAL strike, offering to address the MEC and convince them to stay in the seat and fight. No soap. Randy and his buddies were determined.

The rest is public history. EAL died- thousands lost their jobs.

Babbit recovered under a Demcratic administration and got a cush job at NMB...

A telephone pole in the road is what he deserves.

 

I'm assuming he gave the extended finger salute. Are there any you tube links on the "Doubletree Incident" yet ? The only YT ones I see are mainly when he was with the FAA.