So they forced out Princess Scabella tone replaced by The Friends of Fred. Wow sounds like a win to me! Thank gawd CAL ALPA is gone.

Fred Abbott and his friends survived from Frank Lorenzo thru Gordon Bethune thru Smisek. Fred was directly below Debbie as VP of Flight Ops during her tenure. Fred was there before Debbie rose up the ranks and climbed above Fred during Gordon Bethune’s tenure and his right hand man in flight Ops CD McLean (and one of Gordon’s closest friends). Before Gordon, Debbie was the fleet manager on the A300 working for Fred. It was Larry Kellner who got rid of her. Funny how everyone speaks so highly of Gordon, yet it was him directly who allowed Debbie to reign havoc and intimidation over the pilots.

I read his book. I also read the news and kept my eyes open. While Mr. Bethune was pretty smart, just like most airline managers he was also good at hoodwinking his highly motivated employees. I do not worship at his altar.

I agree.

I also recall that Bethune didn't really fish or cut bait on DL McCoy. He couldn't decide on who to promote, Debbie or Fred. I don't think either one liked the other. But he kicked the can on both of them and let them sort of do their thing. It looked like good cop - bad cop when they were both at the helm. No one was really sure who was in charge, or it least that was my opinion.

I liked the idea of a Captain making informed decisions, and helping to advise on routes and route structure and on aircraft capability. I think Debbie and Fred were competent in that regard. However, when one was a tiger shark feeding on their prey, the other was a catfish scavenging at the bottom for leftovers. Leadership out of fear and intimidation. That doesn't garner much loyalty.

As it turns out, the walls started coming down after the merger. When Fred could no longer protect his friends, the friends that were his wall of protection and power started getting peeled away, like peeling the layers of an onion. Fred's power started to be peeled away as well.

Fred also had a habit of hiring and promoting former IACP and ALPA volunteers that were friendly towards his policies. It's all about the relationship..... So anything that happened favorable to flight ops in which there was union support, Fred found a way of making the "pfrends of pfred club" a big bigger, adding more layers to the onion. Fred was pretty smart actually. He used relationships and managed those relationships to protect and enhance his career.

Smizek likely never cared about what Fred was doing. As long as pilots came to work he was happy. He didn't care about the hostile work environment Fred created with his military employees, nor the climate of promoting and protecting bafoons like Starley, et-al. I do think Fred backed off on the heavy-handedness that he saw under DL McCoy. That backfired on Flight ops ultimately due to the constant grievances and law suits, so it wasn't worth Fred's time or effort.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...2SL?li=BBnbfcN

SW thought they could consider the Gofundme donations as income earned when calculating back pay for a reinstated mechanic....

Wow.

Glad they lost that fight...wonder how the donors feel...?
Supporting a union brother, maybe they are ok with the donation...

Had that knack for making employees feel good about losing out. Happy employees equal greater productivity equal lower costs funding his $50m to walk out the door.

Showing the LUV right?