Bob Owens, on 23 August 2012 - 02:35 PM, said:
What would be the basis for not releasing the parties?
Oh, I don't know....let's see.....the ECONOMY? 8.3% UNEMPLOYMENT?
What you or I or anyone else thinks does not matter.
Bob, I appreciate what you have tried to do for our craft. No one can ever dispute that and I will defend you vehemently on that issue.
But you seem to be living in LaLa Land with these visions of great unionism of decades gone by.
Unions are done in this country. Members have been behind you since you first held office. They respected and heeded your advice as you were knee deep in negotiations.
But no one will tell you to your face they are as mad as hell at you now that all your stragedies backfired. Even I tell them hindsight is 20/20.
No one will tell you to your face what they think of you NOW!
I don't know what people tell you in person about supporting the pilots, but the vibe is...well, I can't use expletives here.
It's over, Bob!
Strike talk from American Airlines pilots hits the bottom line
Posted Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012
BY MIKE NORMAN
A strike vote by American Airlines pilots? Really?
Apparently so. The board of directors of the Allied Pilots Association, the union that represents 10,000 pilots at American, Wednesday ordered its officers to "make the necessary preparations to conduct a strike vote of the membership" if the airline gets approval from a federal bankruptcy judge and implements new contract terms.
How could the hotheads at APA be so foolish as to lay plans to defy a federal judge?
Well, it wouldn't be the first time. They apparently haven't learned from previous experience.
APA has a history of deliberately causing financial harm to American in attempts to get its way in contract negotiations. Even mentioning preparations for a strike vote, which may never be held and may not pass even if it is, can cut into American's revenues.
It makes potential customers a little nervous about booking flights, and companies think twice about signing contracts to put their employees on American's planes, when there's an even remotely possible strike on their minds.
American can fight back by accurately pointing out that federal law severely restricts strikes by airline employees, by assuring customers that its flights will go as planned, even by offering sale prices to lure customers back on board.
But doubt is a powerful thing, even if it's small.
"Unfortunately, the radical element that appears to be in control of the Allied Pilots Association seems determined to fly American Airlines into the side of a mountain, taking themselves, the company, their co-workers and their customers with them."
Those are the words of U.S. District Judge Joe Kendall of Dallas, delivered on Feb. 13, 1999. Some 2,500 of American's 10,500 pilots at the time called in sick during an 11-day protest against plans for combining pilot seniority lists after American bought Reno Air.
American said it had to cancel nearly 6,700 flights and lost $225 million because of the sickout.
Kendall ordered the pilots back to work, but they were slow to respond. He held APA and two of its top officers in contempt and ordered them to pay damages, eventually setting the total at $45.5 million
Clearly, this was one mad federal judge.
"It is this court's view that a minor labor dispute has been transformed into nothing more than a shakedown," Kendall said. "When the pitch is, 'pay us what we want or we will cost you more,' it is the type of negotiation one usually sees when doing business with one of the five families in New York," referring to organized crime.
Having to pay $45.5 million in damages would wipe out all of APA's assets, so the union fought Kendall's findings all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, passengers who had been stranded because of the canceled flights sued APA for more than $300 million in damages.
Union President Richard LaVoy lashed out at Kendall, saying he had a "hostile attitude." Who in his right mind picks a fight with a federal judge?
The Supreme Court sided with Kendall. Fortunately for APA, the passenger lawsuits eventually were tossed out.
The union ended up paying more than $20 million in damages to American.
Four years later, after the 9/11 attacks changed the airline industry forever, American wiped the remainder of APA's $45.5 million debt off the books during another round of contract negotiations.
Many of American's pilots will tell you they're fed up with misbehavior by the airline's executives. No doubt, the feeling is mutual.