We at UA lost it in bankruptcy, and contrary to your previous ridiculous assertions, UA Mechanic losses occurred before AMFA went on strike at NWA, and before NWA filed for Chap 11.
AMFA in their first CBA at NWA raised the bar for mechanics in the entire industry.
Now that you 2 have stated the same as I, Anomaly admits that they too had benefited from AMFA's industry leading contract at NWA. Then he says they had to give it all back, therefore they gained nothing from AMFA at NWA. He better be glad he was at the rate of pay when they did give it all back, otherwise they would be paid a lot less than they are now as UAL still would have gone BK and still demanded the same percentile in wages as they did. It would be too much for his ego to admit that AMFA was the true reason the bar was raised for mechanic pay in the airline industry.
You two have created such a perfect fictional little world where everything can be explained within the boundaries of the amfa constitution. How convenient for you. The rest of us however live in the reality. The amfa strike and the losses at NorthWest was not on an overnight light switch turned on in 2005. While you dismiss amfa's lack of presence to what was happening at one of their largest carriers, the rest of us saw the union busting plan that was being driven by NWA. The plan had been in the works for as many as 18 months before the strike as NW openly trained replacement mechanics. amfa certainly did
NOT help. They did however set an example for the rest of the industry, but that example was far from good.
http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/10112WhyAMFAFailedatNorthwestAirlines%282008%29.pdf
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-02-27-delta-northwest-union_N.htm
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/node/2850
http://mobile.zcommunications.org/northwest-strike-over-amfa-too-by-carl-finamore
http://www.topix.com/forum/business/airlines/TH3M4GL79B1SVD7I8
Some of the details you two eliminate in your little 2001 amfa fairy tale is the fact that NW was working under a contract written in 1991 and in 1993 was forced to cut an additional 12.5% of their pay or the company.
http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/may_01/may_01_7.html
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200103/02_zdechlikm_nwa/
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/03/nowe-m12.html?view=print
The huge raise at NWA came with concessions negotiated by amfa. As with later contracts at SWA, and Alaska, these NW/amfa agreements centered around the ability to outsource. The company agreed to pay top dollar for the right to thin the ranks. Other airlines followed the trend (United was already taking advantage of the "20%" rule irresponsibly negotiated by the IAM). Outsourcing was the way of the future and NW realized the success in their plan. Even as they outsourced more and more maintenance functions, service remained un-interrupted.
The incrementally large jump in pay "negotiated" by amfa also provided the sympathy NW management needed to gain favor with the markets and the courts. I find it NO COINCIDENCE that NW offered the large increases that they did. NorthWest was so cleaver in their plan they even gained the assistance of the President Bush who was ready to offer "relief" to the union. It is my opinion that this support was nothing but a tool for the compnay to use later on in filig for bankruptcy. The PEB dove us to bnkruptcy with unrealistic wage increases, would be the eventual excuse. The goal of NW management was to bust the union and what better way to do that than to manipulate the members and divide the other work groups? Largely it worked and the mechanics were left on their own as politicians and management of other airlines watched the union demise with great support.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/10/business/northwest-reaches-deal-with-mechanics.html?src=pm
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/180
http://peoplesworld.org/editorial-support-the-northwest-airline-strikers/
http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/may_01/may_01_7.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2005/08/nwa-a23.html
Other than a few other lost souls on this board, not many would believe your declarations that the NW mechanic disaster was good for the industry. I have not been able to find a single article that defends the decisions by amfa the way you do. Most articles see the strike and treatment of the NW mechanics as a colossal failure with plenty of blame to go around. Even long time staunch amfa supporter Malik Miah from UA described the action at NW a "test" at best and stops well short of calling the strike a benefit. Capricious amfa activists like you two are quick to blame and quicker to excuse amfa failures as hidden victories. In the end, there is little support or agreement to your views.
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/27
http://www.labornotes.org/2006/11/viewpoint-looking-back-northwest-strike
http://www.zcommunications.org/union-struggles-at-northwest-airlines-by-chris-kutalik
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/03/nowe-m12.html?view=print