A new beginning or the end is near!

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/today/sky.htm


US Airways' $1 billion gamble
US Airways faces a critical court date today, when the airline seeks approval from its bankruptcy court to void labor contracts and push through $1 billion in wage and benefits cuts on 28,000 of its workers. "It's high noon," Vaughn Cordle, chief analyst with research firm Airline Forecasts, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "The survival of the airline hangs in the balance." The court date also promises to set up a high-stakes showdown with the airline's unions. At least two have promised to strike if the airline is successful in voiding their contracts, according to The Washington Times. "My guess is that the unions aren't bluffing," Marick Masters, a University of Pittsburgh business professor, told the Tribune-Review. Most experts expect the bankruptcy judge to ultimately OK US Airways' request — but that could have disastrous impact if unions follow through on their threat of a strike. Though analysts agree US Airways appears to be on the right track with its new business model, nearly all say that the carrier would be unlikely to survive any type of work stoppage. Posted 6:30 a.m. ET

Does the thought of all those people who work for US being out of a job amuse you?

Does the thought of all those people who work for US being out of a job amuse you?

Only the union mentally that will put those employees on the unemployment line -its Eastern airlines all over again.
:)

Only the union mentally that will put those employees on the unemployment line -its Eastern airlines all over again.
:)

I can't argue the comparison with Eastern.

The national unions will not allow contracts to be eliminated without a dramatic response. Right or wrong, it's the very existence of unions that is at stake.

If US is successful, other airlines (UA next) will follow the precedence. Hopefully the unions and US will settle the contracts prior to the judge making a decision. If they don't, look for a nationwide strike of ALL airlines.

The unions will emphatically send the message that collective bargained contracts cannot be set aside without negotiation and agreement by both parties.

The national unions have no real interest in US employees just their own jobs. Like I said, remember Eastern Airlines. :td:

Hopefully the unions and US will settle the contracts prior to the judge making a decision. If they don't, look for a nationwide strike of ALL airlines.

I'm sorry but I just don't think there will be a nationwide strike of all airlines. They are too heavy in debt and this will hurt them that much more. They need to find a place in the center of the road that all can work with and still remain flying. I'm not so sure that US Air will be around for very much longer but the others will watch and see how this plays out.

To say the least, it will be a interesting few months to come.

looks like open warfare between management and the employees. Its so depressing!!!! Why can't everyone just try and get along? :(

The national unions have no real interest in US employees just their own jobs. Like I said, remember Eastern Airlines. :td:

Also remember that as a result of that debacle, Lorenzo is barred by law from ever running an airline again.

It's not as if these folks took a $1/hour paycut here.

I know that US plans to file motions to try to prevent a strike. E.g. to try to get an injunction to prevent a strike.

However, is such an injunction worth the paper it is written on? How can a BK or any other judge "force" me or you or anyone from going on strike?

Maybe as a "show" they could even jail say the top 10 union officials if they auth a strike against the will of the court, etc., but if they do that won't those people just sort of be marters? It reminds me a little bit of, once in a while, you see a case where a member of the media is jailed for failing to reveal a source. Right now there is a case in RI with that going on, reporter was recently on Today show. If they put the reporter in the slammer, for contempt of court, he/she will sort of become a media hero, etc. I remember long ago the Barry Lock case I think it was in BOS, and they had the tv news all over the prison, etc.

So why is so much focus put on whether court will allow a strike? How can a court practically "stop" a strike if say 28,000 people want to go on strike?

looks like open warfare between management and the employees. Its so depressing!!!! Why can't everyone just try and get along? :(

I know, I'm really worried myself. What's your backup airline?

-JC

Lots of things (maybe most) are hyppe, so hard to really know if in all seriousness US could *really* shut down.

That's the worry, jetsetter. Unless the BK judge imposes fines so egregious that they would wipe out the union's bank accounts and force them to dissolve as an organization, I don't think the judge can do much to stop them.

Or, as someone else noted, the union members can all just resign en masse, thereby subverting an anti-strike ruling.

The final hand is held by the membership, themselves. The leadership can call for a strike to liquidate US to "send a message" to UA and DL (and do so in the knowledge their own positions will be safe), and the more vocal members who really don't want to be FAs anymore can shout from the rafters that they'd like to bring down the airline then take another wage cut, but it depends on the options most of the members have outside of their current position that will be the determining factor.

The CWA just blinked, and accepted a deal (not as egregious as US wanted, but still big). Perhaps AFA will, as well.

The only difference between the CO and EA strikes after contract abrogation in the late 1980s and early 1990s and today is S1113.

Those strikes were legal. The RLA did not apply.

S1113 only amended the bankruptcy code to codify the process that has to happen before abrogation. All this clamoring by US that a strike is illegal is wishfull thinking, at best. The bankruptcy judge does not appear to have authority under the statute to prohibit a strike.

And even if he does, the AFA (and presumably the IAM) will immediately appeal and cite the CO and EA strikes, and probably win.

Ultimately, none of this matters. Should the unions decide to pull the plug, US is gonzo. This tactic may (since I've not seen the term sheet yet) have gotten the CWA a much better deal than what US was offering a month ago.

maybe if they had been nicer to that Jeffrey guy who writes the sales column for the business journal . . . . (j/k)

I hope the airline survives.