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Quote:
Originally Posted by RSVP
Then they can just let the bankruptcy court void the contracts. What will they be left with?
The bankruptcy judge won't hesitate to void the union contracts and impose drastic wage cuts if he/she feels they will essential to creation of a viable business plan for Midwest. The union leadership knows this.
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Then they can just let the bankruptcy court void the contracts. What will they be left with?
I've seen this happen before... Of course every situation is different but I remember when the Eastern's Unions rejected wage cuts and walked out even when the company said "If you walk out we will be forced to file bankruptcy". Eastern filed bankruptcy and liquidated.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueHorseShoe2000
The bankruptcy judge won't hesitate to void the union contracts and impose drastic wage cuts if he/she feels they will essential to creation of a viable business plan for Midwest. The union leadership knows this.
Regardless, I have yet to see any union vote itself a pay cut on the order of what Midwest management is asking for.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueHorseShoe2000
The bankruptcy judge won't hesitate to void the union contracts and impose drastic wage cuts if he/she feels they will essential to creation of a viable business plan for Midwest. The union leadership knows this.
Sorry, I am in Paris right now and out of the loop.
I understand this but that does not mean that the pilots should accept these wage cuts. They are ridiculous. If I were them I would strike!!! They cannot let the management of Midwest Air walk all over them.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim34
Sorry, I am in Paris right now and out of the loop.
I understand this but that does not mean that the pilots should accept these wage cuts. They are ridiculous. If I were them I would strike!!! They cannot let the management of Midwest Air walk all over them.
The pilots can't just strike, either. If they should attempt to do this, Midwest will immediately seek an injunction in court putting a stop to the strike.
Everyone is getting caught-up with the 65% wage cut number. We don't know if anyone's salary will actually be slashed this much. I found it very interesting that the union is preparing a counter-proposal to Management. This was bound to happen and I'm sure the actual wage cuts will be lower than the numbers fed to the news media. Even if Midwest did ask for pay cuts up to 65%, that doesn't mean they thought they'd actually get that much.
Let's just wait and see what happens.
__________________ If you don't know where you are going, you might end up someplace else.
Everyone is getting caught-up with the 65% wage cut number. We don't know if anyone's salary will actually be slashed this much. I found it very interesting that the union is preparing a counter-proposal to Management. This was bound to happen and I'm sure the actual wage cuts will be lower than the numbers fed to the news media. Even if Midwest did ask for pay cuts up to 65%, that doesn't mean they thought they'd actually get that much.
I guess that's why the process is called "negotiation."
Reminds me of buying a car. Unfortunately, in this economy, there are not any other airlines where the Midwest employees will be able to shop for a better deal.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mke9499
I guess that's why the process is called "negotiation."
Exactly, I would not be surprised if the union counter proposal was for a %10cut. It's important to remember that there has also been substantial job loss as well.
Per an earlier post, travel agents were told last week by Midwest that revised flight schedules would be available the end of this week. Nothing has come up yet, but check their site over the next few days.
Supposedly, changes will not occur till after Labor Day.
Midwest bankruptcy filing might be near
The corporate parent of Midwest Airlines appears headed toward a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the head of the company's pilots union said today.
Jay Schnedorf, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association Midwest Airlines chapter, reached that conclusion based on the company's response to the union's proposal on possible wage cuts.
A company spokesman couldn't be immediately reached for comment. The company's policy has been to not comment on discussions that occur in labor contract negotiations.
Schnedorf said the union made a proposal that involved wage and benefit concessions totaling "several millions of dollars." The company's response was to "not move one penny toward us at all," he said.
"That's not indicative of a company that's trying to avoid the bankruptcy process," Schnedorf said.
A Chapter 11 filing would give Midwest Air greater power to negotiate new labor contracts with its union flight crews, and craft new terms with its lenders and major creditors. Midwest Airlines and its regional affiliate, Midwest Connect, would continue to operate.
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After Frank Lorenzo used Chapter 11 to void his union contracts at Continental, some years ago, the government made it clear that would be a no no in the future, and for good measure, Lorenzo, who was quite a hot ticket back then, was barred from ever controlling an airline again, probasbly the only person in America to have had that done to them. My guess is, your friends at TPG and NWA, would love to shut the thing down, so employee groups would be wise to be careful what they do. Now, someone will come on this board, and tell me I'm wrong, and ask the musical question, "why would those folks put all that money in a deal, and then fold the business"? The answer is simple. Buying Midwest for that kind of money was dumb. Neither Texas Pacific, nor Northwest, are stupid. In the latter case, don't confuse running a crappy airline with being stupid. By eliminating Midwest, NWA (Delta) can charge even more for crappy service. Just look at what's happened in the short run. The MD-80's wil be sold. That's close to half their entire fleet, and all of their longer range aircraft. Goodbye West Coast. Remaining aircraft are being tasked differently, such as flying Indianapolis codeshare traffic, at very high prices. None of this appears to be designed to increase popularity with the customer base. But it will render the back door hub at MKE, a much narrower threat.
When do the new schedules come out?
