I recognize there is more on the table than the money vis a vis the pilots. But I also know that if AC is to strategically respond to competition and preserve its domestic market share, it needs more flexiblity than union agreements may permit. These are complex matters, no doubt, and any comments I or anyone else makes cannot reflect all the intricacies involved. If this was an attempt to break the union, I might think otherwise, but a separate wage scale for crews on a low-cost subsidiary, as well as on regional feeders, has to be recognized as the only way to cut operating costs to anywhere near those of the non-union charters and new start-ups.

If working the "AC Light" carrier -- or one of the regionals -- has a lower pay scale, it should be part of the process of pursuing a career within the company. (Entry level, but progressive training to move up to the mainline AC fleet.) As long as the benefit package remains the same as in the main contract, and seniority can be accommodated, if someone wants to take the job at the lower wage scale, why should the unions force AC into a higher-cost operation for this subsidiary? How do they suggest AC compete, or should it abandon the field and rely on international expansion to fuel its growth?

Granted, we don't know exactly what is on the table from either side, and particularly form the pilots. My perception is that they have become the luddites of the union movement, much like the typographers who were decimated by remaining intransigetnt and refusing to accept technological change when it came to the newspaper industry. Pilots have stood in the way of many of UA's and AA's moves to strengthen their competitive positions in the U.S., and now appear to be taking the same position up here.

I'd like to hear from a pilot, so we can better understand the issues from their side, and know exactly what the issues are. Do they just not trust management? (They certainly were strongly behind Milton during the Onex battles.) Won't everyone benefit from a competitive AC: What is not made on the salary charts can be augmented by rising share values and dividends, which are taxed at a lower rate too.

So much for my morning rant!

By the way, U.S. networks have been reporting UA's pilots, also negotiating a new contract, have been refusing to work overtime, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights over the past several days. Is this part of the STAR pilot's Alliance?

[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 08-06-2000).]