Labor already has far too much power and has since the Federal railway legislation.

The Railway Labor Act (RLA) LIMITS the rights of workers in the rail and airline industries as compared to unionized workers in other industries. The purpose of the act was to prevent disprutions (strikes or lockouts) by making them illegal until a complicated process overseen by the National Mediation Board had completed. Labor in other industries has far more power than labor in the rail/airline industry.


It was always viewed as nothing more than a way for the pilots et al. to increase their own compensation at the expense of everything else including other shareholders.

The ESOP shares were given to the employees in exchange for large wage concessions. The ESOP stock's value was supposed to balance the lost income but, as it turned out, was worthless.

Airlines like AirTran or Southwest that somehow avoided the "matching" that went on with AA, DL, CO etc., are making money.

SWA pilots are very highly paid. Many SWA Captains are earning over $250,000/yr, far more than a UAL, AAL, or DAL pilot of a similarly sized airplane would make. SWA pilots also received, on average, more days off than their counterpoints flying similar airplanes at other airlines. The January schedules from PHX, for exmaple, had at least 17 days off per line with some as high as 19 days off.