fastair,

I can only assume by your name that you work for united or some other airline.

Having worked without union representation for an airline, I cannot say that the non-union "merit" system was any better than a union seniority system wrt promotions. Management, quite simply, promoted people based on who they "liked" and not based on how well they performed their job. Which reminds me, as a ramp agent, exactly what objective criteria should we use to determine merit? The same question goes for pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and gate agents. Again, I ask, what system of meirt should we use to determine who gets promoted or layed off first? I submit that there is no system that is obviously better than the seniority system.