<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by RobertS975:
By MICHELINE MAYNARD and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Moreover, some of the airlines involved may encounter obstacles to completing
the deals. For instance, while American, a unit of AMR, has been interested in
buying the shuttle for years, it may have trouble winning the backing of its
labor unions, which granted the airline deep cuts in wages and benefits last
year when American said it was on the verge of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
American or any other airline that purchases the shuttle would have to absorb
US Airways' union members, who have vowed that a new buyer must honor their
labor contracts. That could lead to sticky situations involving the seniority
of pilots, flight attendants and other employees.
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It is not clear to me from the article
why American, or any other airline, would have to get cooperation from US Air's labor force. For example, if American bought the shuttle, couldn't they immediately shut the thing down, fire all the US Air shuttle employees, and simply increase service on its own shuttle with its own employees? To do so, American would have to probably replace its regional jets with larger planes, but I would think that this would not be very difficult to do, since so many planes are mothballed out in Arizona and California, including planes that American got from TWA. What am I not understanding?