Kahuna

I could not have said it better myself.

It is very noticeable in conversations with DL front-line staff that DALPA has created a lot of resentment with other employees.

ecaarch

Has it been so long since Eastern that the episode is no longer included in union history books under "failed work stoppages"?

Spiff

What do you mean, 'failed'?

Work stopped.

FWAAA

I'm not certain that the President would order them back to work. With most industry analysts and economists in agreement that the high-fare, high-cost airline industry (legacy airlines) is currently suffering from overcapacity, it's entirely possible that the President would say "Good luck with that" and let DL fail.

gilpin

The typical way for the government to order strikers back to work is to invoke the provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act (and/or subsequent legislation). It can halt the strike during a "cooling off" period to allow the sides to settle their dispute. That action is quite routine and I would be surprised if doesn't happen in this case.

But that is only a delaying mechanism. If the pilots still want to strike after the cooling off period has ended it would be extrodinary for the government to intervene unless the President declared a national emergency would ensue. This has only happened a few times in U.S. history (e.g. during WWII) and it is very doubtful that such an action would be taken in regard to Delta unless the national situation is very different then than it is today.

HeathrowGuy

Not quite in the case of an 1113(c) abrogation - although the issue of whether a workgroup governed by the RLA can be compelled to work after a contract has been abrogated would be a matter of first impression for the courts, it is unlikely, IMHO, that the law would look favorably upon forcing someone to continue work on terms they did not agree to.

Dovster

Two points:

1. There is no such thing as a union which is greedier than its members. If DL pilots don't want to go on strike they will vote it down.

2. I can not imagine the government stepping in as the strike would in no way be against the nation's interests. It would merely transfer traffic from Delta to competing airlines.

HeathrowGuy

Airline labor is governed by the National Railway Labor Act, which remains silent on what happens if a NRLA contract is tossed in bankruptcy proceedings. Forcing someone to work for terms they did not bargain for is tantmount to involuntary servitude, and I can't see a court denying pilots immediate self-help if their contract is thrown out.

javajunkie

Only problem is, if they strike, they would likely be helping themselves to the unemployment line. That's what I call a "career limiting move".

gilpin

The president can invoke the RLA to stop strikes affecting air carriers when a dispute threatens "substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential transportation service". In the RLA just as in the Taft-Hartley Act there is a cooling off period (60 days) before the stike may resume.
If there is no mention of abrogation the government is sure to assume they have the power to enforce these provisions as the salient issue is the interruption of interstate commerce, an area where the Federal government has direct constitutionally granted powers.

Given that fact courts are unlikely to side with DALPA if the president chooses to impose a cooling-off period. I do agree that pilot "self-help" wouldn't trigger a cooling-off period. Individuals are generally free to stop work whenever they please, union contract or not. DALPA organizing a strike as a measure to cripple the airline is a different matter entirely.

Whether the president would choose to impose a cooling off period if the bankruptcy court grants Delta's request and DALPA stages a strike is hard to guess. It would probably be a political rather than an economic decision. The union press certainly believes that Bush is a union-buster so they assume he will invoke his powers.

The real question in all of this is will the courts permit DL to replace striking DALPA members with non-union pilots?

RSSrsvp

The next logical question would be whether or not you would fly on a plane with a pilot that was obtained that way? I for one would not consider flying on DL if they outsourced their pilots in a labor dispute. IMHO, one of the major reasons that we fly all on DL is because of the reputation of their pilots, who are among the finest in the industry.

RobertS975

It is extremely difficult to replace striking pilots due to the complexity of pilot training requirements, recent flight experience, competency checks and so forth. They might be able to run a skeleton operation (like Eastern attempted to do) but that would be all.

ConnFlyer

I highly doubt that's the reason people are choosing DL. Most people (including frequent flyers) know nothing about the people flying the planes.

And quite honestly, there is little difference between the pilots that fly for DL and the pilots that fly for Southwest, Northwest, United, American, Continental, JetBlue or practically any other US airline.

With that said, if a strike were to happen, you wouldn't have to worry about replacement pilots. DL would be liquidated in short order.

BertBamboo

ConnFlyer

In my time away from this board I missed your insights and comments.

I agree with you. Most travelers view pilots as interchangeable, just as they do aircraft. An AirTran Captain is the essentially the same as a Delta Captain, just as an AirTran 100 seat plane is essentially the same as a Delta 100 seat plane.

I live in Atlanta and have several Delta pilots as neighbors and friends. I like them all as individuals but since the furloughs in Nov 2001 they have definetly been behaving in a manner best descibed as 'squirrelly". What tipped me off was that they seemed to be more upset about the furloughs than they were about 9/11. It really got under their skin that Delta could ignore a core component of the contract, regardless of the cause. They truly believed that Delta was using 9/11 as a cover to rewrite their working agreement.

My concern is that the Delta pilots may decide to pull the plug with a strike and take Delta into Chapter 7. With their seniority system and the current oversupply of pilots, they have much more to lose than anyone else at the company, but I still believe they may be close to being over the edge emotionally and there may be enough of the young hotheads plus enough older guys who feel at the end of their ropes to actually push through a decision to strike.

It will be a shame but that's the way it goes. In any event, for the first time since 1985, I am making my flight reservations on other airlines until the situation becomes more stable. i went through the no-overtime fiasco in the winter of 2001 and I don't ever want to do that again.

javajunkie

If you kill your "enemy", but you die in the effort, do you win?