Does Delta still have NWA scabs working?

[WorldTraveler]

It wasnt a lockout, it was a strike, come on WT, educate yourself.

you can give it whatever name you want but it was a FAILED LABOR STRATEGY by any name.

Not only did it fail to achieve the goal of putting more money in the pockets of AMFA members on the heels of the 2000 contract, but it also marked the beginning of the end of NW as NW's BOD said they cannot risk their future on a company that has ongoing labor strife. It shouldn't be too hard to comprehend since AA's creditors did the same thing in ousting the current execs and accepting a plan that embraces a leader that can charm his own employees into working for less money and thinking they are doing well.

NW AMFA ended up just like Comair and UA's pilots. Labor asked for way more than the company was willing to give, the company fought back, and 2 of those 3 companies no longer exist. UA mgmt. made it very clear in their latest contract that they would ensure that UA ALPA will FOLLOW DL ALPA now.

As much as anyone wants to believe otherwise, UA ALPA slowed the airline to a crawl in the summer of 2000 - not the FAs, not the mechanics, and not anyone else and UA pilots came out as the highest paid in the industry - until UA mgmt. decided to take it all back in BK.

And, yes, the FAA should have acted... and then they likely would have grounded NW and cost even more jobs for non-mechanic personnel.

NW could not have withstood a grounding of even part of the airline for part of the time w/o significant impact to the viability of the airline.

Sure, the FAA should have grounded NW. Labor at the rest of the airline should thank their lucky stars that didn't happen or NW would probably never have survived... both labor and mgmt. played a massive gamble to not end up like Eastern.

Mgmt won and then the creditors said they weren't going to allow NW to take that risk again and then set NW up for a merger with DL - who has managed to allow no further unionization among the largest labor groups.

I'm sure there will be those who try to paint a revisionist picture of NW's history but the company was just one step away from becoming the next Eastern.

 

[Kev3188]

So your saying former NW employee's, who went on strike, then decided to cross the line, were inept mechanic's from the get go and didn't care about quality, while at NW ?

No.

What I'm saying is that NW mtx was a pretty well oiled machine (no pun intended) prior to the strike. In the days/weeks/months after, it was anything but. You can draw your own conclusions.

 

[WorldTraveler]

and there needs to be a clear distinction between NW mtx as an organization and the individual mechanics that were hired.

The fact that the situation improved and stabilized fairly quickly indicates that the issue was far bigger than the skills of the replacement workers.

It is actually quite amazing that NW was able to function as well as they did in "replacement mode" but by the time NW and DL merged, NW was running very well on an operational basis.

 

[robbedagain]

WT i remember the ua pilot actions real well i had seen a lot of angry passengers and all but i think though ua did take them to court towards the end of summer not real sure on that but as for NWA i do recall a DC-9 of theirs flying NY to either DTW or MEM and they made an emergency landing in ABE with a blown engine it took them almost 2 months to get a newer engine on the plane i may have pics somewhere on that
the post that 700 put up i recall when the faa inspector tried to nail nwa for their troubles after the strike and he got embarrassed by the faa then he turned around and embarrassed them i agree that yes the faa should have stepped in a lot more then but i dont knw if they would have done that with ua for theirs as it was 2 different things...
i do recall when delta was going thru a lot of trouble particularly in the mid to late 90s bec my dad was with DL in ORF and in sept 94 he was told either dca or the streets he took dca dl later outsourced orf i believe it was after they had brought pan am assests

 

[southwind]

If quality maintenance- and a high performing workforce- is something you care about, then it absolutely "has to do" with DL.

No.

What I'm saying is that NW mtx was a pretty well oiled machine (no pun intended) prior to the strike. In the days/weeks/months after, it was anything but. You can draw your own conclusions.

So in one breath you proclaim the superior craftsmanship of a group of mechanics, while they were employeed by NW, then in the next breath, denounce their craftmanship, simply because they work for a different company ?

Whatever fits your agenda , I guess !

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Was someone holding a shiny object nearby when you thought about that post?

 

[WorldTraveler]

So in one breath you proclaim the superior craftsmanship of a group of mechanics, while they were employeed by NW, then in the next breath, denounce their craftmanship, simply because they work for a different company ?

Whatever fits your agenda , I guess !

sorry, SW, but fairness dictates that Kev wasn't comparing AMFA mechanics pre and post strike. NW's maintenance did indeed take a dive as noted - a rather scary one that was well documented on this site and that was indeed noted.

My assertion is that since the problems were corrected in fairly short order, the mechanics themselves were not as much of a problem as the reduction of 5000 positions and replacement with just 1000 all in a very short period of time. But Kev did not try to say that the replacement mechanics were good as NW employees post-strike and then say their quality fell; his comparison at least in that sentence was pre and post-strike, well before they became DL employees.

Robbed,
you are correct that DL was in serious financial problems after they bought the PA transatlantic assets in 1991. It took them a long time to sort it all out which involved closing the FRA hub, starting the alliance with Swissair and Sabena and Singapore, and starting new nonstop routes of JFK.

DL also did cut deeply among its domestic workforce.
It is also worth noting that all occurred more than 20 years ago. Many of the people who were around at that time are very senior or have left the company.

Difficult period of DL's history but it was also from the PA acquisition that DL learned a lot of things that has made the NW merger go SO much better.

 

[southwind]

Was someone holding a shiny object nearby when you thought about that post?

Yeah ! It was your tin-foil hat !

 

[robbedagain]

My dad was with DL from 1969 and worked his way up to sta mgr before retiring in dec 2001 when dl was closing abe and pullin all mainline out of abe and turned it over to comair. IT was 1994 sept when my dad was told by delta to either take the streets or go to dca and he chose dca and then in 1997 he went to abe as a sta mgr and he talked with the usairways sta mgr joe hulick and i got hired on

 

[Kev3188]

So in one breath you proclaim the superior craftsmanship of a group of mechanics, while they were employeed by NW, then in the next breath, denounce their craftmanship, simply because they work for a different company ?

Whatever fits your agenda , I guess !

Wow. Just wow... :blink:

Please tell me it was after another "long day" that you came to that conclusion...

 

[WorldTraveler]

My dad was with DL from 1969 and worked his way up to sta mgr before retiring in dec 2001 when dl was closing abe and pullin all mainline out of abe and turned it over to comair. IT was 1994 sept when my dad was told by delta to either take the streets or go to dca and he chose dca and then in 1997 he went to abe as a sta mgr and he talked with the usairways sta mgr joe hulick and i got hired on

so why oh why did your father get you into the airline industry knowing how turbulent it is?

He does love you, doesn't he?

 

[robbedagain]

wow wt ive never attacked you before i would not consider 1998 a turblent time for us as they were doing good at that time as was your beloved delta.... i believe that us was making money at that time and the benes were really good... and aviation happens to be one of my fav hobbies as i think it would be for a lot of the folks who has or continues to work in the airline industry as good as the benefits are etc... now with that comment i see why youve come under attack while i thought we were having conversations nicely compared to some posters who talk to u here

and for the 2nd point of course i also work with folks who were hired long before and after me

 

[WorldTraveler]

it was a joke... that was is there is a smiley thing next to it.

lighten up.

Unless you tell me otherwise, the default and likely assumption is that your father DOES love you.

Yes, I know jet fuel is harmful to the liver... why is probably why so many of us are attracted to it.

I'm glad you enjoy being in the industry, but honestly, cutting lawns even in Pennsylvania's short summers is sometimes a whole lot easier and perhaps more financially rewarding. (It's a joke)

yes the late 90s were the heyday of the US economy and US airlines benefitted as well.

and for the record, I enjoy interacting with you here, robbed.

 

[robbedagain]

i enjoy the interaction here too...
the late 90s were really good in the airlines but for folks like my dad and others who were in it prior they had the golden yrs probably much much better than us folks esp gven say 9/11 and the economic turn down but i will say i think its goin to rebound a lot better with the mega mergers.

 

[WorldTraveler]

the entire western economic system has moved past the golden years... the airlines as a whole are certainly not going to stand out as an exception given they are usually the first to feel economic problems.

The US airline industry is in remarkably good shape considering the state of Europe which is economically and culturally very connected to the US.

And you are right that consolidation will help the US airline industry.. but note also that even WN which has based its business model in the past on growth is no longer growing but is pulling capacity out of the system many months, just like what the network carriers who are showing the strongest financial results are doing.