I've been sitting on this one, but since someone else brought it up.... this info is from a VERY reliable source.
The word I've heard is that AA and DL are going to perform a unique Corporate transaction (to coin a phrase )with their weather ops in combination with a private company. They are basically going to close each airline's weather shop and relocate them to a new startup under this company in Norman, OK. This company was looking to get into the aviation weather business, but didn't have the people; AA and Delta wanted to have the weather information and had the people, but needed to reduce the costs to the airline. Voila! So the three companies win, and the only losers are the meteorologists at AA and DL who get to decide if they want to relocate to beautiful downtown Norman...
But what about the Union you say? Well, AA was pretty slick there. This is apparently the deal they were offered: If you want to continue your union job, they can't get rid of you under the contract. But the office is being relocated to Norman, so you would have to work there. And, as soon as that contract protection goes away (President Shrub declares war and force majeure goes into effect, the contract gets renegotiated, etc.), you are gone POOF. OR, you can APPLY to this brand-new startup and get in on the ground floor. Only problem? More bodies than jobs...[img src='http://www.usaviation.com/idealbb/images/smilies/14.gif']
And to answer the comment about weather information on the Internet, just try to get any sort of real-time info, or get someone to let you know if a plane will encounter icing between X point and Y point, because if it doesn't you don't have to switch out equipment on an anti-ice MEL. Ask a dispatcher ar AA/DL/UA/NW how valuable their weather departments are.
Should be fun to watch....
Peace!!