Regarding the recently released company pay proposal, I wonder if I am alone in smelling a rat. Something doesn't parse with me, the company proposal is egregiously low (no one, and I mean no one would ever consider a one-percent raise over 1996 rates a reasonable initial proposal), and suddenly, amidst a rising tide of demand for recall, Flores emerges as the incensed, heroic labor champion, convening unscheduled information meetings and issuing strongly worded we're-not-gonna-take-it proclamations. My thinking might be influenced by the number of times the flight attendants have been hornswoggled by both Flores and Parker, but wouldn't a wag-the-dog, invent-a-war-to-distract scenario be mutually beneficial? None of us have unfettered access to the way negotiations have proceeded for the last five-plus years, but I have to assume that ballpark pay rates must have come up at some point, yet Flores would have us believe that he was smacked with this information from left field, and his swift, strong reaction is completely antithetical to the mealy-mouthed equivocation we've become accustomed to. I've even heard, "Finally, he's doing something!" So, what about this could possibly benefit the company? Of course they know there isn't a chance in hell that a contract featuring those pay rates would be ratified, and I think they are very comfortable with Flores installed in his position, so the benefit is two-fold. Contract negotiations continue (prolonging the cost savings) and Flores, armed with newly invigorated pro-labor rhetoric, manages to quiet the swelling recall litany.
