Ch. 12 said:
Sure, Bob, b/c we all know that a full plane HAS to mean a profitable one Â
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All over this country there are mass transit systems that never make a profit, yet they are still running, most are subsidized.
Lets not forget AMTRACK, dont see those guys giving up their pensions to pay for fuel.
Many Mass Transit systems started out as many different privately owned companies subject to competition. Many have been taken over or heavily regulated to the point where the municipality sets the fares, if they cant make a profit the community that it serves has to decide if they are willing to support cheap transportation, they dont tell the workers to accept pay cuts, only the airlines could get away with that.
The airline industry is the only one that expects the employees to provide the subsidy. And if we are stupid enough to do it why wouldnt they? Low low fares are a win win. With the increased demand the government makes even more through departure taxes, the suppliers move more of their products, the fuel companies sell more fuel, the airports collects more landing fees and commerce is kept abuzzing at the locales the airlines serve as customers have extra money to spend since they got there so cheap, and the best thing of all is "THE AIRLINE EMPLOYEES ARE PROVIDING ALL THIS NOT ONLY THROUGH THEIR LABOR BUT THROUGH THEIR PAYCUTS!!!!
So the entities that own the airlines just need to own a stake in anything connected to the airlines and they make out.
Lets say ABC Holdings owns 51% of CBAirlines. And they own 500 airplanes and they lease them to CBAirlines, and make a good profit. Lets say they also hold Airport bonds, own a stake in the fuel company that sells the airline fuel and they also own a stake in parts suppliers, and other vendors that CBAirlines does business with. Well as long as CBAirlines is moving people ABC and its interests will be making money, even if CBAirlines is "losing" money. If CBAirlines makes money thats great, but, if they make money its workers will start to demand a fair share of that money. However if the airlines is in a perpetual struggle then the airline can claim poverty while making ABC Holdings rich though its leases, bonds vendors etc.
If the planes are full, which most are, there is no way that the government (or our fictional example,ABC Holdings), is going to allow them to stop flying. Look at how GE keeps pumping money into USAIR. Just as many cities are dependant on their surface mass transit systems the national economy and many other related industries are dependant on the airlines.
So let them all lose money, let them all file for BK, sure a few airlines may fold, or merge, but its better than working for nothing. USAIR filed three years ago, United two years ago, both are still here(USAIR may be merging with America West but they did not liquidate and cut off service).When it all settles down there will be enough jobs for us all because despite the current situation the industry is still expected to grow. The question is how low do we let them lock us in before they decide to start to say they are making money again? As long as they feel there is more to be squeezed out of us why would they? Everyone else is raking in the bucks, at our expense!
Once we are locked in we cant get out like the airlines can. So once they feel they can squeeze no more we may see the airlines start to claim record profits again like in the 90s. This way ABCHoldings can sell their CBA stock to all the 401K suckers, or hook up a deal like UAL had where they had the Employees pay top dollar for the stock in lue of raises, which the employees can not sell, held by some financial institution, then during the next recession have the institution dump the stock when its pennies on the dollar in order to "save them from suffering further losses".
AsLuv2 fly brought up already many are choosing not to come back. In fact where I work, JFK, more and more people are not even waiting for a layoff, they are quitting. People who are not at risk of a layoff are quitting. For the most part these are some of the best workers they had, within the last 7 months I know at least 10 at my station that have quit, more have retired with many more over the course of the rest of the year expecting to. That comes out to about an annual attrition rate of 10%, not including the layoffs, many of whom will not come back. While that may not seem that high historically it has probably averaged less than half that, nearly all of it through retirements. Up until the concessions in 2003,in my 25 years in this industry I never saw anyone with over 10 seniority years quit, now its common. The ability to replace those that leave, despite the layoff numbers, is rapidly dissapearing as NWA is finding out now. The schools that used to produce mechanics are dissapearing and due to the low pay and lack of benifits those in the military are better off staying in. Others, like myself with 25 years invested are more inclined to fight back, if the company I work for ceases to exist but we hold the wage rates up over the long term I will be better off, if I choose to stay. Three years ago I planned to stay till I retire, I liked what I was doing and felt fairly compensated. Those plans are no longer definite, in fact right now I look at it as a temporay sacrifice in order to put my wife through school.
