Fireworks and drama in manhattan...

[Bob Owens]

Yeah....That way Clinton actually let them strike as if he wasn't going to get involved. In a way it was a pretty good move.
No PEB....He let them think they would be able to strike long enough to actually be effective.

At this point a PEB, based on past PEBs would advantageous to us(if we had rejected the ultimatum) and the pilots as PEBs dont look at the companies woes, they look at other contracts in the industry, and ours is the very worst there is, Our compensation is even worse than Non-union.

The Pilots went into a PEB in 1997, yet up until a short time ago they remained near the top of the industry.

 

[Hopeful]

At this point a PEB, based on past PEBs would advantageous to us(if we had rejected the ultimatum) and the pilots as PEBs dont look at the companies woes, they look at other contracts in the industry, and ours is the very worst there is, Our compensation is even worse than Non-union.

The Pilots went into a PEB in 1997, yet up until a short time ago they remained near the top of the industry.

The bottom line is, a supposed labor friendly president stepped in...
Clinton didn't care about where they were compared to the industry...
He stopped a strike before thepilots could PROVE what damage they could do.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/17/news/17iht-fly.t_1.html


I guess George H.W. Bush could have been considered labor friendly by not intervening in the Eastern strike?
After all he let them shut down that airline and ultimately they liquidated.



Damned if you do..damned if you don't.

 

[Bob Owens]

The bottom line is, a supposed labor friendly president stepped in...
Clinton didn't care about where they were compared to the industry...
He stopped a strike before thepilots could PROVE what damage they could do.

http://www.nytimes.c...ht-fly.t_1.html


I guess George H.W. Bush could have been considered labor friendly by not intervening in the Eastern strike?
After all he let them shut down that airline and ultimately they liquidated.



Damned if you do..damned if you don't.

I always thought that the bottom line usually had a dollar figure attached to it. In the APA case the bottom line is 15 years after the PEB they still had a better contract than many of their peers. The bottom line is the Pilots were released, they followed the process, some now claim that in order to get released it has to be politically acceptable, if that was the case then nobody would ever get released, the political fix is the PEB, the rest is proceedural. The NMB is supposed to only hold the parties in mediation if they can justifiably argue that continued Sect 6 mediation will result in an agreement. They are not supposed to hold us in limbo till we give in to the companys demands. They told us flat out that they did not feel that continued mediation would result in a deal back in August of 2011, but we never asked to be released. I believe that a request was made to not release us but we wre not made privy to that. The head Mediator, a former executive from AIRCON, an orgnaization thats sole purpose is to supress airline workers wages, gave his so called opinion that the NMB would not release us do to political reasons, upcoming elections etc (as if he voted for Obama), that wasnt his call, but the bottom line is we never asked to be released.

As far as Clinton stepping in I was under the impression that both the AFL-CIO and the airlines supported the PEB. The fact that the APA was an independant Union and the TWU was supporting the company more than they were the APA (they refused to act upon the Force Majeure grievance or agressively challenge the companies strike plans if you recall), this probably made the decision for a PEB a Win Win for Clinton. He gets an atta boy from the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce. All in all the Pilots did better in their PEB than we did with our 1995 six year concessionary deal that drug on right through the greatest economic expansion this country has ever seen, it dragged on right through 9-11.

At EAL the Unions were hoping for a PEB which Bush denied , most likely because his buddy had expected EAL to turn out like Continental did. He was wrong.

I would suggest you read the PEB decision from Amtrak and "Understanding the Railway Labor Act" by Frank N Wilner ISBN 978-0911382-59-4 for a better understanding of the process.

If you are in a position to make industry leading gains you probably do not want a PEB, if you are at the bottom of the industry or under the 1113 process you would likely do better.