Info from a SWA mech.

[swamt]

SWA isn't a comparison at all to the Big 3. They have 2.5 Mechanics per A/C so they can afford to pay a higher wage rate. How dumb do people have to be to not understand this. The same goes for Fed Ex employees ! AMFA? IBT? Do you really think it makes much difference when your onl;y dealing with what 1200 Mechanics? Of course your going to have a "Better Work Environment", you are getting paid $44/Hr and you don't have to work with as many a-holes who can't find a Maintenance reference to save there life. Hey if everyone wants 85% outsourcing and $44/Hr go for it !!

Once again someone spouting off and not having a clue on what they are talking about. SWA cannot be compared to the big 3? You better do some homework chiefy. UAL and SWA are almost tied in certain catagories. All of your numbers above are wrong. go do some homework and come back with a more acccurate post.

 

[Bob Owens]

The TWU did not Bankrupt your company. The TWU or the IAM for that matter did not raise fuel prices to levels unsustainable for airlines to compete financially. Every Union has gone through a Bankruptcy process and the members response is to dethrone them. Does it change the Bankruptcy? No. Does it change the concessionary Contract? No. The airline Industry has a whole has never made money. That's the business and you can't do anything to change it. There will always be ups and downs. I can guarantee you a New Union representation will not be an instant fix of whatever you think needs fixing.

The unions didnt bankrupt the airlines, correct. Was AA really "Bankrupt"? They had $5 billion in cash and brought in another $25 billion in revenues and had financing in place for the largest order of new aircraft ever. Corporate America just wanted to see how far they could push this scam and they found the perfect group to do it with.When the courts abrogated the Printers Contract they did so because the contract forced the employer to pay people to do a task that was no longer relevant. The contract was "onerous" and the company could not compete. We have gone from "Onerous" to "convienient", from leveling the playing field to setting new lows and a means to competative advantage. The law has been twisted from its original purpose and the Unions just roll over. They are as guilty as the airlines.


The industry as a whole never made money, well maybe not profits but they always made money, $25 billion is a lot of money and it went somewhere. Labor got a smaller share than ever before. You can be sure that when the next contract cycvle rolls around the airline will be just as hard up as they are now. The airlines never made money but the Unions used to make sure that we got a fair share of the huge sums of money that passed through these companies , they need to go back to that and stop pleading the airlines sob story or we wont need them.

 

[bigjets]

Forget to mention a couple of things from my x-AA mech friend at SWA, SWA training is head shoulders above AA (I would say AA's is getting better), and they have not seen any TWU card drive at SWA.