I'm certain that some will dismiss this merely because of the identity of the author. For too many people, that's the only important criteria, not the words someone writes. I don't agree with all of it, but I think it's well written. The final two paragraphs:
http://www.swelblog.com/articles/american-airlines-labor-leverage-us-airways-and-chicken-litt.html
Thanks to a certain pilot at US who cut and pasted the entire piece in the US forum - I hadn't seen this.
The Sky Is Not Falling
Over at Terry Maxon’s AirlineBiz blog is a letter from TWU President Jim Little decrying American’s filing with $4.1 billion in cash and thus a near term ability to pay its current obligations. I urge you to read the letter in full and the lack of reasoning throughout. What did Little expect the company to do when he refused on numerous occasions to step-up and tell his TWU members the cold truth that something is better than nothing? He has had a number of opportunities over the past five years to negotiate an agreement with American that the company could afford.
The bottom line is bankruptcy is not a big deal. This is not the industry’s first rodeo. American’s problems are bigger than a check labor could write outside of bankruptcy, but sadly, the employees will pay much more inside of bankruptcy. As APA President Dave Bates told The Wall Street Journal, "Sometimes in life it's easier to have something imposed upon a person than have them agree to it voluntarily." Sad commentary indeed.
http://www.swelblog.com/articles/american-airlines-labor-leverage-us-airways-and-chicken-litt.html
Thanks to a certain pilot at US who cut and pasted the entire piece in the US forum - I hadn't seen this.