US Airways Pilots Say Strike an Option

Not only is the news of Wolf, Gangwal, and Nagin receiving $35 million, reportedly the day before the bankruptcy filing, unsettling, so is the news that the Disclosure Statement has a blank space in the line discussing current management post emergence compensation.

Why does this section not provide a figure?

Chip
 
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On 2/25/2003 4:34:36 PM OverpaidSlacker wrote:

even if y'all are "crazy enough" to "burn this whole thing down", a strike may not have said desired effect anyhow. usairways will likely be able to higher pilots who have been furloughed elsewhere.

----- The hiring and training of new pilots would require many months to accomplish. US simply does not have that kind of time.


union or not, people need to sustain their standard of living, and i can't recall the last time i heard of a union cutting paychecks to the employees they represent.


----- Actually they do. It was most recently done for the Comair strike. While the level of compensation is nowhere near normal income levels, it is compensation.

if they are unwilling to talk at that point, then screw them -- strike. at least at that point, the economy is likely to be in better shape (god willing), and a strike won't be such a direct shot in your own foot.

----- Contracts can take years to negotiate, and the RLA governs the feasibility of a strike. It is an outdated process that needs revamping.


just some food for though. i'll be over here, donning my flame-resistant chain mail, awaiting your responses.


----- No flaming. Just some answers to your post.
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On 2/26/2003 5:14:20 AM chipmunn wrote:

Not only is the news of Wolf, Gangwal, and Nagin receiving $35 million, reportedly the day before the bankruptcy filing, unsettling, so is the news that the Disclosure Statement has a blank space in the line discussing current management post emergence compensation.

Why does this section not provide a figure?

Chip
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$35 million represents about what, 2% of the pilot funding shortfall? It is negligible.

The reason that section is without a figure is probably so that ALPA's propoganda officers and lawyers spend more time addressing the actual issues surrounding the pension instead of a "hot-button" strawman designed to whip the rank-and-file into a feeding frenzy.
 
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On 2/26/2003 1:56:19 PM ClueByFour wrote:

$35 million represents about what, 2% of the pilot funding shortfall? It is negligible.

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Ummm, I don't think anyone has suggested that if Wolfie and the other 2 stooges returned the $35 million, the pilot's pension shortfall would disappear.

And I don't think many of us are surprised to find mini-me Enron behavior in the upper ranks of this company.

There is a little pesky contradiction here that galls most of us:

The pilots have been earning their pension over the years. They are now threatened with it being wiped out and replaced with an inferior plan.

Upper management worked for a few years and by all accounts (not just by employees and unions, but in business circles as well) made a royal mess of things, squandered opportunities, wasted vast amounts of money and resources, destroyed employee morale and then, just before they took the company into Chapter 11, made off with LUMP SUM pension payments (protection against the plans being cancelled down the road, I presume).

Not to mention all this was going on while the company was demanding billions from the people who actually do the work.

Throw away the key!

-Airlineorphan
 
Again orphan,

You say it all; in a "nutshell".

Your sentiments conveyed is what this travesty is all about.

And for those who made comments about uniions paying their members. That is what a "strike fund" is all about,
Which USairways F/As. have. It is funded presently by contributions, and we have a nice sum in there now. What did pass in 2001 is for contributions to be deliberate and monthly. We haven't balloted the f/as yet, considering what they have given already. But, that is around the corner for a deliberate payroll dedcution of a sum once a year. I suggest all unions put this in place for the future.