WADR, Gopher and DC3, you have no idea what you're talking about.
1. The employees were the "owners" in name ONLY. For over half the equity (bought at a cost SIGNIFICANTLY higher than market rates), the employees got a grand total of 3 seats, with one controlled by the "system roundtable" (ie, management), one controlled by a national union rep who never even worked at ual, and ALPA. ESOP WAS a fable.
2. Tilton fired a few folks, but kept quite a few of the main problem. We now have a management team that is even MORE anti-worker.
3. The company WAS WARNED prior to summer 2K that the airline was NOT properly manned. While there was certainly frustration from the lack of progress at the bargaining table (you know, that place us OWNERS were sitting trying to recover from years of industry lagging pay and benefits bestoyed by the TRUSTEES), the manning level certainly played a huge roll in the problems.
4. Tilton wants to have his executive team payed based on what other executives get paid. UAL had about 100 cancellations today due to lack of crews. THIS IS THE SECOND SUMMER IN A ROW THIS HAS HAPPENED!! He fired the "responsible" party last summer, and he will surely find another "fall guy" this year. How many times does it take before he figures out it's HIS fault. His over compensated monkeys in Chicago implement HIS policies. Manpower could fly ALL the flights if they were allowed to man the airline FULLY. TILTON'S POLICIES PREVENT IT. Meanwhile, this crack team that will likely lead the league in cancellation this summer "DESERVES" 20% of the company? GMAFB. Ben Stein (the right wing ECONOMIST) is dead on. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If Glen tilton produces profits with employees that are paid at least league average, can pay pilots flying airplanes capable of carrying 500 pax (747-400) what the "profitable" SWA pay's it's pilot's to fly a 134 seat airplane, then I'll be the FIRST in line declaring that he DESERVES to be paid the big money. But when you pay bottom scale, have some of the most plumb "protected" routes in the industry, and still can't make it work, then I'm sorry, it's time to retire, without a big buyout. And before you declare that I'm some lefty unionist hack, let me be clear, I WAS a Tilton supporter, I've got 2 masters: MBA and MS Econ, and I'm one of the most RIGHT wing guys you'll EVER run into.
5. Before you make the ignorant statement that we could all go work somewhere else (I have), please look up the terms "monopsony" and "oligopsony" and study the implications of them on a highly skilled VERY specialized profession.