Union spokesman for United just told our Ch 11 that they are willing to

[caligirl]

strike, signs in hand on camera, that United management is asking for too much, they are trying to go after the heart and sole of the union. Fair and descent standard of living. This is for the Bay area.. Looks like a United strike is on its way.


http://cf.nbc11.com/bay/sh/videoplayer/video.cfm?id=4549414&owner=bay


EDIT, just this minute they think a strike will be averted. A call in the last ten minutes about some kind of agreement. Appears there won't be a strike now.
You can follow it here, main page.

http://www.nbc11.com/index.html

[femmecahors]

1. end of housing bubble?

that's what someone at dinner last night speculated if United goes on strike.

[LeftCoast]

2. I feel so sorry for all my friends working for United

Year after year, United's management has screwed over their employees. Most people have no idea how badly. This isn't just an airline that needs to make 'cutbacks'. These guys have systematically screwed their employees at every turn for over a decade. :(

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. Yes, While at the same time padding their pockets with bonuses

and sweet golden parachute deals.

They should pull a few million out of those guys' salaries and pensions. Let them make their money writing a book how they destroyed the airline.

[rfkrfk]

8. during '95 till 2000, the employee-owners raped themselves

not much left.
IMO, the union doesn't have the nuts to strike.
In the event of a strike, ScabWest and JetBlue will
add flights, nobody will notice.

[LeftCoast]

14. The employees took pay cuts and in return United was supposed to be

an "Employee Owned" company, and technically it was, but only technically. You see, all that 'stock' that the employees owned in their ESOP was conveniently liquidated for pennies w/ no input by the employees at all. So all those years of pay cuts were for nothing. All that stock they 'earned' - just gone as if it had never existed.

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. On this morning's news, said it would be here in Chicago, too

They said they were waiting on the court's decision whether United will be legal if they take away pension benefits without agreement by the union. They also said if two other unions are prepared to strike as well and that if they do strike it will be the end for United.

[Jensen]

5. Can you post a link? Thanks

I have this website www.unitedafa.org but it saids talks continue.

The website also has a petition on the pensions sponsored by Congress Miller D-CA Bill HR2327 to stop United and other companies from dumping the pensions on to us, the tax payers.
Any one of us can sign it !

[caligirl]

9. posted in OP msg now.

[babylonsister]

6. Poor employees are damned if they do,

damned if they don't; Catch-22 time. I don't blame them; many have been depending on pensions which will probably be done away with. And the rich get richer...

[ElkHunter]

7. Should United go on strike...

...I would hope that every union member and every progressive would do their utmost to support the United workers by joining their picket lines. What UAL's (mis)management did to the employee pension plan is criminal and should not be allowed to stand. We all have a stake in this fight if we care about such things as pensions. If United employees resist, then we should certainly join in on that resistance. Perhaps, finally, it will be the spark that could ignite the needed fightback to corporate domination that has been a long time in coming.

[Jensen]

11. Good going ELKHunter!!

I hope many feel as you do and if indeed they go on strike that it is the spark that ignites this country together against corporate America!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. There won't be a strike; Boosh won't let it happen.

Under the Railway Labor Act (also governing airlines), a Presidential Emergency Board can recommend that a strike be stopped, and the president can order the strikers back to work. This administration will do everything it can to bust the unions, so even if the United unions call a strike Boosh will stop it before it starts. Airline unions really have no bargaining power any more because Little George, who has never done a lick of real work in his whole life, is on record as saying (several years ago, when another union threatened to strike) that he won't permit an airline strike. Bad for business...

[ElkHunter]

12. There are times when we need to say...

"the law be damned." For instance, Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement certainly defied laws that stood as an obstacle to justice. The resistance to the theft of worker pension plans is certainly something that Americans can understand and support. Even if Dubya declares the strike illegal, he can do little to enforce it if enough unions and other progressive organizations take a hard stand in support of the strikers. Labor made the mistake of not standing behind PATCO in the Reagan years and has paid a heavy price for that lack of spine since then. Hopefully, we will not make the same mistake again.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Looks like AMFA took the deal.

It would be great if some union defied Boosh; I hope they do. IAM is still negotiating, but I imagine they'll deal, too. Sucks the way this is working out.

[ariellyn]

15. I support UAL employees--I fly often and will now use other carriers. nt