United Airlines, Delta, American Unions can fight back, here's how

[EVDebs]

Consolidation in dying industries/businesses without expansion of the general business showing growth is what United and Delta etc. will all be forced into. This is identical to the dying petroleum business; just look at the huge oil company consolidations-- all without expansion of supply. Conoco-Phillips, Exxon-Mobil, etc.

The airlines will all be seeing some kind of consolidation in order to just survive. Labor will need to facilitate these in mergers and acquisitions (Hint: the unions could do what Charlie Sheen's character did in "Wall Street"...the unions could find the buyers and sweeten the deals for labor by getting to the rich bastards before the M&A guys from the street make the deal first !).

[whistle]

1. Explains why we have not had another terrorist attack using....

...a fully fueled up airliner. The airlines can no longer afford to fill their planes with fuel.

[Psephos]

3. And I thought I was bad buying five bucks worth of gas at a time. lol n/t

[napi21]

2. You've seen a lot of consolidation already.

Consolidating the legacy carriers I don't think will work for anybody. The newbies are not bound by pension plans like the legacys are, and that's one of the main reasons they are able to make money or at least break even.

I hate to say it, but I think the Unions are dead in the water on this, and it's not only the Unionized carriers. My son works for Delta as a mech. They are non union, but they're talking about this same stuff.

[EVDebs]

4. My point was the Unions can secretly steer the deals and get the

word out...The stike threats (or not to stike threats) can control the deals from the inside, with the Union's cash going to support who THEY want in the end, not Wall Street's. If Boeing wants to survive...well then, let's have the Unions talking to Airbus, or the Chinese or Canadians or the "newbies", directly, who could buy up those surplus planes and create affilated airlines, with jobs for those union members.

BTW, when these Wall Street deals are made, the investment bankers take a huge percentage of the deals they structure. The Unions all need to fight to point this stuff out.

Oh, and another thing, by fighting for single-payer healthplans in the states and against the Bush SS plans, at least they will have SOMETHING to fall back on along with everybody else. Read Jeremy Rifkin's "End of Work : The Decline of the Global Labor Force and
the Dawn of the Post-Market Era". We're all going to be stripped of our pension and healthcare benefits in order to 'compete' with Third World labor markets. The globalized multinationals are demanding it to happen. We need to fight back against globalization and its acolytes like Thomas Friedman and Fareed Zakaria etc etc. They are bullshitters par excellance.

[JDPriestly]

5. How much were United executives paid in recent years?

Two items in this morning's newspaper seemed related to me in some odd way. The first was the headline about the United pensions -- a $6.6 billion liability shifted from United's estate in bankruptcy to the U.S. taxpayers. The second was the $72 million given to Halliburton in bonuses. What injustice. The Republicans are really taking the taxpayers to the woodshed, and the taxpayers don't even notice it.

By the way, I'm probably way behind the times, but didn't the unions take control of United at some point. What happened to that? I wasn't paying attention.

Also, please note that under the new bankruptcy rules for individuals, a real non-corporate person with assets comparable (in a real person's terms) to United's as a corporation would be placed on a five-year plan to repay the pensioners. Another example of how the bankruptcy bill is just corporate welfare.

The ERISA law, which governs pensions and other such employee benefits, was enacted under Nixon. It is yet another Republican scam against the little guys -- promising much, delivering little.

[ticapnews]

12. The president of the company collected $11.3M 2002-2004...

http://www.unitedafa.org/res/b/n/2005/exec_comp_2004.asp

Total compensation for the top five men at UAL is over $21M since 2002.

[kodi]

6. fuck it. general strike. all union airline employees. shut down the USA

it is fast becoming apparent that only radical action will stop this decimation of the working class and lurch to the far right.

shut it down. now. the entire country. ground all commerical airlines. see what the fuck those filthy bastards who want to drive the working man under do about it.

this can only get worse for organized labor. the unions will be picked off one at a time until there is no one left.

every union member ought to strike and bring this country to a standstill. folks need to be reminded how fragile the economy is and how interdependent it is.

[DemoTex]

8. S.O.S. - Suspension of Service

It's been talked about for years but no one has the balls to do it. Now the unions are pitifully weak. Come consolidation time all that you will hear from the airline unions will be "How will we merge the seniority lists?".

[Psephos]

13. I understand where you're coming from

Frustrated as all hell.

However, if the economy is fragile and interdependent, then a general strike could be the medicine that cures the disease but unfortunately also kills the patient.

Just a thought.

Peace.

[IChing]

7. United Airlines Ground Workers Threaten Strike--15 minutes ago

MAY 11, 2005 -- Elk Grove, Ill. -- United Airlines ground workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike the bankrupt air carrier if United abandons its collective bargaining agreement with the workers' union.

Today's announcement, by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), comes one day after a federal bankruptcy judge in Chicago authorized United to terminate workers' current pension plans under an agreement between the airline and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a non-profit corporation set up by the federal government to protect pensions. The deal could result in retirement benefits cuts of up to 60 percent.

(snip)

"Our members know the risk of a strike," Canale said, "but if United fails to respond to our members needs, it is a step they are prepared to take. United used the bankruptcy court to point a gun at their employees--they can only blame themselves if it backfires."

more...

http://www.successmtgs.com/successmtgs/headlines/articl...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I'm sure the people inside UAL are perfectly aware of the

huge bonuses and sweet deals that the executives get. The executives are set for life, no matter what happens to the airline.

This latest action may put the ordinary employees into "nothing to lose" mode.

[strategery blunder]

10. My mother is a UAL employee and is privy to vote totals.

I talked to her about two hours ago. According to her, ninety-six percent voted in favor of the strike authorization.

:toast: for solidarity

:woohoo::bounce:

[EVDebs]

11. Now get the unions and airline reps together and PICK who THEY THINK

is the best of the newbies along with which airliner manufacturer they think is best. Make them the concession offers ... you know the maintenance jobs will try (if not already) to be 'outsourced' and even to overseas outsourcing. It's all about how low they can get labor. Tying labor costs to stock market...