How exactly do you think ALPA should have handled the pension issue? Sorry, but there was no way around it.
Shut the weak down, let them fail, go out of business. Cancelling pensions should not be the "save all" answer. If LCC ALPA not allowed this to happen the pilots at DAL would likely still have pensions. They gave management a new tool to use. Shame and disgust!
It has forever changed the industry and left airline boardrooms salivating with ideas. It should never have been an option. And to suggest that now today through legislation we can recoup the damage done is weak at best. It's too late....Pilot pensions are gone.
ALPA gave a green light and the rest is history. The soul reason why I believe ALPA is not the answer and never will be. They crumbled under one of the most critical issues of our careers and it affected every P121 pilot in the nations that aspires for more.