BA right behind Lufthansa

[densoo]

"Lufthansa pilots in Germany agreed to suspend for two weeks a strike that grounded about 900 flights on Monday, just as rival British Airways' cabin crew voted to join the fray to protest harsh cost cuts."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_european_airlines

This is great stuff. The MBAs that run these companies are nothing if not astute observers of what is going on in the other guys marketplace. Crews are fed up with the race to the bottom and are starting to rebel in real ways that hurt the bottom line. Hopefully, airline CEOs everywhere will take notice and realize that there is a tipping point beyond which you stand to lose more than you gain.

If we want to salvage our own careers we all have a responsibility to both honor others' efforts to stop the deterioration and to consider "safety first as always" at our own airlines. Waive nothing, write up everything, and don't answer the phone.

 

[ThisistheDream]

now we only need the same laws in the USA as they do in europe and we can do that!!!!

 

[UnstableAviator]

Must be nice to work in a world without being governed by laws written in 1926 and last amended in 1936.

The RLA is really the handcuffs and shackles that prevent any real labor threats to US airlines.

 

[BoilerUP]

Lufthansa pilots have suspended their strike

 

[pilotyip]

thats right shut'em down; show'em who is boss. It has worked so well at all the other places it has been tried. CAL, EAL, NWA, UAL, Zantop

 

[densoo]

Must be nice to work in a world without being governed by laws written in 1926 and last amended in 1936.

The RLA is really the handcuffs and shackles that prevent any real labor threats to US airlines.

You are absolutely right in a long-term, strategic sense.

But most of what line pilots can do to affect their quality of life are not covered by the RLA in any way.

Pilots are natural lean-forward leaders. They take the initiative and don't accept imperfection. This quality makes them perfectly suited for flying, but it is their great failing when it comes to labor issues.

The company cuts to the bone and beyond knowing that the pilot, the on-scene manager and leader, will fill the gaps and "make it happen." This hurts the pilot group's cause more than anything the RLA does.

Look no further back than NWA summer a couple of years ago. The RLA was not part of it in any way. The pilots got fed up and simply stopped helping the company! It took just a couple of weeks to get the company to stop the madness.

Similarly, every pilot group is a couple of weeks from stopping the madness. It's just a matter of the crews deciding they've had enough.

Waive nothing, write up everything, don't answer the phone.

 

[densoo]

thats right shut'em down; show'em who is boss. It has worked so well at all the other places it has been tried. CAL, EAL, NWA, UAL, Zantop

NWA didn't "shut'em down." They stayed in their seats and said "why should try so hard when they're treating us so badly." It worked pretty well.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

thats right shut'em down; show'em who is boss. It has worked so well at all the other places it has been tried. CAL, EAL, NWA, UAL, Zantop

Spoken like a true management dickhead!
I'm sure many EAL and former CAL scabs would be real proud to call you their friend!

 

[pilotyip]

Nwa

NWA didn't "shut'em down." They stayed in their seats and said "why should try so hard when they're treating us so badly." It worked pretty well.

And how long did it take the company to recover from a very short work stoppage.\ Years if I recall.

 

[densoo]

And how long did it take the company to recover from a very short work stoppage.\ Years if I recall.

Nobody stopped working. They just stopped helping so much. If it took years to recover, all the more reason for companies to talk to the pilots, rationally, before it goes that far.