Bush has no plans to intervene at NWA.

[hbrow15]

i do not know the answer. Did W do anything about the Comair strike??

I dont think W was president during the comair strike.

In 2005 NWA management has the upper hand and wants an AMFA strike so Bush says he will not step in with a PEB.

The problem with this theory is the only way management has the upper hand and wants a strike is if he knows the pilots wont honor the strike, the only way he knows is if he is told by the union. If that is the case the Mech's never had a chance. Sucks the only support the mech's recieved came from UPS.

 

[twobits]

G W Bush was the president during the Comiar strike in 2001.

 

[scabseeker]

You guys never fail to amaze me. If Bush were to step in you would be screaming to let the RLA work and let the workers use their legal self-help options. When he doesn't, it's a big conspiracy theory and he's just helping out his buddies.

So if I'm reading what you wrote properly, you would prefer that Bush would step in and force the union workers to continue to work with an expired contract, with absolutely no leverage against the company to negotiate. Is that right?...Or do you want him to let the process proceed to it's conclusion and either have a strike or a mutually agreed upon contract? Kinda caught up in your own doublespeak arn't you. Thank you for playing, please try again.

late response by me but here goes...

What I am saying is back in 2001 Bush said he would allow no strikes at a major airline to take place. This is because most strikes shut down airlines and hurt mangement.

Fast forward to 2005. NWA has replacement workers in place and wants to break AMFA. So in this case mangement wants the mechanics to go on strike ergo Bush goes against his vow to stop any strikes.

Labor doesn't always want to go on strike. At Eastern in 1991 the IAM actually wanted Bush 1 to step in with a PEB but Lorenzo didn't so Bush 1 stayed out of things. The same thing is happening here. I promise that if NWA management didn't have replacement workers lined up or the pilots walked, Bush would have stepped in to stop a strike ASAP.

And it's no conspiracy theory. Bush is a former CEO and will take the side of management over labor most of the time. I think that is wrong but I know that's just how he thinks.

Also, contracts don't expire they become amendable. And a PEB merely forces the workers back to work for 60 days while negotiations continue and after that congress sets the contract.

I guess you didn't pay attention back in late 2003/early 2004 when XJ was going through this?

 

[Lear70]

It's really very simple.

Bush would only intervene if he believed it would cause a disruption - he'd have to, despite his "business leanings", because of public outcry.

Northwest told him there'd be no disruption (or it would be very minor) because they had replacement workers lined up.

No interruption in public transportation + No public outcry = no Presidential intervention required. Pretty simple math.

Incidentally, I won't be feeling very sorry for the NWA pilots, flight attendants, or IAM employees when their turn at the chopping block comes. This shortsighted "They didn't do it our way back then so screw them now" is going to come back to haunt them for the rest of their (short-lived and under-paid) careers.

Regardless of your personal feelings, you should have supported the mechanics and thereby forced the company back to the bargaining table. The employee group's failure to band together now will cause their slow demise later.

And, for the record, AMFA's final offer was not "unreasonable". That alone SHOULD constitute requirement from the other unions to help.

The downside for the rest of us: we will suffer as well from a reduced bargaining standpoint, but there's nothing we can do from the sidelines.

The upside: one less application to fill out any time soon. NWA won't be hiring pilots for a decade once their scope gets destroyed in the next round.

 

[skykid]

It's really very simple.

Bush would only intervene if he believed it would cause a disruption - he'd have to, despite his "business leanings", because of public outcry.

Northwest told him there'd be no disruption (or it would be very minor) because they had replacement workers lined up.

No interruption in public transportation + No public outcry = no Presidential intervention required. Pretty simple math.

There you have it. Intervene in what? NWA's completion rate is somewhere well above 90%, isn't it?