Breaking Unions and Pork

[at the plate]

The big air carriers restructured in bankruptcies, then handcuffed their unions and low and behold they're still bleeding cash.

Apparently you haven't read a pilot's ALPA union contract in half a decade GoWhiny. Most major airlines have gone into Ch 11 bankruptcy and then emerged with heavily restructured union contracts & pensions. Maybe you actually think PanAm and Eastern are still flying? Where is the six letter "profit" that you claim the airlines are entitled to? The unions are no longer the cause of the sad state of the airline industry. Apparently the CEO's make these "dumb" decisions to drive their companies into bankruptcy, and they should be rewarded for ineptitude? Should stockholders reward ineptitude? I guess they do when CEOs are the major shareholders. The major airlines have their business head in the 50s just like the auto industry.

Most airlines haven't made profits in many years, even with drastically reduced union contracts and pensions. Apparently you're the one subscribing to the "dumb" factor. Do you just make your "dumb facts" up as you type? Maybe you should try reading a little more than Sarah does.

AJC -Atlanta "Delta pilots now receive only a small percentage of the monthly retirement benefit they earned while employees of Delta. "

2004 LA Times - A tentative agreement by United Airlines’ pilots union to go along with the scrapping of its members’ main pension plan was reached.
In a novel concession, the Air Line Pilots Assn. said it wouldn’t oppose the ailing carrier’s offer to give the pilots marketable securities instead of their guaranteed pension benefits. The giveback is intended to help United and its parent, UAL Corp., emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. United had threatened to junk its union contracts to save cash unless it found an alternative arrangement with employees.
Under the proposed contract, the union also agreed to a 14.7% pay cut for its 6,600 members, on top of 25% to 30% wage reductions that they took last year to help United survive.

Maybe you need to have 30% arbitrarily cut from YOUR paycheck because someone else subjectively thinks you just "make too much" for whatever it is that you really do. I'm not the "dumb" one wanting to have pilots earning burger flipper wages flying commercial airliners. These pilots deserve the wages they earn for the incredible responsibility they carry daily. If fiscally irresponsible CEOs drive their companies into the ground and still make 22 million a year to create mass layoffs of line workers that's "profitability"? To who? The common stockholder, nope. the employee, nope, the 401k pension holder, nope. the consumer, nope the economy, nope. the CEO, most incredibly yes.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6293634&page=1

and here I thought I wore your ignore button as a badge of honor. It guess my being "dumb" just wasn't "profitable" for you to just ignore me. However, I'm proud to wear "your brand of dumb".

 

[freedom]

GM is the largest buyer of viagra in the world. i doubt it's all bought for the board of directors and management

legacy costs of retirees is massive, both blue and white collar. hundreds of thousands of workers have been bought out at age 40+ and have 30 or 40 years of retirement benefits to collect.

unions pick and choose targeted strikes at profitable plants. when one plant/car line is making good money the company could use to benefit the company, the union stages 'health and safety' strikes to get concessions and renegotiate contracts. so management is constantly putting out small fires all over the country

franchise laws across the country make gettting rid of a particlular brand very difficult. It cost GM hundreds of millions to get rid of oldsmobile. they would love to pare down to chevy, pontiac & cadillac but it is way too costly

 

[Foxwood]

An interesting article from New Republic:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=1026e955-541c-4aa6-bcf2-56dfc3323682