AirTran pilots vote to authorize a strike

[boomerbust]

Source: jsonline.com

Comments

Pilots at AirTran Airways (AAI), the No. 2 carrier at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport, have voted to allow their union to call a strike if labor contract talks fail.

The strike authorization vote was announced Tuesday by the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents around 1,650 pilots at Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran. The vote doesn't mean a strike will occur. But the vote could give the pilots more leverage in their demands for higher wages.

AirTran, which recently opened a hub at Mitchell International, is holding its annual shareholder's meeting Tuesday at downtown Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel. Around 50 AirTran pilots are conducting an informational picket outside the hotel, said Jim Morris, a union spokesman.

The vote "sends a message to management that the pilots overwhelmingly want this contract now," Morris said.


Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/business/94117694.html

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Interesting comments at link.

[saigon68]

1. A few enlightened comments YUK YUK

My2Sense - May 18, 2010 9:58 AM

The vote "sends a message to management that the pilots overwhelmingly want this contract now,".....no it sends a message that in a down economy, when people are being forced to take a pay cut, getting laid off, and there are wage freezes all over that these pilots think this should somehow not effect them. Another prime example of how unions are simply not in touch with what is going on around them.



FlexPlexico - May 18, 2010 10:02 AM

Another greedy union. Plain and simple. When are the Union's going to figure out that they are sinking America's ship????

Francisco Danconia - May 18, 2010 10:08 AM

Drop their contract on the ground and piss on it like the skipper in Major League.

FlexPlexico - May 18, 2010 10:31 AM

There is no instance where unions are good anymore. It's not the 1950's where Workers were constantly in poor working conditions. That is what OSHA is for. If the pilots don't like their wage they can go fly elsewhere. If there is nowhere else to fly they can keep their jobs, move aside for other pilots to make a living or go fly a kite.

T Pizzle - May 18, 2010 10:44 AM

Unions, not corporations, have been the downfall of the US economy. They are ineficient and handicap productivity everywhere they are found.

No one should be compensated $75 an hour for a manufacturing job. No one should have their flights canceled because a few pilots, who are probably already over paid, want more money. No one should have job security when they consistently under-perform and under-achieve simply because their union protects them.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. Good ol' Valujet...

[hayu_lol]

3. It is time for unions to show some phenominal growth...

and more clout in their demonstrations. What workers are experiencing in this country today is a full-blown return to The Gilded Age.

Back when the bosses/owners used the services of Pinkertons, the police, and the army to break strikes.

Unless, of course, if one is happy and content with working for $1/hour.