Associated Press Claims Workers Cause Airline Problems

[Omaha Steve]

http://uniongal.blogspot.com/2008/04/associated-press-claims-workers-cause.html

Thursday, April 03, 2008

So, I’m reading MSNBC when I find this article on the ATA bankruptcy filing

Airlines are struggling with rising fuel prices, labor strife, depressed ticket demand and heightened competition, said George Godlin, an analyst for Moody’s Investor Service.

“We’re in a perfect storm kind of environment right now,” he said.


Okay, so, I’ll bite, there’s going to be a mention of “labor strife” in this article, I'm sure of it and they're tie it to the current problems for Aloha and ATA.

Tough operating conditions have led to merger talks industrywide. Negotiations between Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. recently stalled over a dispute between pilot unions.


Did you catch it? No? Let’s try again…

merger talks… stalled over a dispute between pilot unions


This isn't even remotely related to either Aloha or ATA and worse, it has nothing at all to do with "labor Strife".

Somehow, Associated Press seems to think that a merger issue for Delta and Northwest airlines is comparable to a strike or similarly related "labor strife".

What's even more bizarre is that the issue for Delta and Northwest was a pre-merger issue where they asked their unions to see if they could iron out a few issues BEFORE they went ahead with final merger talks. They simply wanted the two groups to agree prior to advancing because they didn’t want their employees to go through what AmericaWest and USAir have had to do since their merger. And in case you didn’t know this, there are different seniority rules in place for those two groups. Northwest and Delta were looking to simplify things for themselves and their crews. Sounds like a good idea to me. Apparently, this is what amounts to as a "stumbling block" to the Associate Press. It's funny though, the union issues didn't stop Delta or Northwest from proceeding, there have been additional meetings since, may be something, may be nothing, but according to the AP this constitutes “Labor Strife.” I suppose if you’re a moron it does.

One of ATA’s partners, Southwest (and don’t get me started on their fines and outsourcing) said...

Southwest said Thursday that it immediately began rebooking passengers with dates and times as close to the original travel plans as possible. Southwest said it would give priority to customers who are scheduled to travel in the next 14 days.

“ATA Airlines has been an outstanding partner for Southwest, and we are disappointed to hear this unfortunate news,” Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines chief executive officer, said in a press release. “We are sad to end our codeshare relationship with ATA but understand it’s extremely difficult for an airline to flourish in today’s arduous financial environment that has been plagued by soaring fuel prices.”

Notice how even Southwest understands that yep, it’s the FUEL and ECONOMY and um, not workers?


FULL story at link.

[Nitrogenica]

1. Keeping the investors and CEOs wealthy is HARD WORK.