Seriously? The Union Slam? With respect Sir, you are talking outta your BUTT.
ALPA has done more to advance safety standards in the air than any Government or airline executive.
And slam Stew's too. At the base line, they get paid to evacuate the public from burning airplanes.
Aircrew are easy "whipping boys" - They don't get paid for what they do; they get paid for what that can do.
Sounds like someone that only got to work with “Flight Attendants”. But really I was one of a group of line pilots for Eastern that actually got to review the Eastern financial records as part of the collective bargaining process and I agree the ALPA has and still does a lot for safety. But the main reason for the collapse was this”
After 686 days on strike against Eastern Airlines, rank- and-file members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and our supporters registered the final piece of our victory against the union-busting drive of the employers when the carrier folded at midnight on January 18, 1991.
Eastern strikers from coast to coast, from Puerto Rico to Canada, reacted by calling to congratulate each other and going out to airports to celebrate.
The sign I think expressed our feelings the best was the one at the Miami airport that read, "We said we'd last `One day longer.' ".
When we walked out on March 4, 1989, most of the rank and file of the IAM sensed our strength for the first time. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Local 553 of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), which organized the flight attendants, also recognized our strength and our fighting determination. They joined our picket lines. The unity we had achieved between the unions and the pilots' association greatly increased our initial strength, and, in turn, our confidence.
The unity of the Machinists, flight attendants, and pilots in a major national strike, over a period of eight and a half months, is something that had not been seen in the airline industry before.
Our slogan became that we would last "one day longer" than Frank Lorenzo. This meant that we would never let Eastern run a profitable airline as long as it operated with scab labor. We knew that by achieving that goal, we would help set an example for every other working person in the United States and internationally - our real family, not the "Eastern family." On April 18, 1990, in a victory for all labor, our slogan became a reality. On that day the federal government, through its bankruptcy court, removed Lorenzo from control of Eastern....
After Lorenzo was removed, our slogan remained "One day longer," but it became "One day longer" than Eastern....
