100% correct. Whats worse is that pay is based almost exclusively on seniority no matter how good or bad a given worker is. I've commented before that if the company had simply focused on eliminating the bad employees, the remaining workers are productive enough to do the job and get paid what they're really worth.

The union priority unfortunately is to maximize the number of workers, not to optimize pay. They get union dues based on how many people are working, so its in the unions interest to negotiate more workers at lower pay rates.

Management is SUPPOSED to focus on operating a profitable airline. Instead they focus on grabbing market share at almost any cost. This has been their failure for over 20 years, and it hasn't changed.

unions wheel and deal employees on a daily basis

Let's not kid ourselves. How long were these flights grounded after 9/11 2 days? These companies lined up for bailouts because they were wining and crying that those two days of being grounded would cause bankruptcy. Really? So the companies are so poorly mismanaged they can't lose 2 days of income? What about years when they run profit, they don't set it aside for a rainy day like those of us without govt. safety nets do? The decision makers should have been fired then!

You can't really be dumb enough to think that the two days of being grounded was the only effect that 9/11 had on the airline industry.

Nice to meet you, tks for the kind words internet stranger. No reason to get all hostile because you disagree with me and call me stupid. Perhaps something is missing in your life....

Here's an article for you, funding approved in just under 3 weeks. http://articles.cnn.com/2001-09-21/us/re...rriers?_s=PM:US

My point is that the airline industry suffered because many people chose not to fly after 9/11. The two days after 9/11 did hurt the companies but not nearly to the degree that lost business over the next several years did. Anyways, sorry for being rude, I just thought you came across strong also.