What Goes Up...

I read about what is going on with Northwest Airlines and had started to write a post about how only airlines in the U.S. have had labor trouble (though British Airways has also, which is uncharacteristic for that carrier), but as I checked around, I found out about similar problems with Quantas, South African Air, Asiana Airlines, etc. So basically, my whole thesis got shot to hell, because it looks like most of the rest of the world is feeling the same pain.

As we know, Northwest is getting squeezed by gas prices, competition, offshoring, residual 9/11 fallout, and other factors, even though other carriers have managed to either turn things around or flourish. One concern is how this is going to impact organized labor, and I think we know the answer to that already. Northwest’s management seems to be pursuing a “divide and conquer” strategy, since the flight attendants didn’t honor the picket line since they knew they’d be fired outright if they did, and the airline wants to do all it can to look favorable to the pilots union in an effort to get them to accept concessions also.

Basically, from what I can see, labor is in full retreat, unfortunately (highlighted by the AFL-CIO split, though the Inquirer’s Jane M. Von Bergen wrote a story about a month ago about how the two unions have reunited locally to work on a construction project in Philadelphia – I meant to link to it, but I never got around to it). I think the split will end up helping the unions in the long run, partly because I think Andy Stern has more of an idea of what has to be done than John Sweeney, who for my money doesn’t quite have the same take on things and trusts the politicians too much instead of bugging them to get their act together on behalf of their true constituency. I think Stern is likely to win out, reunite the unions, and change their tactics. Assuming I’m right, whether or not it would even work remains to be seen.

I mentioned that I didn’t find what I was looking for when I was checking this out online, but I did find this. I think what Shannon Jones says in response to “BG” is food for thought, and it gives you an idea of the mountain we truly face.

(And as if we needed a reminder about why we have to fight this battle at all, consider this.)

(One more thing – if you think there’s a chance in a million that I’ll ever fly on Northwest Airlines after reading this, think again.)