Since behaving like responsible adults and taking their own best interests into account was too difficult, the Allied Pilots Association has now decided to stamp its feet and shakes its fists.

The APA has taken steps, very publicly, to get a strike vote against American Airlines.  The APA board has taken a vote to authorize that steps be taken to make “. . . necessary preparations to conduct a strike vote of the membership and to initiate balloting upon the first action of AMR to impose any of the negative term sheet provisions.”

The problem is, the National Mediation Board has to give the APA permission to take this kind of action and even when it does, it imposes a 30 day cooling off period first.  Not only has the NMB traditionally been very, very reluctant to release parties from negotiations, in the past decade it has shown no inclination to even hear a union out fully on its desire to strike.

Furthermore, once an airline exits bankruptcy, the NMB will be inclined to keep parties at the table for a long, long time.

So, lacking any influence on the bankruptcy for AA in the form of having a promised 13.5% equity stake in the airline or an influential seat at the unsecured creditors committee, the APA decided to fire its rational voice (David Bates) and act like a union from the old school days in making noise in the press about its desire to strike.

Well, there will be no legal strike over the next several years at American Airlines.

When the pilots stop throwing temper tantrums, I’m afraid their going to discover that they have sent themselves backwards 10 years or more both in compensation and quality of life.  All because the membership making it personal.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax