Cisco,
If the thought of small girls with big mouths appeals to you, might I suggest reading some Vladimir Nabokov...Lolita was his creation and something which will, evidently, meet with your approval. While you're busy sating your perverse appetites, others can perhaps concentrate on the job at hand.
Hunter58 and Towerpuppy are exactly the sort of omni-directional creepy-crawlies one expects to find scurrying about when the light is shined upon their union protected fiefdoms, and apart from providing light relief, they have contributed nothing to the debate at hand, that being, that unions are essentially corrupt, cancerous organisations that inevitably lead to the downfall of airlines they infest and a thing which should, in my opinion, be done away with entirely in the new Swiss airline.
Cisco, if you're so enamoured of the American way of doing things, and all the craven blusterings contained within the Delta Furlough's thread, I can only despair for you. Their industrial environment is appalling, and hardly something to be emulated here in Europe. The adversarial relationship between management and union is one of constant paralysis. An excercise in negative energy achieving nothing, except the inevitable prevention of the airline to respond appropriately to market dynamics.
The outcome of this sorry state of affairs can now be seen at UAL, and very shortly, Delta. For all its cash reserves and past glorious history, it is under clear and present threat from belicose union inflexibility. Unless this changes, and signs are not encouraging, Delta will fail, just as surely as United Airlines will.
The move away from expensive large aircraft flown by expensive large pilots is well underway. There are a lot a people with a lot of vested interests, observing what we do here in Switzerland. Rather than import the ludicrous cancer of American style unionism, why not start afresh, and pursue something truly magnificent. Profit sharing, share options, perfermance related bonuses; all these things and more are the inevitable result where unions have been left to go the way of the Berlin Wall, and the KGB.
I imagine that given your past cosy situation, Cisco, that you and those like you will embrace any new order with reluctance. Simply put, I am a pilot who knows that I am better at managing the relationship with my employer than ANY union is. Its more decent, more honest, and much better value for money.
Switzerland now finds itself center-stage in a rapidly changing world airline situation. We have the opportunity to help define how our future success and opportunity is to be determined. Lets not ruin it with a massive backward leap.
[ 10 November 2001: Message edited by: Hold at Saffa ]