It's kind of funny to hear people say on one hand that it's those dang-ol' high union salaries that are killing companies, and on the other hand claim that salaries would be just as high now without the union.
Can't have it both ways, guys.
RJS, not to get into a peeing contest, but what you *said* was:
With unions running the whole show, nothing would get done and everybody would sit around and play cards and draw checks.
I respectfully disagree. Even with unions, stuff gets done. It *has* to get done or no revenue comes in. The Big Fear of unions is that everyone will take on a "not my job, man" or "I'm on break" mentality. I don't see how that would happen with pilots. We're assigned flights, we take flights. Unionized airline pilots have been doing just that since 1939.
Yes, Deregulation hurt the U.S. airline industry badly, but as others have pointed out the sole blame for that cannot be laid on "unions." I, for one, blame the DC-9. Jeez-Louise, getting stuck in the middle seat in the rear of one of those was my personal version of hell. And that Canadair Regional Jet? Torture! So instead of flying from Florida up to New York to visit family, I just drove. Took longer, yes. But I had a big seat all to myself. Now, if there's a choice, I drive. And I wonder how many others there are out there like me who feel the same way? The airlines themselves drove us to driving, then had to cut fares to the bone to entice people to fill their tiny seats.