Hemssafety
I agree with your general view of the "post" PHI environment, but there are a couple of additional considerations:
- Pilots that leave PHI on strike and then chose to go to another carrier (say air log) will find that they will be required by union rules to take a serious cut in pay and lose all seniority. That may equate to a 30-45% cut in pay and back to flying 412's.
- Big AL will have his foot on the neck of the union. While the union will continue to exist, there will be little benefit to being a member of the union. Thus the $'s headed to OPEIU will decrease as will their support. They are already in the middle of a membership exodus and the PHI loss would be a major setback for union activity.
- Failure of the union in this situation and the rather enemic AMC contract does not bode well for EMS salaries in the future. If the lack of EMS support at PHI is any indicator, managment at AMC is already looking at what they can possibly achieve in the next round of talks.
- If the strike is broken, PHI will be a differnt company. Possibly a little smaller, it may lose some contracts, but in AL's mind, he will be able to shape the company as he wants without union input.
-If the strike is broken, the pilots that do not return will be in for a differnet life - especially the new pilots (less than 10 years) that will dump all their seniority and start over at the bottom of the wage scale (assuming they go to a union company).
Should be interesting to see if the union can break AL's will. Since they told the membership it would only be 3-4 days at most, week 5 should provide additional insight.
