Stan, at AirLog the union is much more entrenched, more effective and more difficult to break because they are an agency shop (or a closed shop even, I'm not sure).
PHI's best and final offer included an agency shop provision, which to me was a much more important concession than any retro pay offer or mandatory workover solution.
Steve's rationale for not bringing that final offer to a vote just doesn't cut it with me. The company made the offer and then, when the union accepted, withdrew it? C'mon, it's not a kindergarten schoolyard, and even if it is, it is supervised by a Federal Mediator.
I'm guessing that the union accepted portions of the offer and rejected others, or wanted additional concessions, and that PHI then withdrew the entire offer as a matter of standard bargaining practice.
The maddening thing here is that a vote either way would have strengthened the union's hand. An up vote would have meant a contract and an agency shop. A down vote would have sent a strong signal to the company that the offer needed some sweetening.
I greatly admire your principled stand in all of this and I completely agree with you that PHI needs both a union and a CBA, for it's own sake and for the sake of the industry at large.
But there's principles and then there's the nuts and bolts of securing a workable contract. I am absolutely mystified and more than a little miffed that local 108 had an agency shop (and the attending muscle) within it's grasp and now they've gone and thrown it all away.
If this debacle ends up breaking the union at PHI, local 107 need look no further than local 108 for the culprit.