The American Airlines filing for bankruptcy filing should be an object lesson for labor unions, but of course it won’t be.
American has not previously filed for bankruptcy, so the labor costs it has are the results of concessions made over the successful years that the unions have refused to moderate in this new climate.
Bankruptcy judges have immense power to actually abrogate union contracts, so it would have been better for the unions involved to have given back something rather than have the judge do it.
The judge may listen to the union, and management — but he or she has no obligation to listen to anyone.
Labor union leaders don’t want to take the heat for “Givebacks” — even when they might well have been able to get their workers a better deal. Union leaders would much prefer that someone else take the heat, since judges are virtually immune to pressure while union leaders can be voted out.
The workers will suffer the most, and never believe that they have been cheated by their leaders.
But they have. They will blame it on the rich who own the stocks of the corporation.
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