Unions not to blame for airline woes

George Will’s recent column, “The turbulence in the airline industry,” demonstrates what happens when a journalist gets lazy, and also abandons even the slightest pretense of objectivity. If Will would quit lounging around the CEO’s office, admiring the view from the ivory tower, and talk to the people who make American Airlines run on a day-to-day basis, perhaps he would get a more accurate picture of the problems facing all airlines, and American in particular. Unfortunately, this would mean personal contact with the unionized employees he so clearly reviles.

After reading Will’s column, one would think that unions are all-powerful, and literally extort “unsustainable” and “improvident” contracts from helpless airlines. Will explains that airlines must cave in to labor to avoid strikes, because they must amortize their aircraft even when idle. It escapes Will that the bills don’t stop coming in for the employees who reluctantly went on strike. Perhaps that’s the real reason strikes are so rare, not a cave-in to unreasonable demands as Will suggests. If unions have all this power, and total disregard for the bottom line, why have they allowed their pay and benefits to be slashed in recent years?

Will correctly cites competition from consistently profitable Southwest Airlines as one of American’s problems, but he neglects to point out that Southwest pilots are higher paid than American pilots. Will alludes to “work rules” as featherbedding nonsense, when in reality they ensure that you have well-rested pilots at the controls of your aircraft.

Finally, how can any rational person discuss an airline bankruptcy without mentioning the astronomical rise in fuel prices? That’s like trying to explain the Titanic tragedy without mentioning icebergs. High fuel prices, exorbitant taxes and intense competition in a cutthroat industry are American’s major problems, not the labor unions Will detests so vehemently.

Mike Robak

American Airlines pilot

Schaumburg