Verhuisassistente
Vanochtend kwam Joyce, mijn schoonmoeder, aan op Schiphol. De komende dagen is zij onze verhuisassistente. Ze helpt ons met opruimen en inpakken en met het entertainen en overvliegen van ons kroost. Haar vlucht verliep voorspoedig; ze landde ruim drie kwartier vroeger dan gepland. Ik hoop dat onze vlucht straks ook zo soepel verloopt. Of dat ook zo zal zijn, valt helaas nog te bezien. Wij vliegen komende week met Delta Airlines, één van die grote maatschappijen met forse financiële problemen. Al geruime tijd terug heeft Delta surséance van betaling aangevraagd en uiteraard is men fors aan het snijden in de kosten. Eén van de kostenposten waar het mes in gaat, is het salaris van de piloten. Daarover wordt nu al maanden gebakkeleid, maar een oplossing lijkt nog niet in zicht. Sterker nog, gisteren hebben de piloten besloten om zo nodig op korte termijn te gaan staken. Concreet betekent het dat zodra de pilotenvakbond het idee heeft dat de onderhandelingen vastlopen, men de boel zonder pardon kan plat leggen. En daar zitten wij natuurlijk niet op te wachten. We volgen het nieuws over dit conflict dus met argusogen en hopen er maar het beste van.
Geschreven door Marcel @ 1:24 p.m.
3 reacties
3 Reacties:
Dit uit een travel newsletter die ik dagelijks ontvang:
Is there really a reason to worry about a Delta strike?
Delta’s pilots voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to authorize their union to strike, and that has many fliers holding Delta tickets concerned about what their options are. "I didn't want our vacation to be ruined," Josh Bernoff, a Delta frequent flier, tells The New York Times (free registration). "One Delta agent I spoke with basically said, 'Don't worry about it.' That's easy for them to say." But despite Bernoff's conerns, if the showdown plays out the way some experts think, there may be little to reason to worry. "I don't think there's going to be a strike," says Roger King, an airline analyst at CreditSights. He believes the strike vote will serve mostly as a tool for leverage in negotiations with management. Industry analyst Mike Boyd agrees, telling CNN/Money he thinks there is about a 10% chance pilots will follow through on work stoppage at Delta –- despite the fact 94.7% of them voted to authorized a strike.
Even if there is a strike, Boyd wonders if some pilots might actually cross the picket line. "If you're a pilot, you have to vote in favor of a strike or you don't have leverage (in negotiations). That doesn't mean they'd really go out," Boyd says. "There aren't a lot of folks hiring pilots out there, and even if you get a job, you start at the bottom, at $15,000 or $20,000 a year." But Delta’s pilots are serious about a strike, warns Lee Moak, head of the Delta chapter of the pilots union. "We will not capitulate to these demands based on a fear of what may lie ahead. We understand the risks.”
Despite the risk, at least three airline/labor showdowns that seemed similarly perilous over the past few years have all resulted in last-minute agreements -- stare downs that ultimately cost passengers nothing more than a few anxious moments. Perhaps with that in mind, not all travelers are worried about this latest strike threat. “We've learned over the years to, indeed, take them in stride," travel agent Kaelin Rybak of The Travel Authority says to The Louisville Courier-Journal. "It's gotten to the point that there are so few strikes that lasted any length of time that people just assume a consensus will be reached."
The pilots unions tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (free registration) it is “still willing to pursue a consensual agreement,” but Moak repeated his warning that pilots are willing to walk out. "If our contract is rejected, we will strike," he says to The Associated Press. "I can't be more direct than that." And if that happens, Delta CEO Leo Grinstein has previously warned the airline might not be able to survive even a brief strike lasting only 24 hours.
Next up: An arbitration panel handling the dispute says it will rule by April 15 on Delta’s request to void the pilots’ contracts. Meanwhile, Moak says he will meet in special session with union leaders today and ask them to give him the authority decide when and if to set a strike date
Oje....
Ga voor jullie duimen dat ze nog even wachten met al die wilde plannen.....
Groetjes Petra
Vroeg me af of jullie al aan de andere kant zitten nu?
Hoop dat het allemaal een beetje volgens verwachting is verlopen....
Indien ja?
WELCOME IN NORTH CAROLINA!!!!!
Groetjes Petra
Een reactie posten
<< Home