It’s always nice to see family.
My cousin had a lay-over in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday so she gave me a call and we went out for a bite to eat.
She’s a pilot for probably the only profitable airline in the country. We got on the subject of the merger between her employer and another carrier. (Actually her airline is buying the other one.)
She mentioned the McCaskill/Bond legislation.
McCaskill/Bond Legislation? That’s news to me.
Apparently Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond, Senators from the great state of Missouri, attached a piece of legislation to an omnibus spending bill back in 2007.
“The provision would ensure a merger process by which airline employee seniority lists can be integrated in a fair manner.”
The G ensuring fairness. How quaint.
“This provision would make it harder for one airline or union to add the employees of another airline or union to the bottom of the seniority list.”
Let’s see. If I’m making a substantial investment in a fledgling airline, shouldn’t it be up to me to determine how I integrate my employees?
Ya’d think so.
I mean if I’m spending a butt-load of my money on an asset like an airline, I’d want to run it the most efficient way I could. History would seem to agree. . .
“Thousands of former TWA flight attendants lost their seniority after American Airlines acquired TWA and were furloughed after September 11. This provision would help prevent such occurrences in the future.”
That is a shame. But really, what can you do?
Legislate fairness. Ah, I see.
But what does fairness have to do with running a business?
“Our TWA workers were given promises and only got pink slips, this provision is a critical step in protecting airline workers from this fate in the future.”
Promises of what?
But we’re protecting jobs.
Protecting jobs? Excuse me, if I didn’t come to the rescue, would these employees even have jobs 6- or 12-months down the road?
I have an idea. How about some legislation that says no airline can go out of business no matter what? That they operate for the good of the people.
Nah, that’s silly.
Ya know, the apocalyptic visions of Ayn Rand and George Orwell haven’t exactly come to pass exactly as they wrote about them years ago. But if you look close enough (actually you don’t even have to look that close) you can see all the earmarks of them.
(And speaking of earmarks…)
Seriously, can anyone tell me that Ayn Rand’s vision is not reality today?