MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Back in 1989, FedEx Express bought Flying Tigers, primarily for their routes to Asia and landing slots at prime locations all over the world. Job #1 for Smith after the purchase was to jettison as many of the "new" Tigers people as possible. First, all of Tigers employees were unionized. The pilots were ALPA, and the rest of the employees were IAM. All were forced to de-certify, and the headhunt to eliminate these folks started right away.
However, one group of Tigers employees refused to de-certify, and that was the flight attendants. Tigers had run passenger charters for many years with their 727QC and DC-8 fleets, and it was very profitable. We all know Smith loves profit, but he quickly ended the charter ops so he could kill the union. It wasn't long after that the pilots told Smith to shove-it, and formed first an in-house union, and eventually joined ALPA. They knew what they were dealing with.
However, one group of Tigers employees refused to de-certify, and that was the flight attendants. Tigers had run passenger charters for many years with their 727QC and DC-8 fleets, and it was very profitable. We all know Smith loves profit, but he quickly ended the charter ops so he could kill the union. It wasn't long after that the pilots told Smith to shove-it, and formed first an in-house union, and eventually joined ALPA. They knew what they were dealing with.