This Week In Marketnews: Tips For General Managers

Marketnews: Custom Corner: How to Be a Good General Manager

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Midwest Airline Pilots Mad As Hell, Not Going To Take It Anymore

Forensic Accountant Tracy Coenan has a brief tirade about the futility of the rally held by the union for Midwest Airlines' pilots.

Midwest Airlines pilots hold rally… Why?

In addition to all of this, Midwest wants the pilots to take wage cuts of between 45% and 65%. I don’t blame the pilots and their union for fighting this wage cut and the layoffs, but what’s the alternative? If Midwest can’t create a financial situation in which they at least break even, they go out of business. I realize that pilots are being expected to go from salaries in the $100,000 range, down to $30,000 to $40,000. Who wants to do that? No one. But what’s the alternative from the standpoint of the company?
So what is going to be achieved by rallying and making negative comments about the company? Nothing, as I see it. I still respect the pilots’ rights to do it. I just don’t think that it’s going to accomplish anything. The business model of U.S. airlines is no longer viable.

Let me just say right off the bat that I have little respect for airlines. In my opinion, the only stock position you should have in an airline is short. And we've all heard the old saw about how the best way to become a millionaire is to become a billionaire and open an airline. Ba-DUM-bum!

Let's face it, you'd have to look long and hard to find an industry that whines more, delivers poorer shareholder value, and suckles on government-doled corporate welfare harder than the airlines. As I've said before, if tomorrow some genius invented a Star-Trek styled teleport device for moving people and cargo instantaneously and cheaply through space, the very next day, airline lobbyists would be hitting up the government for big fat subsidies and tax breaks "in order to remain competitive."

With that out of the way, I would say to Ms. Coenan that having the pilots express their displeasure is reason enough in itself. Negativity and criticism, like short selling, is a critical tool in giving feedback to public companies. Getting airline management to deliver value to shareholders is akin to pushing a rope, but why should they collect paychecks for achieving nothing without being publicly excoriated for their errors?

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CE Pro Whitepaper Series: 10 Things Every Integrator Needs to Do to Thrive in a Down Economy

In addition to timely news reports on action in the custom channel, CE Pro also produces white papers, longer educational texts that address both technological and business issues.

A little while ago, CE Pro asked me to write a white paper that outlined key best practices for custom integration companies.

10 Things Every Integrator Needs to Do to Thrive in a Down Economy (free registration required)

It's a little longer (okay, a lot longer) than my usual weekly columns, and akin to the feature article work I do in print. Regardless, if best practices are a subject that interests you, register at CE Pro and download the white paper.

I'd also like to publicly extend a warm thank you to Sony, who were kind enough to sponsor my white paper.

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