^^^ yup under the circumstances I am incorrect. Southwest indeed won't shed unionized US jobs due to outsourcing to India. Instead, Southwest will shed unionized US jobs due to loss of business to lower operating cost lower ticket price Delta !
(snip)"Nov 03, 2010
ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines has received notification from the National Mediation Board (NMB) that a majority – more than 53 percent - of flight attendants voting in the election rejected representation by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). In response, Delta Senior Vice President of In-Flight Service Joanne Smith issued the following message to its 20,000 flight attendants:
"We are happy to share the results of the Delta flight attendant representation election we received today from the National Mediation Board. The majority of voters rejected AFA representation. This is a win for all Delta flight attendants."(snip)
from
http://www.eturbonews.com/19380/delt...union-3rd-time
Please don't read me wrong. In your particular case, it is a good thing that your mother has a highly paid union protected job, and also a good thing that your mother's employer has chosen ( to the degree that union contracts allow a choice ) not to pass on the additional cost of reinstating your health insurance ( as mandated by Obamacare ) to your mother.
But for a fact those additional costs will have to be paid by somebody ... either by Southwest stockholders / bondholders, or by Southwest ticket buyers, or by the (former) employees that Southwest has to lay off in order to spread the same X dollars worth of employee benefit budget among a smaller pool of remaining US employees. If it's the stockholders and bondholders, all of sudden Southwest's borrowing costs go up and it becomes more difficult for them to replace and/or maintain their rolling stock - which will hurt business after a year or two. If it's the ticket buyers, then many will simply decide to book their next flight with lower cost Delta airlines instead thus hurting business immediately. And if it's the employees, this means that if she's lucky enough to avoid a layoff your mom will wind up working 20% harder in exchange for the same paycheck and benefits. One way or another, there is no free lunch !!!
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