Ask an airline executive to rank the most frustrating aspects of his job, and labor relations will more often than not top the list, particularly at a time of massive layoffs and salary reductions. Of course, some airlines experience more success than others in maintaining relatively positive relationships with their employees. Those that do typically find a way to communicate in a constructive way, leaving management with a generally accurate sense of the prevailing sentiment of its rank-and-file and workers with a more accurate assessment of management objectives.
Unfortunately for most airlines, constructive communication often takes a back seat to vitriolic rhetoric during formal contract negotiations. The all-too-common scenario often leaves management “disconnected” from their employee groups, creating an environment in which the level of trust on both sides of the management-worker divide erodes beyond repair.
