Delta and its Republican minions in Congress are continuing the recent assault on workers' rights by forcing an FAA shutdown until Congress is willing to gut workers' rights:
The issue, Reid says, is Delta's "non-union" stance. The bill to fund the FAA, as crafted by House Republicans, includes language that sets new rules for aviation workers' votes on labor representation.
Oddly enough - after all the brouhaha over our debt problems - this shutdown will end up costing tax payers, because of course Republicans have never cared about the debt as long as they can benefit politically:
As Eyder reported earlier today, the FAA shutdown has already cost the government more money than the disputed $16.5 million in cuts approved by the House. In fact, he wrote, the federal government stands to miss out on "more than $1 billion in revenue from uncollected airfare taxes."
And where did all this lost revenue go to? Not back into the pockets of consumers, but into Delta's coffers. Delta among other airlines have cravenly took advantage of their manufactured crisis by raising their ticket prices:
Turns out, some of the airlines also realized the gap in price difference and decided to make that up by increasing their fares. So rather than passing the tax savings along to customers, they're greedily taking the margin for themselves.
Notably Virgin America - Thank you Sir Richard Branson - has done the right thing and passed the savings onto their customers.
What can you do? Well you can send Delta a message by boycotting their flights, and the flights of the Sky Team Alliance to put even more pressure on them.
Show your support by Rec'ing this diary and writing into Delta letting them know you will be boycotting their flights until a CLEAN funding bill passes Congress and nothing less. If you are a frequent flyer of another sky team member do the same with respect to them.