Airline unions are expected to use the prospect of increased consolidation within the industry as an opportunity to win back the concessions they made in contract negotiations during the airline industry slump in the first half of this decade. While airlines may be looking to stabilize their business by joining forces in the coming years, mergers cannot be finalized without approval of both the pilot and flight attendant unions. Those unions are expected to use that power as a bargaining chip to increase wages and benefits, costs that may in the end render the point of a proposed merger moot.
See "Labor backing for airline deals may be costly", Chris Reiter, Reuters, January 10, 2008