When Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines merged in 2008, two different business models and cultures had to coalesce—down to trash bag size and whether flight attendants should pour drinks directly into cups or hand cans to passengers. They had to consolidate computer systems and get new printers that would print agreed-upon boarding pass sizes. The merger also resulted in at least 613 workers being laid off.
Mergers are messy. Messier still when they involve a hostile takeover, such as the current one aimed at Spirit Airlines by JetBlue, staged as a reaction to a possible merger between Spirit and Frontier, two low-cost airlines, which would threaten to leave JetBlue competitively behind other consolidated giants like Delta and American. Such a merger would force flight attendants to conform to new business models and change their entire routines; potentially move to different routes or geographical bases, with hours that don’t serve their family needs; and likely place many of their jobs at risk, causing undue stress for years into a merger.
To complicate matters, the two airlines are represented by two different unions. But one union leader is adamant that employees do have the leverage to secure job protections before any deal is done.
A hostile takeover is when a company wants to acquire another company against that company’s wishes. It’s a legal process in which the potential acquirer goes directly to shareholders, usually by offering them a premium price per share (known as a tender offer) to buy enough shareholders out so that the acquirer can have a say in the company’s management. (A friendly takeover, in contrast, is when a company agrees to merge or to be acquired by another.)
In April, Spirit’s board of directors rejected JetBlue’s offer of $33 per share. This week, Spirit’s CEO, Ted Christie, blasted the unsolicited offer as “cynical” and “illusory.”
Hostile or not, mergers are worrisome from a labor standpoint, especially when…