Sevenstrokeroll said,
there is so much more to this situation than 5030N might have you believe.
Actually not much more.
All that's going on is a blatant attempt to get around an arbitration decision that you don't like, an arbitration that you willingly entered into, that gave you ample opportunity to present your arguments, and that was decided before a neutral third party that you selected.
USAIR east is getting more widebody planes. Has recalled all furloughed pilots. It has options for more narrowbody aircraft too.
And all that has taken place post merger.
Was any of that true the day prior to this merger?
Taking a picture of an airline on one day can show many things.
But only one day counts, for integration purposes, and that is the snapshot date on which the PID is implemented.
On that day the relative career expectations of the two groups were vastly different.
I'll review them since you seem to have a great capacity to ignore them.
AWA was solvent, accepting aircraft deliveries, and hiring pilots.
US Airways was in its second bankruptcy, was shrinking, and had over 1500 pilots on furlough with little expectation of recall.
I recall a day or two in the history of America West airlines where you could say:
the airline was bankrupt.
the airline was having trouble with the FAA over maintenance issues ( a personal friend wrote up the rudder on a 737 and it was removed from the mx log and never fixed)
And that America West Pilots went to Australia to scab.
All of the above is true, and is completely irelevant in the narrow context of this seniority list integration.
ALPA is out. Fair and square.
The Nicolau award, a flawed document and currently contested in court, has not been implemented.
It's a "flawed document" because you didn't like the outcome, and for no other reason.
The ALPA Executive Council judged it to be without material grounds to be withheld, and no court, irrespective of what your dubious new lawyer is telling you, will overturn a federal arbitration case without compelling evidence of fraud.
The majority of all usair pilots voted for USAPA and its hallmark is seniority is by Date of Hire. That is it.
Not that big a majority. There are only about 1600 AWA pilots, 98% of whom voted for ALPA; yet ALPA garnered 2200 votes. Where did those other 600 votes come from?
And I'm glad that you admitted that USAPA is about nothing more than DOH.
You do know why Nicolau told your Merger Comm that DOH was not going to work in this case, right?
It was because the institution of straight DOH would have egregiously disadvantaged the west pilots and removed from them those real, identifiable career expectations that existed for them on the PID.
Yet, you deem it quite alright for USAPA to attempt the same thing.
I can take a picture of your airline on any day of my choice and prove that you don't have the right to be a captain.
But again, the only date that counts is the snapshot date.
See above.
BUT who would you rather have as a captain. Someone with 20 years of service or someone with 3 years of service?
Ahh, the "rookie" argument.
Somehow I knew that would come out. It always does when you run out of facts. (There are no 3 year CA's on the west side, and there won't be under Nicolau)
Actally, I'd like to have as captain someone who's integrity is not in question, who doesn't let emotion rule their thinking, and is firmly grounded in the reality of their situation.
So far, I've met damn few easties who meet that criterion.