>>I personnaly [sic] believe that an Australian with the education required to gain employment in the pre 89 Domestic Airlines of Australia could have such poor writing skills as to make a post almost unreadable!<<
Agreed, that fellow could never have typed his own AFAP resignation fax!
>>I can't but wonder how the disasterous A & B scale came to be. Surely that alone would have caused division and resentment in the first place, between crews.<<
The B-scale was the brainchild of CEO Bob Crandall of American Airlines, implemented in a 1983 contract. It was sold to the pilots as "don't worry, it's only for the new guys..." It spread through the U.S. airlines like a virus until the unions wised up. A later variant is the "Express" alter ego operation with lower wages and less favorable work rules, this still exists at some places like Delta and US Airways.