Don't you see that ALPA merger policy wasn't applied in that case?
TWA Dude writes:
No, I most certainly don't. The Policy states that Nicolau is the final decider. Disagreeing with his opinion doesn't mean Policy wasn't followed.
Don't you believe that you received an unfair advantage in this integration?
No, I most certainly don't. Why do you even bother asking?
Anyone in the West that claims they don't see that isn't being honest.
I'll accept that only if you accept that anyone in the East who claims DOH/LOS wouldn't be an unfair advantage to them is also being dishonest.
Hundreds of East pilots will retire in the right seat having never upgraded, and meanwhile a bunch of young 90s hires at AWA will upgrade ahead of them. How is that not an unfair advantage?
The disadvantaged AAA careers are a result of the company shrinking to almost half its size. You're misplacing blame. Why should our upgrades suffer unduly as a result of the merger? A fair integration shares the gains and pains.
"Putting DOH into ALPA policy" isn't exactly accurate. Putting DOH back into merger policy is how it should be written. Until the UAL pilots fought to remove it, DOH was included in merger policy.
You're right, DOH used to be there. Also, the industry used to be regulated, mergers use to be between two fairly old carriers, and carriers used to be much smaller. The industry changed and so did merger policy.
The current policy is a relatively recent change.
I believe DOH was removed from ALPA Policy in the early 90's. I wouldn't call that very recent.
Bottom lines:
The AWA pilots were given access to the daily arbitration hearing transcripts. The USA pilots weren't. Why not? Nicolau said some things the East pilots really needed to hear. For some reason the East pilots were led down a primrose path that DOH/LOS was somehow achievable. My understanding is that the East MC was told to fight for DOH/LOS or face recall. Hardly a realistic way to conduct a negotiation.
It's pointless to debate the merits of this method of integration or that now. Our sides debated for a year and a half. We both played by the rules and the arbitrator rendered his decision. Now, the East is trying to extort concessions from the West and that's despicable. It makes a mockery of due-process.