In fact, the TWA pilots can blame their predicament on the fact that ALPA wasn't the representative at AMR.
First of all, we have written proof that ALPA continued their campaign to get the APA to rejoin after the TWA purchase was announced. Second, as per instructions of our MEC our ALPA-National supplied merger attorney was about to file court injunction papers to stop Supplement CC from being implemented -- until Woerth ordered him to stop. Turned out he worked for Woerth and not for the TWA MEC (a mistake not repeated at AWA). Lastly, where was the outrage at ALPA brethren being screwed by another union? Where were the billboards, newspaper adds, pickets, handouts, anything other than a wimper? If I were an APA member at the time I'd be thinking to myself, "Why would I want to rejoin a union that so easily abandons its own?" Incidentally, the internal APA drive to rejoin ALPA petered-out after the TWA acquisition.
If this was an ALPA/ALPA merger, then they would have ended up much better off.
How can you say that, especially considering that you disagree with Nicolau's ruling? There's no guarantee an arbitrator would've given us anything better that what the APA did. Still, we would've loved the opportunity to have the fair process that ALPA Merger Policy entails. And unlike the USAir MEC and YOU I would've accepted the arbitrator's decision and not spitefullly tried to screw the other side.
As it turned out, the TWA MEC was left with two options: give up the scope protections governing mergers and save the jobs of the pilot group, or try to hold on to it and AMR will just allow TWA to go chapter 7 and cherry-pick the assets at auction with zero pilots to go with them.
It's true what they say, if you tell an untruth often enough you start to believe it. I'll type this slowly so you can understand it:
the TWA sale to AA would've gone through regardless of whether our MEC agreed to give up successorship clauses! The bankruptcy judge stated (erroneously, as it turned out) that he couldn't cherry-pick parts of our CBA to change; he could only do nothing or abrogate the
whole thing. Our MEC acted to keep intact the rest of our CBA. AA wasn't going to let a pesky pilots' union get in their way. If they'd wanted TWA to go Chap 7 they wouldn't have gone forward with their DIP financing.
ALPA had no way to defend against this,...
Well, it was the Woerth-controlled attorney who advised our MEC to give up our successorship clauses. Hard to tell whose interests he was really representing. And BTW, that attorney I'm talking about, Roland Wilder, is the same guy the Easties are using to sue the AWA MEC. Go figure.
However, it is blatantly obvious to everyone but the AWA pilot group that this award was not fair in the slightest, ...
Ha! I'd be willing to bet money that a poll of non-AWA/USA pilots would reveal something very different from what you presume.
