Wow, you are sooo clever. I totally got reeled in by that one.

If the shoe ere on the other foot, I would be very nervous. My MEC, the NWA MEC, has put me in a very precarious position. They tried to leverage the Delta pilots, and negotiate while the Delta pilots were telling them that THEY were not negotiating. All part of tactics, right? Wrong, their--the Delta MEC--actions since have been consistent with the fact that their proposal was the minimum they would accept. it was NOT a starting position with which to come down from.
I would be pissed that my MEC blew what was a very good deal in this market. I would be very skeptical of ANYTHING my MEC was saying at this time--as they blew a good deal and now have a great deal of egg on their face. I would see that Delta brings a great deal to this merger, which will create the only combination possible to ensure minimal overlap.
I would be very nervous that the economy is going to further erode prior to the merger, thus forcing the grounding of more DC-9s--and mean layoffs at NWA and Compass while Delta is hiring for their 777 deliveries and their 737 deliveries. This could be very bad for me, as a NWA pilot, in the eyes of an arbitrator. I would pay attention very closely to the ALPA national board, and the occasional posts from guys who were actually there, as opposed to the many posts from people who never were.
How was that.
It's pretty simple, I like the DC-9s and the 747s. The plan is for them to go away. We will SHARE that pain. I like the fact that about the time your retirements start to dry up, ours begin. We will SHARE both sets of retirements. For every one of our guys that is trying to get a leg up via the parking of the -9s, there is one of your guys trying to get a leg up via retirements. I am neither. It is a merger of equals, but there is NO disputing that our seniority buys us more coming into the transaction. You are going to take a hit. It is going to happen. Seniority IS forever. We've got it at the time of the transaction, you don't.
Save the double breasted sky god, arrogant Delta pilot, greedy bastard routine. You are appealing to emotions that I don't have. None of those things have ANYTHING to do with what is at hand. It's business, plain and simple. You MEC is scrambling to put on a show, and get you something that you don't have. That is about as direct as I can be. That doesn't mean that we are out to screw you. That means that our version of fair is much different that yours, and is also more correct in the sense that mergers have gone.