Airtran MEC Update

[stalker]

General please refer to post #26

 

[Bob Dylan]

Why couldn't Southwest just start hiring again and offer preferential interviews to all Guadaloupe pilots to get the ones who really want to work at SWA over first?

At least then the rest of the Guadaloupe pilots wouldn't be able to ruin it for the pilots who really want to go to Southwest. I can see that happening.

 

[General Lee]

It's an aquisition of Airtran with a merger of seniority list down the road. How far down the road is still to be determined.

Chase is right about how the future could turn out. It could be very exciting for everyone on the updated list.

There are plenty of arbitrators ready and available to hear your case, NOW. Remember though, the last few cases really leaned on "relative" type awards. That seems to be very popular these days, and I can see why SWAPA wants to delay everything. Don't worry, those arbitrators will still be around in 2 years.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[SWA/FO]

Why couldn't Southwest just start hiring again and offer preferential interviews to all Guadaloupe pilots to get the ones who really want to work at SWA over first?

At least then the rest of the Guadaloupe pilots wouldn't be able to ruin it for the pilots who really want to go to Southwest. I can see that happening.

Tristar come to mind..

General Lee - You don't know anything about SWA or SWAPA. You know about Delta, thats it. You bring nothing to this conversation, as always.

 

[redflyer65]

There are plenty of arbitrators ready and available to hear your case, NOW. Remember though, the last few cases really leaned on "relative" type awards. That seems to be very popular these days, and I can see why SWAPA wants to delay everything. Don't worry, those arbitrators will still be around in 2 years.


Bye Bye--General Lee

General,

I'm not sure there ever will be an SLI, it still depends on how things play out. The odds of realitive seniority are zero with no SLI. Gary created Guadaloupe Holdings for a reason. If ALPA pushes that hard, it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[General Lee]

General please refer to post #26

Delta "technically" aquired NWA. The Delta CEO stayed in charge, and appointed people he liked from both companies to various management positions. There was still a joint contract done first, followed by an SLI via 3 arbitrators that followed, and it seemed very "relative". If you try to say your's is differnent, then you are wrong. The "aquisition" had some cash involved, but was mainly a stock swap. Delta was deemed "the aquirer."


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

General,

I'm not sure there ever will be an SLI, it still depends on how things play out. The odds of realitive seniority are zero with no SLI. Gary created Guadaloupe Holdings for a reason. If ALPA pushes that hard, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Making one side of a merger or aquistion mad just won't make LUV see any synergies, and it could really DRAG on SWA's profitability overall. SWAPA can threaten all they want, but legal challenges will probably force an arbitrated SLI, and that will most likely lead to even more upset pilots, this time on your side. Sounds like anything other than a staple would ENRAGE your team. That just doesn't happen these days, in any merger or aquisition. I understand the threats with Guadaloupe holdings etc, and we all know that is just a blanket threat, but the AT guys holding out will produce a more fair SLI via arbitration, and hatred between both groups. This won't help your competitiveness in ATL or anywhere else, and I am sure some other airline CEOs are hoping that happens. That would be too bad for you and the AT guys.

And you comparing your merger with Delta merging with Comair is just wrong. Comair doesn't have the same planes, or fly different routes (INTL). Airtran has equal plane sizes to yours, is a LCCs, and flies to places you don't. Bad comparison, and you know that.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[GuppyWN]

"no comment" Then why post it?
For all of you that keep saying you don't want to destroy your "culture" at SWA, seems like you are doing a fine job of it yourselves.

Loosen up my brother. The "no comment" quote was to simply show that I am following advice for once and not saying anything derogatory or inflammatory or SLI related.

The only comment I will make is about the "4-way talks" and that is to say we aren't ALPA so 4-way talks are most certainly NOT common place in acquisitions, unless it's ALPA on ALPA love. If a "4-way" wasn't the case in ALPA/ALPA you'd be ripe for DFR lawsuits. In the ALPA/SWAPA case it's simply each union negotiating for its' members.

I look forward to a speedy resolution and a bright future with my Airtran bro's.

Gup

 

[jonjuan]

Good one. I love the debating skills of you and Jonjuan.

Ahhhh....some little guy got his feelings hurt. Run back to mommy's big arms now.

 

[chase]

GL,

There is no cookbook to a "perfect" merger/acquisition. Each one is different, each scenario has more differences than similarities to past mergers/acquisitions. Using DL/NWA as the poster child is of no more value than using the RAH/F9 one.

That being said, SWAPA is taking the approach it is taking because its members (within the legal limits of BM and AM) have directed it to. If DL hadn't pursued what its members wanted, you and others would've have denounced them as not being representative of your own pilots.

As far as arrogance, it is an anonymous board, knowing who works for whom is difficult if not impossible at best. Attributing posts as representative of a pilot group would be like saying all DL are like you? They aren't are they? A search of the forum would find probably a 1 v 1 post that could make the same argument for AAI pilots but I know from my own experience the AAI pilots I have met have all been very similar to the pilots I fly with at SWA...top notch folks.

SWAPA has been communicating with the AT MEC unlike your statement. I can understand your confusion and misunderstanding since you are not employed by either airline and don't have access to all of the information.

The issue has been SWAPA hasn't agreed to the positions that the AT MEC has put forward....that doesn't mean they aren't communicating! If it does, then my wife and I haven't been communicating on many topics, nor my kids since we come to different conclusions many times.

Two good teams made up of honorable pilot who disagree....nothing sinister or "bad" about that. That doesn't necessarily mean someone is or should be "mad".

SWA is a part of that equation in the opinion of AT but if SWA doesn't wish to engage that isn't SWAPA's fault.

If at the end of the day the AT MEC finds it as a showstopper and doesn't wish to complete a Process Agreement because of it, then the AT MEC should get direction from their membership and let the chips fall where they may (kind of like arbitration). I'm fine with that and so should be the AAI pilots I would think.

As far as the website, it is an instrument to share information in as clear and concise manner as possible.

AAI has the opportunity to do the same and if they feel it is of value to their members and to the public, then that is great.

I'm all for transparency and I applaud SWAPA for putting the information out there. It may not excite some who read it; some obviously disagree with it but everyone is certainly better informed after reviewing the material.

Like anything however, there are many sides to the story and the bias is always there, it is only one side of the story. Readers certainly should evaluate multiple sources of information with the full understanding that those sources won't be without biases also.

Arbitration maybe the final result and if so, no worries from my standpoint or from many within AAI I suspect. It is not a sign of failure but one step in the process as I see it.

We'll all live with it and prosper as a result of either a negotiated settlement, mediated settlement or arbitrated settlement.

As far as a culture is concern, I'm confident the vast majority of new and old SWA pilots will see that it continues...that doesn't mean the result will not make for a few malcontents and those will populate and feed those on here and other places who hope for our failure....so nothing will have changed will it except there will be an airline with 7300 pilots focused on being the best airline possible. That bodes will for our future I contend. Cheers,