Geez, I go away on a two day trip and all hell breaks loose. For a long time (since the 3 WO's got the same dog-and-pony show all at the same time about taking concessions and giving in to J4J), I just figured that whole mess was purely business (give the new planes to the cheapest operator, and we all know who got 'em). No longer. I'm sure some of you, but not all, are aware of the huge shift in the ALG's union leadership as a result of our contract. By a 5 to 3 margin, our group was being handled by what you could call hardliners running on anger and emotion, and some conspriracy theorists think that our negotiating chair (a non-voting member) was running the show with the MEC chairman (also, a non-voting member), and turning a deaf ear to the voting members who didn't agree with their "screw-em agenda". This attitude apparently made our MEC very difficult to work with and I think now we (ALG) have been given this ultimatum to thank us for all the hassle...
It remains to be seen whether our "union brothers" at PDT will see things from a standpoint of union solidarity and not "whats in it for me" (18 new planes transfered from ALG makes for alot of upgrades if they dont' take any pilots). Of course, all those MBA's at Airways probably have about a dozen ways to merge the two without making it a true merger, making any ALPA merger policy null and void. I'll just say that whatever happens between the two, I want to remind to everybody that what goes around comes around.
In any event, I'm sure we'll all be flying for Mesa by years end anyway. The golden children at PSA too. Then we'll all see firsthand why they are despised industry wide...