And, you know, I have, in a very synoptic fashion,
set forth some of the things that have troubled me and some of
them, Mr. Syzmanski, are what appear to be allegations to what
you said which would perhaps -- perhaps can be explained but
they seem contrary, as I have indicated, to what you set forth
in Court which indicated quite clear told me and you were very
candid and I thought we're fine. (“)We're going to go forward,
have another seniority agreement and the Nicolau Award would be
at least considered(”).
And then we have these allegations about what has
been said since that time and also noted what is in a press
release which is by USAPA which says USAPA will propose
date-of-hire integration in accordance with USAPA's
constitution at the outset of the McCaskill-Bond process. The
parties exchange accurate information, et cetera. Based upon
this information, the pilot groups attempt to negotiate a
mutually agreeable merger, merged seniority list and that the
Merger Committee will proposed DOH method of integrating
seniority.
THE COURT: Yes. You're prepared to talk. We want
to talk and we will want genuine engagement with the West
Pilots about the seniority proposal and we are proposed to make
changes. No changes.
MR. SZYMANSKI: Changes in the date-of-hire proposal,
not changes in the Nicolau proposal.
THE COURT: Well, you never said that. If you had
said that in open Court, then we would have had a hearing at
that time because the issue was what I made quite clear is that
you had to go forward. USAPA had to go forward and with an
open mind and that the Nicolau Award was not irrelevant. It
was to be considered.
THE COURT: Did you offer something?
MR. SZYMANSKI: We didn't offer anything specific.
THE COURT: But what would you have offered as you
have said in open Court? I'm sorry to interrupt and make this
complicated for you, but how about we get to my question where
I am -- as I mentioned, I am somewhat uneducated about this.
There are other methods and means to establish a seniority
system that would be fair; correct?
MR. SZYMANSKI: Absolutely, Your Honor.
THE COURT: So what did you offer?
MR. SZYMANSKI: And, Your Honor, I'm not saying that
the Nicolau Award is not fair although there were significant
problems with it, and I'm not saying that a date-of-hire
proposal is not fair. We've given the Court cases and
citations to a number of Court decisions that say that a
date-of-hire proposal is within the union's duty of fair
representation and is fair.
MR. SZYMANSKI: We haven't had any discussions
because they don't want to discuss anything other than the
Nicolau Award and I don't want the Court to misunderstand the
fact that doing the Nicolau Award itself as it is, as it
stands, is a realistic possibility. It isn't. It just -- it
isn't.
But we are willing to say --
THE COURT: Why isn't it?
MR. SZYMANSKI: Because we think it was unfair.
