To waivering CMR pilots
Face it Comair guys, the exchage is not going to change the mindset of the Delta pilots writing in this forum or those that don't write in this forum. It does not matter who says what, their minds are made up and they were made up long before Buergey's (their then MEC Chairman's) little visit with the Comair MEC.
There are several reasons for the Delta pilots hatred (like it or not that's what it is) of the Comair pilot group and none of them have anything to do with furloughees.
1) Their MEC tried to prevent Comair from flying jets. The Comair MEC did not roll over and do their bidding. They got angry and have been stomping their feet ever since. They even resorted to calling us "scabs" on the radio when our jets first came on line, and no, it was not one or two of them, it was hundreds of them. They were accustomed to getting their way and having everybody bow before them in ALPA. The Comair MEC didn't bow and they haven't gotten over it. They have disliked us intensly ever since.
2). They tried to promote an Eagle-type flow-through agreement and they were told we were "not interested". They then threatened to stop us from flying the 70-seater alltogether and we told them it would mean war. They tried anyway and failed, winding up with "unlimited" 70-seaters in their scope clause (1996). That pissed them off even more.
3) They used their power within ALPA to take funding away from the Comair MEC in the effort to coerce the CMR MEC into doing what they wanted. They were successful in the Executive Council. The Comair pilots countered by assessing themselves, keeping the assessment money outside of ALPA control and blocking effectively the Delta MEC's effort to coerce the CMR MEC with money. That pissed them off again, even more.
4) The Comair MEC filed a PID request after the purchase of our airline. It was an attempt at unity. The Delta MEC called it a "seniority grab" and launched a progaganda campaign among Delta pilots to promote that idea. The Delta pilots fell for it hook, line and sinker. The Delta MEC fought the PID, with lawyers and every other available means at their disposal. They were successful, but they deeply resented the idea that some "scumbags" from Comair would suggest a merger with almighty Delta. They hated us for making the attempt and they still do.
5) In C2K negotiations they tried again to take away the 70-seaters. They were only partially successful and blocked them at 57. They also restricted the 50-seaters and intentionally created a provision that would force the 70-seaters to be spread over all of DCI, effectively blocking the large orders/options placed by CMR before it was purchased by Delta. They felt good about "squashing" CMR pilots' aspirations (within Comair) and made no secret of it.
6) During the strike they did what they had to do to keep themselves from being called scabs, i.e., they did not fly struck work. They did not do that in support of Comair pilots, they did it for themselves. Some of them walked the picket line with CMR pilots, right up until they got their own C2K settled. As soon as that happened, they never walked again. They did not walk to help CMR, they walked to help their own negotiations. While they were preaching "support" in public, their MEC was quietly fighting every approval of funding from the SOC. They paid the assement because they had to, and some of them gave some dollars to the family fund. Most of them gave nothing, but they have been crowing about it ever since. They are the ONLY pilot group, in or out of ALPA, that has ever demanded a pay-back for their alleged generosity.
7) A group of Comair pilots sued ALPA for failing to represent our interests properly by helping the Delta pilots effort to take our 70-seaters and scope us out of existence. They resented that deeply and used it as a political weapon against all Comair pilots. They are still doing that today.
8) When their pilots were furloughed, their own MEC did NOTHING to help them other than paying their insurance (COBRA). Their MEC refused to use its own negotiating capital with Delta management to obtain preferential hiring for the furloughed pilots anywhere. Instead, they seized an opportunity to approach the CMR MEC with a political manuever structured in a way that they knew would have to be rejected. When it was, they launched a campaign of villification and slander against our MEC and our Chairman. It was no accident, it was a deliberate effort to turn the Delta pilots against Comair pilots and it worked, just like the first propaganda effort and the lies about "seniority grabs". Their MEC Chairman, who made the move, was a long time opponent of Comair jets, before he became MEC Chairman. He was a part of the original effort to take the 70-seaters. A hypocrite and an enemy of the Comair pilots. The furloughed Delta pilots were gullible enough to believe him and with the active propaganda of the Delta MEC joined in the campaign to blame the CMR MEC for the failures of their own MEC.
9) In their most recent concessionary bargaining, while their MEC is publicly pretending to have a "new accomodation" with the CMR and ASA MEC's, they were actively trying at the bargaining table to take the 70-seaters again. They failed. Then they tried to negotiate a J4J program that would put Delta pilots into the Captain seats of Comair airplanes, just like USAir. It had the support of ALPA, but that support was neutered in part due to the RJDC litigation. It failed because the Company would not agree to it. They agreed to modify their scope because the company forced them to do it, period. They were not doing us any favors so don't be duped into believing that.
Since 1994 (long before many of you that want to kiss and make up came to CMR) The Delta MEC, has engaged in a concerted effort to control the flying of Comair pilots; to limit the number of jets we operate; to restrict the size of those jets to 50-seats; and literally to screw us in every way they could think of. Many of you CMR pilots that want a love-in would not be here if they had prevailed. The CMR MEC was mostly, though not completely, successful in stopping them and they resent that.
Now they want to pretend that they are "injured" because the CMR MEC would not go to war with our management for their benefit. We would not do with our management what their own DMEC refused to do with their own Delta management. So now they have the "right" to threaten and attempt to blackball CMR pilots that might want to fly at Delta in the future. They condemn us because we did not do for them what they refused to do for themselves; for their own furloughed pilots.
Wake up and smell the coffee, Comair pilots. They hate our guts and they have hated us from the day Comair ordered its first jet in 1992. Since that time their MEC has consistently worked against the interests of Comair pilots in every way that it could get away with. They despise the CMR MEC because it had the courage to refuse to bow down to their efforts of intimidation and it fought actively for the rights of Comair pilots. The Comair MEC is the ONLY regional MEC in ALPA that has ever had the cojones to stand up to a mainline MEC. The Delta group resents us for doing that and they aren't going to stop unless we give in and allow them to control us and to dictate our futures.
This divide is not about furloughees and it never has been. It's about power. The Delta pilots are the self-appointed Kings of ALPA and anyone who doesn't bow before them is branded an SOB. Especially some regional scumbags like Comair. That is who they are, it is what they believe in the majority, and it is what they represent. It's their "culture" of dominance and they are not about to give it up. They will do or say whatever the can to promote that.
Comair pilots need to understand that. They are not our friends and they never have been. No amount of rhetoric or reasoning is going to change that. Give in and they will squash you like the bug they regard you to be. Thinking that they are going to "love" you because Comair hires a few of their pilots is wishful thinking and It ain't going to happen. They do not want unity, what they want is control and a Trojan Horse is one more tool.
I do not despise any of the Delta line pilots and I feel sorry for those that are furloughed. I want the Company to do well and I want them to do well at Delta. However, not one of them should ever sit in an airplane operated by Comair ahead of any Comair pilot. They have no right to the left seat at Comair and we should not give them that right come hell or high water. I do despise many of their former leaders who have been out to "get" Comair pilots for more than a decade. I'm happy that, so far, they have been less than successful. But, I am not unaware about how much and how hard they have tried.
We should not be listening to BS from the General or any other one of them. Instead, learn and face the truth. We are "separate", they want us to stay separate, and that is how it is going to stay. As long as they do not seek to do us harm, we should get along with them. Meanwhile, lock your doors and guard your house, for they will take from you anything they can whenever they can if you fail to protect it. Leopards don't change their spots. They are not on our side, they never have been and they aren't going to be unless it is in their interest.
The best thing we Comair pilots can do is start worrying about our own survival before we waste time worrying about make-believe unity with people whose agenda is to do us in.
