No some of you are just late to the party. You are proposing a PID for NWA/Mesaba. ASA and CMR proposed that in 2000. Better late than never I suppose...
Spare me!
The PID cabal in 2000 didn't propose anything. They
demanded it! There's a difference.
By the way, after you mistakenly stated that Dan was a status rep. during the PID,
You're right, I did. Dan was merely the
Spokesmodel, and
Point Man. The rest of the gang simply nodded.
you went on to say that Dan and the others failed to compromise. What did you mean by that?
Um, "
compromise" means to modify your demands to acheive consensus or approval. The PID boys took a position of
all-or-nothing. I think they did it, in part, because they recognized that compromising on the PID would weaken their position if it happened...and would require them to pay part of the cost to
make it happen. They were totally unwilling to do that!
ALPA merger policy is pretty straight forward...
AFTER there is a merger. Just like "
hot chicks" are preferred to "
un-hot chicks"...the
standard for what constitutes a "
hot chick" tends to vary from guy to guy. Likewise, the perspective the PID cabal took require them to convince others (Read: "
everybody else") that it was a true
merger.
were you implying that there should have been a "pre-nup"? If so, why?
Here's your only break from me: Rather than pouncing on you for posing a stupid question
("Duh! You do a pre-nup if the failure
to do one means you don't get the deal!"), I'll be nice.
A compromise was/is essential because there is a tremendous cost for the mainline pilots, both in near-term quids and direct costs at the table, and from the long-term impact of eliminating "strata" between the integrated groups. In the case of CMR/ASA in 2000, the PID cabal offered nothing to offset or mitigate those costs.
DAL management would be losing a valuable weapon in any such integration:
The Whipsaw. How much is that worth to them? Tough to say, but would have been quickly quantified at the negotiating table. Direct costs include the contract. At the time, the number used was North of $800-million in 2000 dollars. That's a minimum! Repeat,
minimum!
If you'd like to do your own math, blend the DAL pay formula (lift, range, speed) from Section 4 for the aircraft side CMR/ASA would bring, then add the cost (at the time) of the DB Pension obligation. Then multiply
that by the number of pilots, and calculate the whole thing over a nominal 4-year contract term. ALPA
E&FA put it at over $1-billion...but they used a "snap integration", instead of something that occured over time.
Now, put a large group of pilots making
under $40/hour on the same list as a large group of pilots making
over $200/hour, and tell me where the pressure will be in the next contract. Will it be to ensure the top-paid folks get healthy raises...or to pull the lower-paid folks up? (If that hypothetical is difficult, just look at the #1 negotiating priority at NWA during the '98 strike: The b-scale. It was the #1 issue for the most senior pilots, even though they'd never been on a b-scale! Think about that.)
There were compromises suggested by those of us who had standing with both pilot groups who were attempting to mediate some sort of deal...but the PID cabal would have none of it. During the 2001 CMR strike I spent a lot of time trying to convince Dan that his group should start developing compromise proposals in case an opportunity arose to do something about an integration.
Unfortunately, he has a pornographic memory (simliar to a
photographic memory, except you visualize anything
anybody does as something that
screws you), and persisted with his
all-or-nothing demagoguery.