You hit the nail on the head, except for one small caveat. HE LOST CONTROL OF THE EMPLOYEES, NOT THE COMPANY! There is a huge difference there. It has always been about a power struggle and PAY! For those fence sitters criticizing the union ask yourself two questions. Did you think we would actually negotiate an industry leading contract on the first go around? Because if we had that would have been an industry first. The second is, if our work rules suck so bad then why is uncle expending every ounce of energy to see its demise?
It's nice to see some decent debate on here for a change, both sides making some good points. I see one glaring flaw in your thread, though. You speak of the Options contract as though it actually has scope protection. It does not. As they say on the airline side, scope is everything when it comes to a contract. The Options pilots are living proof that this is true, and it's only going to get worse.
So Kenn says he's combining the lists? Cui bono, to whose benefit? How would a gamble that might cost him a combined, unionized pilot force possibly pay for him? Any combination would have to be negotiated with 1108, and no decert vote involving the Flex pilots could take place until after such merger is complete, with no guarantee that it goes his way. Kenn may see a combined list in the future, just as he's long seen a large cabin G-fleet at Options, and has said so at numerous employee meetings. How many are still holding their breath for that bid?
The current contract with 1108 allows Flex pilots to fly Options trips, as well as their own card trips, on the FO certificate as brand partners. They just need to be trained to the FO 135 program. Management functions can be shared behind the scenes, but the companies can still be separate in name to allow two pilot lists. The 1108 contract, with 4.0 staffing per sold airplane, allows him to dwindle the current FO seniority list down a lot more, to well below 200 pilots. These can't cover all the Options trips, but Flex pilots can take care of those. That minor 'brand partner' thingy that 1108 let into scope, again. Meanwhile, the crappy pay for the remaining FO pilots stays in place, not until the contract expires, but thanks to RLA 'status quo,' until a new contract is ratified, which could take years.
Once the FO group is smaller, with maybe 90 disgruntled union supporters left, and the Flex group has grown through their own business and picking up FO lift, then Kenn can merge the groups. If he hasn't already driven a successful decert vote on the FO side by then (just look at the happy Flex pilots and what you could have with no union), he then simply tells the Flex group the sad news that their pay and work rules will, by law, be set to the FO contract upon the merger - until they can drive a decert vote, at which time he can give them back what they lose. Of course, once the decert is complete, he's free to set pay and rules to where he really believes they should be. Both groups are being played, and aren't in much of a position to stop it.
