Okay, time to stop lurking and jump into the fray.
It amazes me how people can spin facts to fit whatever suits thier purposes. Pilots seem to be rather adept at this. Heres the way I see it...
There is a big difference between giving flying to an affiliate carrier and giving flying AND mainline aircraft to an affiliate carrier. The later is what is occurring at MDA. In fact, we should call it US Airways because "Mid Atlantic" doesn't even really exist, except as essentially a "C" Scale for furloughed mainline pilots and FA's. This situation with the EMB-170s is in essence no different than transfering the A330 flying to Republic. The size of the airplane should not make a difference, only that a pilot group is getting screwed at the pleasure of management.
The only technical grey area here is the fact that the MDA pilots are in a black hole in terms of union representation. They are part of the US Airways APL, therefore they are US Airways pilots, yet there has not been an agreement yet on what CBAs, if any, cover these pilots. IMHO, this move to place the aircraft at Republic may be as much about avoiding additional "costs" associated by whatever contractual protections the MDA pilots might earn as is about the cash infusion offered by Republic. If that is the case, then union members of every ilk should be mortified... Or maybe we are going to do the typical pilot thing: "I got mine, f*ck you."
I have seen time and time agian on this forum CHQ pilots say, "Hey, I not responsible for the decisions management makes. I just fly what they tell me to." Well, this time it IS a labor decision. This is no different than EMB jets being taken from you and given to another company. "Ah but we have strong scope and successorship language" you say? Wasn't that the song sung by mainline pilots not so long ago? Those who don't know history... Well, you know the rest.
Republic pilots: Would it really be that bad to take on 300 MDA pilots? Even if it was date of hire (which it would never be, some sort of equitable shuffle is more likely) it would maybe delay your precious upgrade a whole three or four months? I thought you were the fastest growing regional? Aren't there more EMB-170's coming on the UAL side? Besides, if things work out at US Airways all those MDA folks will be gone soon just to cover the retirements at the mainline. In short, don't be a bunch of short sighted, high-on-new-jet-smell snobs.
Okay, lemme have it!