Answer the man's questions, geesh.
Although I find your general retreat from legitamate debate and reliance on "answer my freaking questions" mantra a bit annoying, I conceed you bring up some valid points and I will attempt to answer them as best a non RJDC supporter can. As always, if I miss the mark somehow, any "real" RJDCer is free to step up and answer the questions themselves.
>>>Let me ask you a few questions, I want to get a feel for where your interpretation of the RJDC and their lawsuit is:
According to the RJDC, does any pilot group own any DL code flying?
Yes. All ALPA pilot groups, in or out of DCI presently, have equal rights over DL code, unless ALPA sits down and agrees with all of us on a proper and mutually acceptable dividing line. (As you can imagine, this puts DAL pilots’ collective nards in a vice and at the very least is a slippery slope that only requires one ALPA pilot group with a desire to fly UNRESTRICTED DL code to ruin every single last block hour.
Now, on the other hand, if the RJDC wins this sort of unlimited injunctive relief, they think it will put the fear of the Almighty into DALPA/ALPA and they will come begging for a palatable solution.
According to the RJDC, can ALPA negotiate scope language for the DAL pilots that limits another ALPA pilot group access to the DL code?
No. It would be a free for all. Mesa would be able to bid 767ER flying, and wouldn’t even need to employ the mythical “separate certificate trick” people so often misunderstand.
According to the RJDC, does CMR/ASA being wholly owned or not have any effect on the RJDC lawsuit? If so, what does it change?
No. All ALPA pilots are equal and deserve equal representation, ergo all ALPA pilot groups deserve equal bidding chances on all DL code, absent an all party agreement, of course, prohibiting this. Good luck with that one of course.
According to the RJDC lawsuit, would ALPA be allowed to negotiate scope limits on the DL code which would prevent another ALPA pilot group from flying DL code passengers on 90 seat, 110 seat or 150 seat aircraft?
Basically the same as the above questions. If you really corner a chatty RJDCer and press long enough, he will say in theory its okay to “divide up the work” (i.e. create a 70 seat line in the sand for mainline/non mainline) but when the chips are down, they want it all.
The itemized monetary damage multipliers they publish and rely on, for now, are all based on 70 seats and under. Many of their hard core supporters say that’s all they want, unlimited 70 and below, with a few of the ASA RJDCers saying they deserve unlimited 105 seats (or whatever the max certifiable of the AVRO they once briefly had was).
But as you pointed out, their lawsuit officially only seeks, as it stands for now, to eliminate any ALPA group from limiting another ALPA group. It pays lip service to wholly owned airlines, hinting at how they deserve to be in a preferred class in a free for all bidding war, but to cover their bases in the event that they were ever spun off, they left it wide open on purpose.
They even courted non union and teamster pilots with their rhetoric (hey guys, look what evil DALPA scope could do to YOU!) but for whatever reason they were never included in the lawsuit (plaintiffs or remedies).
Its important to note that the RJDC was crafted during the best of times. A time when anything that operated on a regional property could generate as much as 30% profit margins. From this point of view, one is on top of the world, yet at the same time has nothing to lose. Its a dangerous perspective to have.
The RJDC forefathers, the supporters of the now infamous PID, left that movement wide open as well. Their stratedgy? To take the runway, power-up, reach V1+10 knots and then all sit down and try to iron out a mutually acceptable solution. They truly believed that in an integration of lists, staple was the floor and DOH was the ceiling, and as long as you negotiated hard you were likely to get some sort of happy medium within those parameters.
That all or nothing mentality has spilled over into the RJDC. Put ALPA/DALPA's nards in a vice, then only release them when all your demands are met. Its also important to note that the RJDC brings up some valid points, and correctly points out some damming evidence about ALPA's flawed practices and hypocricies. Much of their arguement and evidence is either true or based heavily on truth.
Many of their theoretical premises are true too, like the notion of a mutually acceptable dividing line. And some of their slightly lesser logical points have at least a basis in legal precident, like the concept of "squatter's rights" or common law property rights.
I think their strategy is to hold a piano over ALPA's head, start cutting away at the already frayed rope, and hope for ALPA to deal on their terms. At best they would get onelist, maybe even DOH but who knows, and at the very least, they would be able to put in a bid for 757/777/787, etc flying, which many have bragged they would be more than happy to do for considerably less than those, especialy at DAL, presently do it for.