UALjan15
Uniform Swapper
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2002
- Posts
- 257
Grog:
USAir was one of the top places to work in 1987 and with the exception of the furlough in 1990 that lasted 7 years, was head and shoulders above AWA. And it was still head and shoulders above AWA after the first bankruptcy. Hell, we still had a pension.
A350
350:
Thanks for the history lesson. The thing about mergers is that history doesn't get you anything. It merely shapes what you bring to the table. In AAA's case, 15 years of previous history whittled your list down to the point where the junior man was a 1988 hire, with nearly 2000 on furlough. Not a pretty picture.
In AWA's case, history was a little kinder, but not much. Due to poor management throughout the 90s, AWA pilots never got that industry standard contract or legacy-caliber pension. As such, their ranks were pilfered for years as pilots built experience and moved on to greener pastures. Finally, under Parker, the airline gained a little traction after 9/11, hired a lot of pilots, and got strong enough to broker a deal for AAA.
Quite honestly, neither of these airlines have been a great choice for pilots for the past 15 years. Neither pilot group has the right to a "superiority complex," although one of them clearly has one. We all were granted a tremendous opportunity with the merger. AWA gained an entire east coast system with an international operation to boot--something that we should have done one our own like SWA did, but failed to. AAA gained a stay of certain execution, a good west coast system, and a (finally) good management team.
With a couple of years of solid profits, we were poised for long-term success, as long as we could combine seniority lists and contracts successfully. We all know how that is going.
As you allude to several times in your post, East F/Os and furloughees with almost 20 years longevity just can't mentally accept being at the bottom of the East seniority list, and therefore don't see themselves as seniority equals with AWA's 2004/2005 hires. A neutral arbitrator saw things differently.
Right now I feel like we're negotiating with a cult. AAA sees things through their own unique goggles. Logic and reason do not apply. They have a mantra that they chant in trance-like fashion (DOH...DOH....DOH!) And finally, they have all charged their glasses with toxic koolaid (USAPA), and appear ready to drink in unison if the rest of the world doesn't come around to their agenda.
Good luck to all of this. I wish I could think of an example of a cult showdown that ended happily, but nothing is coming to mind.