Lear,
We elect our reps and Pres/two VPs...so we are different besides not being ALPA. Other than that, why don't you think outside the box a little on this one maybe. It will come to you...maybe it won't!
I get what you're alluding to (a few others on the SWA side have as well). However, I just don't think the numbers exist for that to make it happen, even if we wanted to. Those guys (and gals) were mostly just voted in, and removing them when they haven't done anything wrong (and are saying what most of our pilots seem to want in regards to the SLI - they want something fair and are letting our MC figure out what that is), would be problematic. Just not enough votes, even if someone wanted to (which there's no indication anyone does).
I'm sure you'll be able to always bid your current line in ATL. History is funny, we hate it in school so we fail to learn it or learn from it, but it always seems to repeat itself! I'm just saying...
There's a lot more factors in play here than ever before in history, including a lot of legal issues that no one has addressed that require integration. NO ONE on your side has explained SPECIFICALLY just how to get around 2 signed and legally-binding documents, PLUS our CBA, statements to the DoJ, DoT, FAA, NMB, and the shareholders.
Until someone can cite a legal way out of *ALL* those things (not just 1 or 2 of them or wide insinuations with no facts), I won't worry about it, as there hasn't been a situation in history where an airline committed in writing in at least half a dozen places to everyone under the sun to integrate then tried to back out of it. It's NOT a threat to you guys, it's simply me not worrying about something that doesn't appear to have legal basis and letting the Process continue to work as agreed.
As far as bidding my current line in ATL, I like my line in MCO. No one has yet to explain just HOW MUCH the average pilot at AAI should have to sacrifice to a SWA pilot in order for you guys to be happy. I thought it was just that you didn't want to be negatively impacted. Neutral impact shouldn't mean "your gain at our expense", correct?
Lear- not trying to flame here but if SWA management is using the "if" word in their correspondence with you, then it probably is a thinly veiled threat.
SWA management didn't, SWAPA did. The mailer that came out is all SWAPA material, with the exception of the intro letter.
SWA can be very cold and brutal if need be. Ask any ATA pilot if you don't believe me. SWA WILL not accept any solution that harms a current SWA pilot's career and neither will we. This of course does not have to be the case though. Hopefully your MC and our NC will be able to hammer something out that is agreeable to both sides.
Different situation than ATA, they never had public commitments to integrate the airlines, nor did they have signed Process Agreements and side letters guaranteeing the same, either. Apples to Oranges.
That said, I agree with you that hopefully our respective negotiators will work something out. It may not come during negotiations, it may come during mediation, it may even come during arbitration (there's nothing that says that during arbitration an agreed solution can't be had prior to a ruling and arbitration abandoned). I'm going to trust our negotiators to find something workable.
Please don't let a few hard core ALPA thugs dictate what the majority of AAI plots want- a reasonable integration in line with previous career expectations. It seems a few gooned it up for the F9 boys and girls, don't let that happen here.
It won't, different situation completely. However, there aren't any ALPA "thugs" in our MEC (whatever that is anyway). Several ex-TWA ex-UAir ex-Mil folks in our MEC with experience from other carriers who don't want this to go south. You may hear from some people that aren't involved at the MEC level; they have no say-so in what happens. The only people that have ANY control at this point are the 8 MEC voting members, the MEC Chair, and the Merger Committee, and none of them could be labeled "ALPA thugs".
PS lot's of moving parts still in this deal. For example, we're now hearing that the 717 sims won't be going to DAL and the planes them selves are being sold to Boeing.
That's pure rumor and isn't correct. The MC briefed the P2P folks not 48 hours ago and reiterated that the latest from SWA management DIRECTLY to the MC was that the 717's are here for now (they have to be, you can't just yank airplanes out of service with tickets sold and service contracts to cities in place). Pilots and rumors... some things never change.
I am thinking that if this thread is indicative of the mood at airtran towards integration, then it will never happen. I wish I could give you guys the perspective here, but it is just something you have to see. You should realize that it is probably most cost-efficient not to integrate and that SWA mgmt is trying to be the good guy here...I would not expect that to last forever.
That's not correct. It costs over $200 Million a year NOT to integrate (that number has been vetted, by the way, by BOTH legal teams). Even with SWAPA giving unlimited codeshare with us and operating us separately (agreements to integrate notwithstanding), it's still an over half a Million a day expense to maintain our overhead (separate operations staff, separate maintenance staff and spares, separate headquarters, etc), but I imagine we'll know more about the mood moving forward towards the end of next week.
That said, what you're seeing here isn't the mood at AirTran towards integration. It's the mood at AirTran in response to a pamphlet from SWAPA (with an attached foreword from your management) that appears to be direct negotiations. Our pilots want to integrate, and they want it to be fair, recognizing that fair isn't one extreme or the other. We just want to have your NC and our MC work it out and bring it to us for vote, just as the Process Agreement states.
We're happy to be here, we're not angry or militant, and no sense worrying about something we can't control. Have a frosty one and enjoy your weekend! :beer:
