I never claimed that the pilot group was "unpredictable," so your premise is false. The pilot group wasn't unpredictable, their behavior was merely controlled by fear.
Ole PCL veers near some truth but not enuf.
PCL says GK briefed the MEC, the MC, the ALPA staff, etc. That was on July 14, '11, before ALPA signed the agreement with SWA which had the pay, the capt seats, the fence, the furlough protections, etc. We got the email announcing the agreement on July 16.
PCL says "some" of the MEC didn't know what to make of GK's briefing. Well, they decided to ignore their confusion and instead of being honest and letting people make their own determination, the ATL council sent out an email telling everyone "there's absolutely nothing to worry about". That's about the time our EVP was advising the MEC they had to vote no cuz the pilots couldn't be trusted to make the decision.
Our ALPA "leaders" had everybody unsure of which way to turn. People knew there was more to the story but couldn't get straight answers from anybody.
But the claim that the pilots were "adamantly opposed all along" isn't true. In fact the MCO pilots got a briefing by the MC right after they reached the agreement, and the pilots there passed a resolution trying to get the entire MEC to allow a pilot vote. A guy at that meeting sent me some notes he took. The MC was asked about the risks and said ALPA lawyers had said the courts would not force SWA to integrate, said GK had discussed not integrating, had referred to the fate of Muse/Transtar guys. That stuff got buried afterwards cuz it was only heard at MCO.
PCL says "some" of the MEC thought GKs briefing was vague. Our Comm Chair was there and he didn't think it was vague. Neither did the MC, who called it a "game changer" and said the package didn't make sense without that briefing. They tried to publish GK's remarks but "some" of the MEC wouldn't let them. At the recall meeting for those reps in Sept we learned that the lawyers had advised them to publish the info but the MEC ignored that. Pilots=Mushrooms.
I was looking back at those ALPA emails and found a little tidbit buried in an eWeakly from Aug 20, '11, right after the MEC torpedoed the deal by not allowing us to vote. The Merger chairman explained the process to that point. ALPA and SWAPA can't get close to a deal, so SWA steps in with what he called a "comprehensive package". ALPA rejects it. SWA and ALPA keep negotiating. ALPA accepts that deal.
But a few weeks later ALPA denies the pilots a vote on that deal, the deal ALPA had already accepted, and SWA pulls the offer.
After that, GK publicized the remarks he'd made to the MEC weeks earlier, and you bet the pilots were scared. Apparently the MEC was "ruled by fear" too, cuz the entire MEC voted unanimously for a far worse deal than they had just shot down by 7-1, and some of them ran to SWA as fast as they could. Maybe they were just stupid and dishonest.
So ALPA gets three offers from SWA and only lets the pilots vote on the last, worst one when it's a "take it or leave it" deal. ALPA tells us, vote no and you're voting to maybe end your career, vote yes and you integrate. Nice work, ALPA.