scopeCMRandASA said:
It seems to me that of you take my point at face value, as a given, and Comair has allowed it to happen, then how can they bring the point up now. Kind of like squatters rights. I don't know the law, but that seems like a reasonable assumption. Additionally, with an industry leading contract, and the growth demonstrated over the past 5 years, how can they prove damage, etc. Just thinking like a juror.
Pardon me, but it doesn't seem to me like you are "thinking like a juror" at all. It doesn't even seem to me that you're thinking like a pilot, most of whom have a pretty good idea of what "assumptions" do to us. Sounds to me like you are thinking like someone how has a "dog in the hunt" and isn't hearing what he wants to hear in support of your own biased views. You have not heard any evidence, you do not appear to know any facts, but yet you are ready to reach a "verdict". I suppose there are potential jurors like that, but good lawyers usually keep them off of juries.
As for Comair (the company) they did not "allow" anything to happen. There were no problems for Comair pilots with the Delta pilots' 1996 contract. These issues and this dispute grow out of the contract that the Delta pilots call "C2K". When that contract was signed, Comair was already owned by Delta, existed only as a corporate shell (alter ego) and had no say in the matter. No person from Comair management ever participated in any way in negotiations between Delta and the Delta pilots. Prior to its acquisition by Delta, Comair management did not agree to any provision of the Delta pilots' PWA and the same had no impact whatever on Comair's operations or future plans.
In contrast, many Delta officials definetly took part in the decision making procees related to the Comair pilots' negotiations for the contract signed in 2001, which they had a right to do. They in fact "called the shots".
The Air Line Pilots Association is the sole bargaining agent for both the Delta pilots and the Comair pilots. As such, ALPA is legally obligated to represent the interests of
both groups. Unfortunately, the intentions of the Delta pilots conflict with the interests of the Comair and ASA pilots. Thus ALPA had to choose. It chose to favor the Delta pilots at the expense of the Comair and ASA pilots. It is not possible for the ALPA to represent the interests of Comair and ASA pilots,
which the law mandates that it do while simultaneously representing the
conflicting interests of the Delta pilots. ALPA was not unaware of that. Therefore, if ALPA chose to harm or to not represent the interests of the Comair and ASA pilots, because it chose to afford preference to the wishes of the Delta pilots, ALPA errs and violates its Duty of Fair Representation. That is what this lawsuit is all about.
Whether or not you think that the Delta pilots should be the preferred group is irrelevant and does not relieve ALPA of its obligations to the Comair/ASA pilots.
I'm not a lawyer, but it appears to me that the ALPA may very well be up the old familiar creek, without a paddle. We'll just have to see what the courts say. We all have our opinions. Be that as it may, we are neither judge nor jury.
If the case goes to trial, and If a jury decides in favor of the plaintifs, there is no doubt in my mind that the ALPA will appeal the verdict. If it does and the court agrees to hear the appeal, it will be heard before a panel of judges, without any jury. Juries sometimes decide cases on the basis of emotion (as evidenced by your remarks). Judges decide cases on the basis of law. I don't know what they may or may not do. I just know that I would not want to be on ALPA's side of this dispute in an appeals court. Like I said, we all have our opinions.
This is a response to that squiggles guy, and should be treated as such. He/she thinks that because the Delta pilots allowed a soecific aircraft to be grandfathered, all aircraft of the same seating configuration are up for grabs. Not so.
I think you misinterpreted Fins comments. What was grandfathered in the past or what may be grandfathered in the future is not the issue in dispute and is irrelevant. The only issue is whether or not the ALPA honored its DFR.
If the court finds that ALPA did not honor its DFR, then the relevant provisions of the contract generating the dispute (negotiated by ALPA and behalf of the Delta pilots) would be stayed from implementation. In other words, the Delta pilots would not be able to restrict the flying of Comair and ASA, nor to limit the number of 70-seat aircraft that they may operate.
While no one on the defendant's side of this dispute is willing to acknowledge that the Delta PWA has or will harm Comair and ASA pilots, the facts (not the opinions) appear to indicate otherwise. That is precisely what the court found in its denial of ALPA's Motion to Dismiss. ALPA also stated and argued that the complaint was moot, because circumstance had lifted the restrictions it imposed on CMR/ASA pilots (and others), yet ALPA itself turned around an renegotiated new restrictions, thus repeating the breach. Therefore, the judge found that the complaint was NOT moot.
Aside from the legalese, if you believe that limiting the operation of 70-seat jets at Comair and ASA does NOT harm the careers of CMR/ASA pilots, especially given the orders and fleet plans that existed before the Delta PWA was signed, then your prejudices have gained control of your reasoning.
Should ALPA lose, Delta Air Lines will still be free to allocate its flying as the corporation may see fit --- a right that has never been challenged by either the Comair or ASA pilots. The only group that thinks it has the "God given right" to tell Delta Air Lines what aircraft may be flown by its other subsidiaries or its subcontractors is the Delta pilots, through ALPA.
If ALPA loses the case they will no longer be able to unilaterally make those decisions and will be enjoined from trying, so long as the three airlines are represented by the same labor union. In that event it is highly probable that the Delta PWA would return to the applicable terms (Scope limits) of the 1996 agreement, as Fins later pointed out. Since those 1996 terms were never challenged by either Comair or ASA pilots, they could not now be challenged after the fact with any promise of success. What would that do? It would remove the ratios in the Delta PWA. It would also make the number of 70-seat jets operated by Delta Connection brand carriers, unlimited. That was the status quo between 1996 and C2K.
In terms of the impact on Comair/ASA pilots, it would simply restore the career expectations and plans that existed prior to the purchase of those carriers by Delta Air Lines. It would also make it possible for Delta Air Lines to negotiate the operation of larger aircraft, not presently operated/flown by the Delta pilots, with its two other subsidiaries. Comair and ASA pilots would gain the right to negotiate directly with the entity that truly controls their destiny, i.e., Delta Air Lines, and not its layered surrogates.
The only way that the Delta pilots could prevent that would be to sit down as equals with CMR/ASA pilots and reach a mutual agreement as to where the "lines" that devide our operations should be drawn. The Delta pilots would lose the ability to arbitrarily draw that line wherever they may choose from time-to-time. It won't give Comair or ASA 737s, DC-9's or Airbus 319/320s which, IMO, rightfully belong to Delta pilots, but it
might give us CRJ-900s or the EMB-190.
You may not understand that, but the intelligent Delta pilots do. That is why they frequently threaten to leave ALPA in the event that ALPA does not prevail. What's wrong with that is twofold. 1) The ALPA cannot survive (financially) as we know it, if the Delta pilots leave. 2)Their departure will not reverse the verdict. While it would leave them free to try to negotiate the same contract again, on their own, Comair and ASA pilots would be equally free to negotiate directly with Delta for the same thing. The likelihood that the Company will ever agree to again hamstring itself in the current way is, IMO, remote. Therefore, Fins has a point. It behooves both the Delta pilots and the ALPA to attempt to settle this dispute, long before it gets to that point. Perhaps I am wrong, but if they did so, I believe they would find that the ASA/CMR pilots are not nearly as unreasonable as they themselves appear to be.
I guess that means that you believe you are not. Think again. In my opinion, you're mistaken about that too.