+1, Both sides need to stop trying to piss in each others Wheaties put the past behind them and sit down and figure something out. The East needs to accept that when you merged the West gets SOME of the good stuff and the West needs to accept that they only get SOME of the good stuff. Not ALL of the good stuff.Yeah I know the term "Good Stuff " is relative with regards to US Air but like it or not it's both of yours airline. Both sides need to find some less rabid dog style leadership and lock them in a room with a pen, paper and a bottle of Jack. They can come out when they have an agreement that has both sides equally pissed off. Think Nic plus fences. Yep that means some of the East guys (including myself) will be pulling gear for a PHX commuter and it also means that some of you West guys will have to watch the A330's taxi by with out you in it. Put the list together and take away one of Team Tempe's best weapons. A divided pilot group. If you keep the status quo we all can look forward to still trying for a contract during the next downturn and both sides lawyers will have new mansions out by Doug.
There is a small problem with that: There technically is only ONE pilot group. We are represented by ONE union (technically, mind you).
All three parties signed a transition agreement. One of the many tenets to that agreement is that the pilots would be going through the merger process as defined by ALPA merger policy. We did just exactly that.
I personally think that it was unfair to place a permanent 517 body fence in front of the number one AWA pilot. That said, we (both parties) agreed to abide by the process. As a result of the delivered seniority list, the east pilots hijacked the CBA and voted in USAPA. That triggered the "one pilot group" situation.
Hence, there is NO person, NO committee, NO ad hoc committee, NO group or entity that has the legal right (or inclination) to attempt to negotiate AWAY from the Nicolau Award with the help of USAPA (and that even means agreeing to DOH w/ "restrictions").
Because of USAPA's actions (suing 24 of our pilots for RICO crimes, trying to fire West pilots for non-payment of dues - ALPA never did that did they, Staffing all important committees with east pilots only, and trying to deliver a date of hire seniority list to the company), we must now have the courts finish this. The West pilots have been forced to defend our position, and we are most simply along for "the ride".
To put this in the most simplest terms: it comes down to keeping one's word. Even if there were someone that could negotiate away from the Nicolau seniority list, how or why would we now take the other party's word?
One last note: If the east and west had accepted the list as fact, and stood together on a new contract in May of 2007 (when the east walked away from the JNC), we would have been able to negotiate AT LEAST current Delta current rates. Now we wait for the court to conclude this exercise and EVERYONE has lost at least 4 years of better wages, time off and working conditions. What a shame.