Well, that "cut and dry" section is something your union disputed to the end, way after hearings were closed. Nothing can be 'worked out.' There is no secret about this. It would take far more manpower and time at this moment to upgrade a XJ or 9L FO at Pinnacle than a Pinnacle FO. It's still 3 separate companies, and if you come here tomorrow, you're gonna be treated like a newhire as far as initial training goes (indoc, systems, etc). In most arbitrated lists involving two or more merged airlines, movement across certificates isn't instant. Think about it, if they had a vacancy for upgrades and for FOs, you'd have tons of pilots, across all 3 certificates, want to go to all different airplanes and seats. Many prop FOs want the jet FOs for higher pay, some want to upgrade onto the jets, and others want a FO-FO move. That is a whole lot of training cycles at a time we are too shortstaffed. Not only on the line (pulling a pilot out from the line to train will hurt enough), but we are short in the training section. And no one, except Pinnacle instructors and checkairman, can train a XJ or Colgan pilot to learn the Pinnacle way.
This is going to take time. As Higney85 mentioned, I expect to see a management response, and that is what will happen.