I agree neither of our opinions matter, but that doesn't mean no opinion on the subject matters. Management and their legal counsel, who is extremely well versed in the RLA and collective bargaining agreements, have expressed an opinion subsequent to the Ninth's ruling that this is not simply an internal union dispute. In their view the Company is legally bound to their agreement and that accepting a non-NIC list would place them in a position of violating the RLA and could be liable for colluding with USAPA as it knowingly violates its DFR to the west pilots. That opinion or interpretation of the law does matter and they have clearly convinced judge Silver that the Ninth did not resolve the dispute or release the Company from its contractual obligation to uphold the terms of the TA. The obvious conclusion from all of this, and one that the Ninth could not so easily have overlooked if Management would have remained enjoined to the Addington case, is that this is not merely an internal dispute and the statements offered by the Ninth to that affect are all but meaningless given what has transpired since they declared the matter to lack the necessary ripeness.
