skyflyr69 said:
D9ever, How could that be? with UAL/U both in ALPA they have to follow ALPA merger policy right? No staple job possible for any like pilot groups.
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That was just the thing... UAL ALPA and UAL AFA didn't want to play by the rules. The bylaws are the bylaws... plain, simple, clear... total merger seniority intergration. Some UAL F/A's went so far as to try to remove AFA and form their own union so they wouldn't have to go by DOH. AA, however, did the dirty work for its employees. It came up with a merger plan with TWA but made the transaction look like a bankruptcy liquidation where AA was apparently buying the troubled airline on the courthouse steps. To pacify its own employees, and to avoid seniority fights, AA stapled TWA seniority to the bottom and coralled all former TWA employees to STL, where they essentially became "bubble boy" employees. Then, after 911, people with 40 years seniority were furloughed.
Now, these same UAL employees and AA employees come over to the AWA baords on some apparent humanitarian mission warning the AWA employees that the sky is falling and that the big bad US Airways employees are going to screw AWA folks out of seniority.
Why would they do that? Why would they stick their noses in where they don't belong. Welllllll, let's take a look!
For years, employees of the bigger airlines (read, AA, DAL, UAL) have been counting on the demise of UAIR. They salivate at the thought of getting our routes, DCA slots and gates. And of course, we hear about market oversaturation, and if just one airline (read, UAIR) were to parish, that would, in their misguided view, cure all of the industry's ills. They stick their respective noses into our business and tell us, demand actually, that we should not take concessions (despite the fact that if we didn't the bankruptcy court would impose far greater pain). They wrongly believe that if we didn't take concessions, and if our pensions weren't terminated, their companies would not come after them.
Now mind you, I don't recall them complaining when UAIR pay was among the highest in the industry and that was a guage for increasing their own pay, benefits, and work rules during the fat years. But I guess in some peoples' minds, things only work one way... they got what they needed and now we can die!
These employees ignore the obvious. Even if UAIR were to parish, their employers cannot afford to buy our assets, thus the LCCs who can afford them will grow even bigger... largely into DCA, LGA, and BOS, making the airlines that really threaten them even stronger. They also ignore the obvious ecomonic realities... that people are largely unwilling to pay $2000 to cross the country when they jump on jetBlue and do it for an unrestricted fare of a few hundred dollars, and have satellite TV and newer, cleaner, roomier aircraft. jB and SWA have figured out a way to build a better mousetrap and the reality is every other airline needs to figure out a way to beat them at their own game or they, too, will suffer the same demise as the one they so deeply hope UAIR will suffer.
To illustrate my point of how petty these people are and can be, there is a current situation where some United pilots are refusing to allow jB pilots to non-rev in their jumpseats, an courtesy that is long-standing in the industry. Why, in these pilots view, jB pilots are driving down the salaries of other pilots. It would seem that the UAL pilots expect the jB pilots to sacrefies themselves and their livelihoods to protect the $250K/eight working day months that UAL pilots enjoyed. Now I ask you this... if you were a pilot looking for a job and you had a wife and two kids to feed, shelter, and educate, wouldn't you take a $50,000 job at jB, which will probably turn into an $85,000 left seat job in a year? The UAL pilots want that family of four out on the street to protect the cushy jobs they have!
Let's be clear, United employees... American employees.... Delta employees... they desperately want this deal between UAIR and AWA to NOT go through. It will put further pressure on them to get their own houses in order. Even without a UAIR/AWA marriage, Delta will probably file bankruptcy this summer and American isn't far behind (first quarter of 2006?). They will then be faced with pension cancellations and abrogated contracts. A UAIR/AWA marriage will greatly enhance two route networks and build on our European and Carribean/Central America expansion... and we will be doing it with lower costs, resulting in lower fares.