Two things to look at:
First, the AWA MEC's greed put you in harms way by not coming to terms that a joint contract would not be agreed upon by the East as long as the NIC award was not addressed. Look no further than to your MEC and then ask them why you are getting furloughed. Ask them why they did not listen to the Company, ALPA National or the East. Simply put... you got screwed by your own guys.
No the AWA MEC was not "greedy". They recognized that Nicolau without any fences or protections was untenable. They were willing to negotiate these as part of the next contract in JNC talks. The problem was that the east position was extreme. At every meeting they demanded the the west repudiate the Nicolau award and start from scratch with a DOH list.
Capitulating and setting aside Nic award would have been stupid.
The problem is that we (east/west) have differing views about what a windfall is. Your side was completely focuses on the upside; A west pilot at X percentile had a hire date well after the east pilot at X percentile. The perceived windfall here was that a west pilot would be able to hold 330 FO (or whatever) with a much later DOH. The reality is that after integration the west and east pilot would have only been able to hold what they had the day prior to the merger.
In addition a very large majority of the west group would have had no problem fencing off the widebodies until every east furloughee had had a chance to bid them. Discussions never reached beyond "DOH or nothing" so that point is moot.
On the west side the worry (substantiated by events) was that a lineholding west pilot would be subject to a furlough ahead of a furloughed east pilot.
You keep sidestepping and avoiding the question as to why this condition; An east pilot who was furloughed (and in some cases one having fewer years of service than the west pilot) will continue to work while the west pilot now trades places with him/her and goes on the street.
Second, Hard to believe that the bottom 175 guys were lineholders at AWA which had 1750 total pilot positons. That is the bottom 10% of your pilots. Are you trying to tell us that the reserve positions are being bid on by the senior guys at AWA? Sounds like you are over stating the real figures to try to gain pitty.
I never said that all 175 were lineholders. Clearly those on the bottom were not but the most senior of the 175 were 2004 hires who held, in some cases, mid range lines.
With respect to the jumpseat war;
I personally do not believe there is a point but if I am flying with an FO who is slated for furlough who does not want an east pilot on the jumpseat, there will be no east pilot on the jumpseat.
Unless you can suggest a way for me to explain to the FO why he should be furloughed, while an east pilot who had been on the street for two years or more is still working, please let me know.
As far as the chief pilot's office. They are offering full support for pilots who deny the jumpseat for like reasons.
