From the recent USAPA lawsuit against some of the AWA pilots, you'll recall that Freund simply went after the weakest link in the USAPA lawsuit at that point in time; that basically, it was not in the proper venue. Having won on that point he put the plantiffs back to square one.
Now, look back Freunds statements during the East MEC vs West MEC of last summer:
Thus, the “arbitration award†Plaintiffs purportedly seek to “vacate†is in actuality the proposed pilot seniority list developed through ALPA’s Merger policy that ALPA will adopt as its bargaining position to be presented to the Company, but which (like a union bargaining position in any matter) the Company is not required to accept. Application, Ex.1 at 2,9 (ALPA will present to the company the merged seniority list developed through ALPA’s Merger policy arbitration procedures, and “ALPA will use all reasonable means at its disposal to compel the company to accept and implement the merged seniority listâ€). Plaintiffs seek review of this ALPA bargaining position developed through ALPA Merger Policy, and, while couching it in the terms of “vacating†and “arbitration,†the relief they actually seek is a review of the product of ALPA’s Merger Policy, and, ultimately, alteration of ALPA’s bargaining proposal to the company…Plaintiff’s Application to “vacate†an “arbitration award†that does not establish any enforceable seniority rights in a collective bargaining agreement with the Company, but which merely sets out ALPA’s bargaining position to be presented to the company, is not a state law claim at all but rather an artfully pled Federal claim for breech of Duty of Fair Representation.
It would look like once again, Freund simply went for the weakest link of the lawsuit at that point in time; that the arbitrated list was ALPA's bargaining positon that had not yet been presented to the company. Since it had not yet been presented to the company, it was like any other bargaining position and something that the company is not required to accept. Therefore, as a bargaining position the lawsuit did not belong in the state court but rather in Federal court as a DFR lawsuit. It would seem that Freund prefers to conserve the resources of his client by using the minimum effort to get the desired result.
Now we all know that after this court pleading and after Wye River, ALPA National did eventually present the arbitrated award to the company and the company accepted the award as presented. The company agreed that the arbitrated list met the requirements laid out in the TA that was signed by the legal representatives of both pilot groups and the company. No doubt Freund's statements would have been modified had they been made after the list's presentation and acceptance by the company.
This is what your MEC was trying to tell you at the time of the USAPA vote; that it was by working within ALPA that the east had it's best chance of modifying the arbitrated list...while it is a bargaining position and prior to presentation to and acceptance by the company.
Yeah..Alpa was gonna' "fix things" allrighty...zero doubts whatsoever on that score....ummm...yeah. Per the Nic list? =The company couldn't possibly care less. Why should they be otherwise disposed in any case?..Fear of some mighty AWAPPA suit?...or perhaps, simply overwhelming and unconditional love for the famously reasonable, ala "and we hate you guys" west pilot group?....Spare me/us all. Who are you honestly trying to convince with such nonsense?...Yourselves?
