January 19 2009 11:02:37
Leonidas Update for January 18th, 2009
Published earlier this week was an opinion piece written by East First Officer, Joe Monda, in which he tries to explain how the East pilots have taken the “high road†in the “seniority squabble.†You can read his “opinion†here. This was a reply to an article published a couple of weeks ago. In case you have not read the article from West First Officer, Patrick O’Neill, you can read that one here and compare the two. Both of these articles were originally published in the Arizona Republic.
The bottom line is this; Mr. Monda completely fails to mention that the combined list was the product of an arbitration process. This process was identical to the thousands of arbitrations which take place each year in that both sides had the full opportunity to present their cases before a neutral. Furthermore, the arbitration decision which Mr. Monda fails to mention (and otherwise complains so loudly about) had more than just the arbitrator deciding the case, but also had two pilots from other airlines assisting Mr. Nicolau. This arrangement of one arbitrator and two “pilot neutrals†was called for by the union merger policy, and that policy was adhered to completely during this process. Finally, this was the East’s second encounter with Mr. Nicolau, as they had used him previously during the Trump Shuttle and US Airways merger. In that merger, the Trump Shuttle pilots argued for a date of hire integration, whereas the US Airways pilots argued for a ratioed integration. When Nicolau ruled, the US Airways pilots got exactly what they asked for: a ratioed integration. It is worth noting that prior to the Trump Shuttle/US Air arbitration, Mr. Nicolau created the seniority list for the FedEx/Flying Tigers merger. In that arbitration he also used a ratio method to integrate the two pilot groups. Simple logic would suggest that, absent a compelling argument otherwise, Mr. Nicolau would be inclined to use a ratio method for the America West/US Air lists as well. That, and in order to comply with the stated goals of the merger policy, it would be necessary in our case. Anyone who bothered to read the policy for himself, or has the faintest notion of “fair and equitable,†would have to admit this.
The East Merger Committee argued for a date of hire list, but in the end Mr. Nicolau and the two pilot neutrals “ratioed†the AWA and US Airways lists to create the award. Not much else can be said other than that there was arbitration, that the arbitration was carried out in the exact same manner as every other arbitration in the past, and that both parties participated in the arbitration process fully, and without objection. Furthermore, it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out that an arbitrator who had twice before combined pilot lists using a ratio formula would likely do it again in this case- especially in light of the disparate condition of the airlines being merged.
What distinguishes this arbitration from all previous arbitrations is the reaction by the leadership (and at that time, most) of the old US Air pilots. It is a common understanding that parties rarely achieve all of their goals in arbitration, and this one was no different. East and West could not agree about how to integrate the list to begin with, so that's why we took our dispute to an arbitrator. The efforts undertaken by the East to evade the award, which continue even today, will probably go down in labor history as the singular most misguided and foolish attempt to abuse the RLA and union democracy. We hope those efforts will not prevail, and with your financial support they will not.
If it were not for our ongoing litigation, Bradford's “tyranny of the majority,†might well become a permanent reality in labor- a result that even he would regret in a future merger with a larger group. The larger group would just be able to “have it their way,†without regard to any policy, contract, or arbitration to which they would have otherwise been bound before Bradford's Frankenstein experiment in democracy proved that none of those things matter anymore- just that your guys have more votes (or money). If USAPA is successful in evading the seniority arbitration, it will likely benefit airline managements as well (and any labor averse management, really), because they too could just chose to change their name to evade the results of any arbitration or contract they found too inconvenient. The fact is that, if USAPA is successful, the longstanding concept of “successor in interest,†will be dead, and everyone in America (except Bradford) will suffer.
What Mr. Monda’s “opinion†truly represents is the absolute cognitive dissonance which pervades the current East leadership. We prefer not to categorize all East pilots with this group, as we know there are many former US Airways pilots who now understand this reality. It does appear, however, that many of the former US Airways pilots are still quite willing to accept some, if not many, of the falsities and half-truths concerning our merger. Why they do this is something we can only speculate about, but we would imagine that this phenomenon is probably described somewhere in the “Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders.†In reality, the only logical explanation is that they do this because it is their way to escape the reality of our (East and West) situation: an integrated seniority list exists, and that list is the product of binding arbitration- it simply doesn't look like what they were promised it would, and they are in denial.
It is unfortunate that a sizable group of East pilots still accept the “revisionist history†offered in Mr. Monda's letter as fact. This is a clear example of mass cognitive dissonance and we see the effect of this in Mr. Monda’s letter. What’s alarming to many of us in the West is the ease at which some East pilots continue to substitute manufactured lies for the facts. Mr. Monda’s letter is replete with these substitutions. Let’s take a look at Mr. Monda’s “facts.†Also note that we back our facts with citations to actual documents, whereas Mr. Monda’s facts are completely unverified (and the reason they’re unverified is because they are totally untrue). Mr. Monda says, “The strength of the US Airways franchise was validated in the six post-merger quarterly filings when management separated east and west data.â€
Fact: Net income for AWA was $33.6 million in the first quarter of 2005 and $20.9 million for the second quarter. Accounting practices used later in the merger allocated many merger-related expenses to the west operation. Mr. Monda would be quick to point this out if the situation were reversed.
AWA was on the “brink†of its third bankruptcy.
Fact: AWA had one prior bankruptcy and that took place in 1993, not two. To say that we were on the “brink†of BK is a stretch by anyone’s analysis of the state of the industry in early 2005. What would or would not have happened down the road is open for debate, however there were numerous articles being written at the time by industry analysts with headlines such as “Stick a fork in em. They’re done.†(Referring to the former US Airways.)
The former US Airways had $500 million in financing during its second bankruptcy.
Fact: Where? Show us the documents because the AWA Merger Committee and its staff of professional accountants and analysts found nothing filed with the Bankruptcy Court which indicated anything other than the fact that the old US Airways was probably not going to even make it through the Chapter 11 reorganization. Now, if there was a supposed “$500 million†financing coming through, we find it interesting that the East’s own Merger Committee failed to produce this evidence during the arbitration.
To help ease the East's trip back to reality, we have provided a delectable selection of SEC filings for you to ponder:
SEC_1
SEC_2
SEC_3
SEC_4
The list could go on and on, but you get the idea. Nicolau is not a “senile old man,†as the East self righteously asserted when they didn't get what they wanted. Much to their alarm, the formula he used in our arbitration was similar to what he had used before, and nearly identical to what has been used since, including NWA/Delta. The fact remains that Nicolau was selected by the east pilots in this arbitration. Nicolau SETS THE STANDARD that other arbitrators seek to emulate. The Nicolau list, whether Bradford likes it or not, DEFINES FAIR AND EQUITABLE, and he will not be allowed to shirk his spot therein either.
One last thing. We would like to say to the CREW of AWE 1549:
Captain Sullenberger
First Officer Skiles
Flight Attendant Sheila Dail
Flight Attendant Doreen Welsh
Flight Attendant Donna Dent
No matter what the final report says, JOB WELL DONE. This accident serves to illustrate what is at stake EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT. It is not just the value of the 50 million dollar jet, but the invaluable lives we carry on even the shortest flight. It again shows that the things that unite us far outweigh the things that we think divide us.
And with that thought, we will remind everyone (East and West) that regardless of the name of the union, it will still be comprised of the same people for years yet to come. We need to make the best of our situation TODAY. Our seniority dispute is in the hands of the Honorable Neil Wake right now (because arbitration wasn't good enough), but we need to be working together for everything else.
Thanks for your support,
Leonidas LLC
