nevergiveup said:
So have the 175s been promised to Eagle or contractually agreed upon? If mainline puts 330s in PHX can the east pilots strike? At what point can Piedmont accept new aircraft? Who's planes are about to run out of life, Eagles or Piedmonts? Having multiple wholly owned is sadly a Company advantage.
Q1. I believe the 175s were a verbal incentive to sign for concessions, i.e., "If you give us these concessions, we'll buy you new bigger shiny jets!".
Q2. Good question - USAPA is still under injunction, so no job action anyway....but, if they could, would it be a 'legal' complaint? Since there is no east/west metal any longer, it could be possible for the co. to put 330s in PHX. I think the most the east guys could do at this juncture is complain. And we know what that gets us.....
Q3. Piedmont is a wholly owned, and does only what the company wants it to do. The old complaint from Piedmont guys was that the mainline contract limited them to 50 seat turboprops, so they couldn't run the Q400's without USAPA contract changes. Of course, the company can bargain with USAPA for these changes, but chose not to. Perhaps because of the 500+ grievances or the sub-standard mainline contract, who knows? Now that US pilots are under the AA contract, AA scope would prevail.
Q4. Piedmont's Dash's are just about kaput. Bombardier will not issue another service life extension on the airframe, and most of the frames are nearing the end of the road. Eagles jets are just small and expensive to operate (35 and 50 seaters).
Q5. Agreed wholeheartedly. Divide and conquer has been an excellent strategy throughout human existence, and continues to be to this day. Closer to home, we have: East, West, and AA mainline that are all wholly-owned subsidiaries of AA Group. Top management loves this arrangement, and laughs every time we fight amongst ourselves over the crumbs they drop under the dinner table (or hint that they might let slide off the table). Pilots are, as a group, collectively competitive and stupid. They have no solidarity, and everyone thinks their educated estimation and opinion is the correct one. It is truly a disfunctional group and is easily taken advantage of by a smart managment team.
BOHICA!