Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
I agree. I do not see the decision, which was decision on "labor" as the lynchpin, I see the "findings" that the NMB used to arrive at that decision as key. I know you and I have discussed this, and we agree.
I am not a rep, and frankly I have not talked at length with my reps as to why, but my deduction is that the contract was written a certain way, and legally speaking they are in compliance. It may have not been the intent, but it is the result. Just because we thought that it would help below 76 seat economics does not mean that an operator like RJET cannot use the wording to their advantage. They can and are.
What is needed to "fix" this is a contractual change. It would not stop RJET as that would be very costly, but it would stop future scenarios of this nature. It also is important to fix because of these metal neutral JV's that are the half step away from a holding company or Transnational that will be across many countries laws and jurisdictions.
I did not believe it would be dropped, but that a contractual, legal, or legislative change would be needed. Frankly, with the election season rolling around, these candidates need money, and big business is their cash cow. This will not see a resolution to our liking until after the election. Your only hope is the DOJ/DOT and I am not holding my breath for them.
My guess is, nothing will change unless we buy the change at the table. It will be a significant cost, because it is important for issues far bigger than F9/RJET.
I agree.
I thought it was brilliant, go after the legal definition of air carrier which if changed means RAH is in immediate violation of Section 1.
Far cheaper than pursuing a NMB case against against RAH and then Skywest then the next guy and so on. But doing this would inflict incredible damage to RAH's finances, and the IBT knew that when they pursued their STS case. And so they made it so very specific knowing or hoping that APA/ALPA would not have the resources or drive to pursue another case against the NMB no matter how much the NMB baits us.
But inflicting incredible damage to RAH's money train I fear would be frowned upon in Herndon where the mission is different than ours not to mention they own the lawyers we'd require for this effort.
So why do I feel as if nothing will ever be said about this again? The can won't be kicked down the road, it's going to be kicked to the ditch.
And I seriously doubt we could offer to fly for free and get that kind of change in C2012. So ironically we can't convince anyone to stop funding our competition because the DCI whipsaw trumps all, which is probably why we'll never be on par with SWA.