DaveNelson

If my "non-affiliated" you mean non-union, yes, the RLA does indeed have some provisions that apply. Unfortunately, to take advantage of them, you'd better have some money to hire a good lawyer.

In the non-union environment at CAL post-1985 though the inception of the IACP in 1993, the company instituted "pilot employment representatives" in each base. Basically, these were management pilots who masqueraded as pilot advocates and helped pilots prepare their "grievances" as part of the "problem-solving procedure" prescribed in the management-written Pilot Employment Policy. Because the RLA mandated some kind of grievance procedure, even at non-union carriers, this was the company's response. It was stacked against the pilot grievant.

The pilot would visit his "pilot employment representative," who would help him format the grievance. It would then go to the chief pilot, and was appealable through the director of flight operations to a three-man board that would contain an arbitrator. However, there was a trick.

One member of that three-person board was from management. The second was a representative of the Pilot Operations Group, a.k.a., the "Student Council." If those two split, an arbitrator was called in. However, often the Ops Group representative voted with management, and thus the company contained the grievance. Other times, the company would let the grievance actually go through, and from time-to-time, the pilot would "win" one against the company. Thus, the illusion was preserved.

Make no mistake: The company never let a potentially expensive grievance get to an arbitrator. Overturn a suspension or firing? Yes, it happened from time to time. Cost the company money? Never!

Now, if you're talking about "non-affiliated" as not being affiliated with ALPA or some other national union, that's a different matter. But as I understand it, Jet Blue's pilots turned down a bid to certify an in-house union a couple of years ago.