As you say, "That's all well and good....."

So we can both agree your assessment of ALPA's President in 2008 to be that of a DAL Pilot who "ruled by intimidation" (the same time as DAL/NWA Arbitration findings were released) was indeed inaccurate? Just to be clear, it was a CAL Captain who held office at that time till late Dec, 2010.....thus there was no DAL Capt to be found in office as APLA president to rule in the matter that you insinuated. If your facts were obscured by your opinion, great! Presenting misinformed, skewed facts, or twisting the truth.....let's keep it real.

This thread started by presenting the question/asking the opinion of what should come first.....SLI vs JCBA. As stated earlier, it's black/white per a standing policy. Until that is reformed formally by way of policy change, everything else resides in the same zip-code as Fantasy Land. As the two groups work together to get something by way of an industry leading JCBA, the whole is greater than the two halfs. Inject the SLI prior to obtaining that JCBA (especially when some rattle sabers of future litigation), it will by most accounts fall by the way side of what we've seen prior in the USAirways Merger. In my opinion.....could be worse.....MGT-1 vs UA/CAL-0

CAL Rep?? HARDLY!! Just one of the CAL Line Pilots.

To answer your other question, YES, the ALPA Merger Policy was rewritten following the DAL/NWA SLI. A Merger Policy Review Committee (MPRC) that was composed of several pilots (as well as attorney's, and other administrators) from various carriers in which to "rework/clean up" the standing policy. In May, 2009 (After 18 months of work), the MPRC made some "minor adjustments" to the existing policy that was used under the DAL/NWA Merger SLI Arbitration which was rendered complete in Dec, 2008. Even though the MPRC changes were constructed in concert to the DAL Arbitration, the policy changes were non-germane to the DAL Arbitration as agreed upon by the MPRC when they began their revamp/modifications that started in mid-late 2007.

Again, for those who say the "policy was rewritten", the answer would be YES.....but if you have not researched as to what the changes are, I strongly encourage you to speak with you Merger Comm Reps, or read the summaries written on "what" has actually "changed". As was mentioned earlier, VERY LITTLE has "changed" in the body itself. The rewrite was more a "clean-up" to the existing guidelines. For those who interpret the "policy rewrite" to mean there has been a complete revamp, they will be sorely disappointed when reading the high-lights concerning the limited changes in the body as a whole.