I think Parker could have forstalled a lot of the nonsense that has transpired with the merger had he just said that since the Nicolau Award had been accepted by the company and had been the product of what was agreed upon within the TA, then that was what would be used going forward. But his waffling and aw shucks "that's for you guys to decide" attitude has only prolonged this merger. Now we see the company lawyers stating that the Nic is the list in court, yet Parker still seems to not understand what the lawyers are saying.

I think Parker is smarter than that. I agree that he has been playing both sides against each other and the benefit to him is saving 130 to 160 million a year in labor costs with the split in the pilot contracts. I know just to bring the East up to West contract, with our higher pay rates, vacation and work rules would be at least 80 million or more. I believe he has just been riding this gravy train as long as he can.

If the APA is indeed talking to Parker then I do hope that they get an ironclad agreement from him to commit to a single seniority system and a single contract in a timely manner. There is no way that a LCC/AA deal could ever work with 3 separate operations. I also believe that Parker knows he can't duplicate his ability to whipsaw the pilots and that he will actually have to take the steps necessary to fully implement a merger.