Originally Posted by cactiboss

There is a lot of misinformation about what is going on here. The short answer is yes, technically it can go on forever. Here are the facts most guys don't know: The transition agreement that brought us the Nic. was a contract between the west pilots, east pilots and the company(alpa not involved). The company is bound to the contract just like the east and west, and the TA and all it's provisions are active (that means nic. as the list) the company is liable if it helps the east commit a dfr by breaking the existing contract. The RLA forces the company to negotiate with usapa, but usapa is proposing a term that has already been found illegal, if the company agrees and usapa is convicted of dfr then the company is also liable and will have to pay the west damages and re-order the list back to the Nic. So usapa has already been convicted of dfr once for trying to change the list, the 9th circuit of appeals overturned that conviction on "ripeness" grounds, they said the new usapa list would have to be ratified for the west to sue. As you can see this is a chicken and the egg situation. To get to a dfr the company has to allow a doh list, by doing so there is a high probability the company will break the law, usapa is constitutionally mandated to accept only doh so there is a stalemate. The NMB recognized this fact and parked usapa indefinitely. The west and the company both agree that usapa inherited all contracts and agreements from alpa, usapa's position is that they inherited all contract's except for the Nic. They claim the Nic. no longer exists even though it was accepted and codified by the company in writing as the list to be used. Clear as mud?
The east pilot's got very lucky, in 2 ways, one if the list had been released after the contract it would have been over and two the west was half the size, so they were able to use the rla to kick alpa out and place their own union in charge while taking away all west representation. There were 2 ways out of this mess, a BK or a merger. A merger will remove the east majority and therefore their union, problem solved.