Originally Posted by
aquagreen73s
In application to a hypothetical JBLU-AA merger, 49 U.S.C. 42112 which is McCaskill-Bond in statute, will be of little help to the JetBlue pilots. You need to read the actual language, and then consider the mechanics of how a group of 2000 pilots or so who are unrepresented are going to fare against a union of 10,000 pilots. Regardless of which management takes over, the JBLU pilots have zero protections in the form of a collective bargaining agreement (think, minimum fleet and fragmentation), you willl have the airline of all entities representing you (read the statute!) against the APA, nor will you even get to vote on a union as the percentage of the pilots represented by the APA in the combined company will exceed 65% of the total pilot group. By the time you got to an arbitration, there wouldn't be anything left; every one of you would be on the street. Don't believe me? Look at Midwest Express.
Just an example of where one carrier was represented and the other one was not:
"Two uncontested facts support the district court's finding that ALPA breached its duty of fair representation. First, no Jet America pilot was permitted to participate in ALPA negotiations with Alaska after the merger, despite requests to do so.
Second, ALPA failed to follow its own merger policy for mergers with ALPA-represented groups. This policy would have required ALPA to conduct internal negotiations with Jet America pilots, and mediate and arbitrate if necessary, before presenting its position to management."
873 F.2d 213: Cress Bernard, Jet America Pilots, et al., Plaintiffs/appellees, v. Air Line Pilots Association, International, Afl-cio,defendant/appellant,andalaska Airlines, Inc., Defendant :: US Court of Appeals Cases :: Justia