buttress |ˈbətris|
noun
1 a projecting support of stone or brick built against a wall.
• a projecting portion of a hill or mountain.
2 a source of defense or support: there was a demand for a new stable order as a buttress against social collapse.
verb [ with obj. ]
1 provide (a building or structure) with projecting supports built against its walls: (as adj. buttressed) : a buttressed wall.
2 increase the strength of or justification for; reinforce: authority was buttressed by religious belief.

I'm sorry if my choice of the word "buttress" offended you, but I believe I used the word correctly. I meant to say that you're picking and choosing from ALPA Merger Policy language to justify two different cases:

• one for the top portion of the list based on ratio/category status, in order to highlight legacy-UAL's greater number of wide-body aircraft.
• the other for the UAL furloughees, based on longevity.

I agree that there has been a recent change to the union's merger policy. Captain Brucia, one of the architects of that policy, explained it one way in April. I'm sure UAL's co-author will explain it a different way this month.

It will be up to the arbitrators to decide what it really means, and maybe they'll surprise both of us. It wouldn't be the first time that lawyers have found a meaning in words that escape us laymen. In any case, the discussion here seems to have moved on, much for the better.
You and I will both live with the results of this arbitration and we'll make the best of it. Now, for one of those beers . . .