Originally Posted by
tsquare
Sure it could. What happens if one carrier "buys" the other. Then if the acquiring carrier strikes a deal with it's unions to throw the hammer down on the acquiree for certain concessions. The acquiree is put into a holding company, and the assets siphoned off a-la SWA/AT. It could easily be done as there would be no "merger". Both M/B and ALPA merger policy would be then effectively skirted.
T,
I'm no expert, but even the most casual read of any fragmentation policy shows that you absolutely cannot do what you describe. Just look at ours. You really have to have TWO sets of circumstances to repeat SWA/AT: 1) poor fragmentation language at acquired carrier, 2) management takes a deliverate stand to screw the target group.
If Delta bought a carrier with no contract, then you would still need management to go along, play shell games and park them into a dying subsidiary, or they could, as Carl correctly pointed out earlier (but by picking the wrong example) still petition under McCaskill-Bond.