This dispute is about the
relative ordering of the US Airways East and West Pilots, and not about the ordering of
US Airways pilots as a group relative to American pilots. Although the American pilots’
merger representatives will presumably advocate for an overall US Airways-American
seniority integration that is relatively more beneficial to American pilots, USAPA offers
no reason why American’s pilots would care about the relative order of East and West
Pilots on the final integrated seniority list.8 And to the extent USAPA is concerned about
presenting a “united front” on behalf of US Airways pilots in the negotiation/arbitration
process with American’s pilots, that concern can easily be addressed by first determining
the relative order of East and West Pilots, in the McCaskill-Bond arbitration or otherwise,
and then proceeding to the integration with American pilots.