I guess this is what happens when you go all in with a bad hand. You have to ride it to the end and pray for a miracle. I believe Stravers was a big supporter of the protest filed over the Nic last summer, wasn't he? Maybe the westies were putting some heat on him for getting this submitted into evidence:
"101. In August, 2013, in response to Section 22.C protests filed by Phoenix based pilots , US Airways stated as follows:
This will acknowledge receipt of the letter of protest you filed
pursuant to Section 22.C of the America West Pilots' Collective
Bargaining Agreement concerning the July 1, 2013 seniority list
posted by the Company. In that protest, you contend that the
Company is obligated to implement the Nicolau Award as soon as the
MTA/MOU becomes effective. That contention is meritless, and your
protest must be denied.
Section 22.C of the America West Pilots' Collective Bargaining
Agreement only applies to disputes regarding a West Pilot's seniority
relative to other West Pilots as set forth on the West Pilots seniority
list. Challenges to the East/West integrated seniority list, which will
be created after there has been a merger and the federally-required
McCaskill-Bond seniority integration process has been completed, are
beyond the scope of Section 22.C.
Moreover, even if the Section 22.C process applied to disputes
regarding the future East/West integrated seniority list, your claimthat the MTA/MOU amounts to a single labor agreement obligating the Company to apply the Nicolau Award immediately is contrary to the express provision in the Transition Agreement (Section XII.B)
that any of the Transition Agreement's provisions "[m]ay be modified
by written agreement of the Association and the Airline Parties
collectively."
By its terms, the MOU constitutes a written agreement between
USAPA and the Company which modifies the provisions of the
Transition Agreement relating to implementation of an integrated
seniority list. Paragraph 10.h. of the MOU specifies that "US Airways
agrees that neither this Memorandum nor the JCBA shall provide a
basis for changing the seniority list currently in effect at US Airways
other than through the process set forth in this Paragraph 10." The
Paragraph 10 process provides for seniority-list integration in
accordance with the standards and procedures of the federal
McCaskill-Bond law, and that process will not even begin until after
the merger has been consummated. Modifying the seniority lists
immediately, as you have requested, would violate the MTA/MOU."
AA guys, this was a response from US management.