You answered your own question well.
The first step (ironically enough) is to convince our own union to pursue unity as a goal. The highest levels of ALPA leadership are opposed to unity, as was evident in the handling of the Compass divestiture from our MEC. I've been told from several sources that Lee Moak intended to make 76 seat flying a distinct "craft and class" apart from "mainline" flying. This distinction is unfortunate, particularly for those of us who understand the economics of the aircraft platform and how advances in technology have changed those economics. 76 seats is an arbitrary number and pretty much indefensible if put under economic duress.
Some in Captain Moak's camp (not speaking for him because I do not know his personal position) still fear the Comair merger scenario and are still saying silly things like "seniority grab" while ignoring the fact that even Northwest, with 747's, did not get "Date of Hire." They continue to fight against unity and they support outsourcing. While fighting offshore outsourcing, they somehow ignore the fact that they support outsourcing at their own airline.
If we can convince our own union that unity is worth pursuing, then we build an economic model with Delta pilots performing Delta flying and negotiate. I believe the pseudo shortage of pilots for crappy jobs is an excellent opportunity to:
- Provide pilots with a career where they do not have to surrender their longevity and seniority to the vagaries of a shell game, and
- Delta gets pilots at a cost structure which allows them to efficiently deploy the right equipment on the right routes without artificial and arbitrary constraints
"Lifers" are not the only constraint ... there is something like $21 to $25 billion invested in the DCI system. That is not going away. I propose to extend our seniority list down to capture them and our flying.
Note that Pinnacle was one of the few to take concessions for a career path. Now many are learning their Bridge agreement was in fact a Bridge to Nowhere. If pilots are willing to give away 25% to 30% of their earnings for an interview wouldn't they be better served by reaching a similar agreement for a real seniority number?
Expressjet and Eagle said "NO." I'm sure however, if a real system seniority number were tied to the offer the answer would have been "YES." Management wants "YES." We should want UNITY. There is common ground we should explore which provides management a certain supply of pilots and provides pilots a seniority number they can use within that airline's system.