Originally Posted by
ackattacker
USAPA negotiated a document which said specifically that the integration will follow McCaskill-Bond with a few small modifications such as 3 arbitrators instead of 1 and a specific timeline (which the company and APA have made no effort to follow). It also is very specific that the obligations imposed by McCaskill-Bond are enforceable by a court. Which is exactly what USAPA is trying to do, enforce the McCaskill-Bond obligations. The Company and APA are trying to claim USAPA signed away all their rights under McCaskill-Bond, which is laughable when you read the MOU.
The MOU (specifically Paragraph 10.) requires that a seniority integration process begin "as soon as possible" after the effective date. I don't think it has. In order for a seniority integration PROCESS to begin, there has to be agreement on protocol on how that process should occur and THEN once that process has begun and "direct negotiations" on the actual integration occur and THEN fail, does the SLI dispute go to arbitration to a three person panel. I don't think the intent of the MOU was to provide USAPA with an "end run" option of sabotaging the SLI at the protocol stage before they have technically begun just to use as a springboard for unilaterally nullifying the MOU itself so as to remain relevant in opposition to what they agreed to when they negotiated and signed this document, although considering their history, I can see why that desire and this tactic might be attractive.
The only thing USAPA is trying to do is RE-WRITE the MOU to THEIR liking AFTER they got the pay raises and pension adjustments. The APA and company are claiming no such thing regarding USAPA's present rights. The MOU is explicit in that it will be in accordance with M-B, just as it is explicit about the possibility that APA will be the sole bargaining representative by the time of any actual arbitration. It's plain and clear right there in the document and it seems USAPA chooses to cherry-pick and reinvent, but haven't they been doing that since before they were USAPA both with the West and then in Silver's courtroom ?
Originally Posted by
ackattacker
It's been 90 days since the Effective Date, where's the panel of arbitrators?
The "panel" of arbitrators you are talking about (and that USAPA wants) are for actual arbitration of the integration and the process hasn't even begun yet. It is THEY that want to change the process by rearranging the order of the process and claiming the SLI portion of the process has failed when in actuality it hasn't really started yet. The "process" is to begin as soon as "possible" (and in no case is arbitration to occur PRIOR to JCBA completion). USAPA launched their torpedo before the process could start and so, it's in limbo. Since the JCBA will take many months and the SLI portion of the process cannot start with USAPA's legal actions and negotiating tactics gumming up the show, THAT arbitration panel is premature and inappropriate.
Now what we MAY have here is a dispute regarding the interpretation or application of this MOU in which case a System Board of Adjustment (see Paragraph 20.) would be the proper venue for resolution, but USAPA hasn't adhered to that MOU provision either because they are apparently choosing to outright nullify it through a courtroom and seeking injunctive relief until such a hearing (which could take months or years). I think you've allowed USAPA to twist your logic into knots.