Originally Posted by
eaglefly
Well, if "E.F. Hutton" joins in the arbitration, the arbitrators consider his "advice" to be their decision and the Nic results, so be it. Personally, what credibility am I supposed to give someone who starts off admonishing me about avoiding "personal tangents", then goes on that tangent himself, then subsequently tells me to stop giving legal advice when I have not only not given legal advice. I've given no "advice" at all ?
In addition to that, all I read from E.F. was a rehash of what Leo has been arguing as their position all along and so far it seems E.F. Hutton hasn't been very effective if he's been invited to give holy advice to anyone.
I only wish I had some capability to speak words to an arbitrator and have them comply. I would be rich. Instead, the only thing you can do is speak the truth and offer reasonable solutions to the problems inherent to each integration. There is no "one size fits all" solution, but there are principles that have been accepted for years and years.
One of those principles is that once the merger is closed, each pilot group's expectations are altered by the merger. One management team, one customer base, one revenue stream. Which pilots fly which routes and which bases grow and shrink are all irrelevant to management. They just move resources around to match their new network. Therefore, there is no way to separate out the results from each group.
That is why arbitrations back for years and years recognize that fact. It is not some magic concept that is whispered into someone's ear. It is just common sense and it is the truth. You can argue with me until you are blue in the face and it won't change the way the arbitrators view this. The worst thing a pilot group can do is to believe their own BS. That is what the East pilots did; they believed their own self serving propaganda and couldn't reconcile the fact that the entire rest of the world did not see things that way. They then blew up their careers for the better part of a decade.
So if it makes you feel better to believe that there is some way to separate out the financial results of the East and West in the last 7 years then believe that. Pretty much the entire rest of the world does not believe that. If you spend much time trying to convince the arbitrators of this self serving propaganda then you are not only not helping you are hurting your cause. Once you spout off garbage, the rest of your arguments are almost all assumed to be garbage. That is the real lesson. Speak the truth, solve the arbitrators problems and you will be fine. Not much of a secret.