I don't think the NIC is a "given." More of a high probability as it's the only US Airways list. I think your logic is flawed in that you assume it will be a merger of three lists from scratch. I know the MOU says the status quo of three lists will be maintained during the SLI process but I don't think that means what you believe it to mean.
If you look at the exchange between Javits and Pauley again I think it's quite clear that Javits sees the need to present one Us Airways list to be merged into AA. The arbitrator pins Pauley down and eventually gets him to concede he will be making a proposal that does not conform to the NIC. Javits asks him if he is intending to make himself the new Nicalou?
Here is part of that exchange:
ARBITRATOR JAVITS: And whether it has got a dynamic jumping system or not, it would be --
THE WITNESS: True.
It would include all pilots.
ARBITRATOR JAVITS: It would include all
your pilots and the American pilots. So it would include everybody.
Is that right?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
The critical portion in my humble opinion is the statement that "It would include all your pilots and the American Pilots." Notice there is no mention of West Pilots because West Pilots are US Airways pilots. So the Arbitrator is saying that they are going to blend a US Airways list into the AA list. A merger of Two airlines (albeit one airline is mired in a seniority dispute). Which Us Airways list is used is the big question. The chances of the Arbitrators discarding a list reached through binding arbitration conducted by the premier Arbitrator at the time seems unlikely.
Now your statement that AA will not propose the NIC is irrelevant in my opinion and sets AA up for having their input discarded. It is not AA's position to determine the order of the US Airways list. Just like US Airways pilots will not advance a proposal on how Eagle pilots should be ordered in the AA list.
Go to page 625 on this document and read through the end of page 629. I think it's not too difficult to see how the arbitrators believe this will play out. Here is the link
http://nebula.wsimg.com/b9e507a4d328...&alloworigin=1
I don't know why AA is heavily invested in not having the NIC incorporated. All I can guess is they are worried about more relatively younger west pilots appearing higher on the final list. They don't want high numbers of East pilots retiring off the bottom and consequently not creating movement for AA. The number of Captain slots on the US Airways side will not change so it won't produce a windfall of extra CA jobs. Just to ease your fears the West is actually quite old and I believe the average age is well north of 50. There have been over 600 new hires on the east many of whom now hold widebody FO positions or senior narrowbody positions. I think it's more of a threat to AA to have those junior East new hires placed above their rightful position on the list with 30+ years to block AA pilots below them.
Due to years of separate ops we now have nearly 20 year FO's on the West and 30 year old 330 FO's on the East. Do you want that 30 year old 330 FO halfway up the seniority list with 5 years of service and the 20 year 320 FO sitting two thirds of the way down? What benefits AA? Be careful listening to the USAPA propaganda machine.