I have to step in and correct some wrong thinking here.

I was hired in 1978 and know the 570 issue with great detail (I won't explain beyond that).

The 570 group were pre-hired pre-strike and expected by Sr. VP of Human Resources and CEO Ferris to work should a strike happen. They were also expected to work should a negotiated settlement be accomplished.

As a threat to the 570 they were told that they were only pre-hired and not official pilots of UAL.

When the strike began in 1985 the 570 (with only a couple of exceptions) refused to cross the picket lines and were fired or dismissed from UAL.

After the strike ALPA paid them meager benefits and sued UAL based on historic practice they were pilots of UAL.

The courts agreed and they returned to UAL, but without their rightful dates of hire. Another fight ensued with UAL and eventually the rightful seniority was returned to them.

While some may believe they, the 570, were hired as "scabs" that is a completely false statement and misrepresentation of the facts. The facts are they were hired at a time when UAL was in great need of pilots, strike or no strike, and they showed their merit by, in mass, joining the picket lines of UAL pilots under the threat to never work at UAL in the future.

Please get it right!!!

Just one more comment for all those who seem to misuse the "scab" word.

A scab (not using the poetic version) is someone who crosses an official, legal and sanctioned picket line. Everyone who crossed UAL's 85 strike picket line to work is a scab. The same applies to those who crossed the CAL line.

However, there are those who made restitution at UAL (there was an official ALPA method for this) and while they are still scabs for what they did, they are also part of the ALPA brotherhood and welcome.

On the CAL side the strike lasted long and brought great difficulty to ALPA and the brotherhood of pilots. I have people I know who hung it out to the end and were called "crawl backs" by many.

The history of these actions are growing old and fading as we retire into the mist. However, calling someone a "scab" today just because he or she won't wear an ALPA pin or thinks their 2005 seniority was damaged some how is not right. I also hope the future does not require a strike to solve the contractual issue again.

But things have a way of repeating themselves.