Originally Posted by baseball

Because there's more to the story....

Because ALPA traded away the intrinsic value of your seniority. Your seniority (absolute seniority) is only guaranteed in vacancy bidding, displacement bidding, vacation bidding, and furlough. 20-C-4-a is only the starting point, not the ending point of the discussion.

The horse-trading that went on to bring PBS onto property was done so because management wanted it, and management found a way to get ALPA to the table. They put a value on it, ALPA agreed to the value, but management got ALPA's ultimate buy-in by giving the association a seat at the table as it relates to the PBS committee and the monthly scheduling run.

Everything is a trade. A pilots monthly seniority (relating to schedule) is more than the value that ALPA thought it was. Your schedule determines both your quality of life and your monthly income. While not an issue for ALPA, it is an issue for an individual dues paying member in good standing. Individually, pilots are thrown under the bus every month. Collectively, our pilots are represented in the "process" because ALPA has a seat at the table. The value of your schedule for you is not the same value that the association places on it.

It's not a bash of ALPA. It's just an explanation as to what it is, and why it is. PBS came into being because of concessions. The value of those concessions in switching from paper bids to management's staffing system is either fair or unfair. Depends on your perspective and experiences with PBS.