Originally Posted by
da42pilot
The AA B-scale was for ALL airplanes, correct?
If all RJ flying is brought back in-house on the same seniority list, with a flow straight to the A-scale dependent only on seniority, would that be acceptable? Keep it exclusively for RJs, protected by whatever is necessary, scope clauses, etc.
If there's confusion with the term B-scale or if the term has too much historical baggage, perhaps rebrand it. The regionals are a defecto B-scale anyways, except with numerous additional disadvantages because they're separate companies and seniority lists.
I wonder why major airlines pilots would not want this. It adds people to the seniority list, which increases job security. Surely getting pushed back into the B-scale wouldn't be as bad as a furlough. Or maybe it's the major airlines that don't want this to happen?
Most major airline pilots would be fine with it. There are however three issues.
First most regional airlines when actual discussion occurred on the subject stated very clearly they would not accept being stapled to the bottom of the list. Comair is a prime example of this.
The second issue is unions do not control seniority lists. They have no right to remove or add anyone to a list. Management controls the seniority lists and to state they are against the idea is a huge understatement.
The third issue is a union has a legal duty to represent all members equally. Regardless of what is said prior to merging a regional airline to a major airline list about pay before the ink is dry on the combined list the DFR lawsuits would start flying. It would be a legal mess and nightmare for the union.