Alaska pilots are in a Catch-22 on scope (you might have to google that reference). Arbitrators have said on two occasions that we should have it, but that it isn’t in their purview to award. At the same time, federal mediators have decided that they won’t release us to strike for that very same issue. So the company can say no, the mediators can say no, and the arbitrators throw up their hands and say no.
If we want to get somewhere on scope, we need to be unified and make it clear in mediation that scope is a must have item for our side. That being said, at some point in this pilot hiring environment, we also need to be able to say, “Go ahead and staff your alter-ego airline when you can’t even staff mainline.” In other words, don’t make concessions for something they can’t achieve anyway. ALK management is, as usual, ten years behind the times about the economic labor issues facing the company they are married to.