Thank you for the articles, Braniff. I've crossed paths with these guys on the ramp in CVG and been out drinking with them in YYC, and I wish them all the best. They've got a hard fight ahead of them, but the same could have been said of my own employer (K4) not so long ago. Anyone undermining their efforts out of malice or ignorance will only torpedo us all down the road.
Unless I'm missing something critical, the new rules don't seem at all out of synch with the rest of the developed world, and it's not as if the US will have the pilots to spare going forward. Attempting to use the threat of bringing in higher paid, better regulated plugs from down south seems a bizzare strategy from where I'm sitting, but then, I don't have an MBA.