Lewbronski

If that's the case, we need to handle it legally - in federal court. That's what the union is trying to do with the motion to append their ongoing lawsuit alleging status quo violations with the accusation that SWA's vax mandate is also a violation of the status quo. If we try to handle it with our own illegal job action, we can get shwhacked.

Just step back and think about why that is so. If the law allowed either side in a labor dispute to abandon the status quo the moment they accused the other side of violating the status quo, that would quickly devolve into chaos. It would become part of the playbook - accuse the other side of violating the status quo without adjudicating it in the courts, then do whatever it wants to bring the other side to it's knees. Airlines and railroads would be in a constant state of dysfunction. Since the nation depends on our two industries in so many ways, Congress decided they didn't want that kind of mayhem. The courts have backed them up on it for decades.

So, it doesn't matter if you or the majority of the pilot group believes the status quo has been violated. It matters what the courts have to say about it. We cannot act unilaterally and do whatever we want just because some or all of the pilot group believes some kind of injustice has occurred.

Acting illegally on our own can set back our negotiations or penalize our union with such a large fine that they can't effectively operate. If that happens, the whole pilot group could be harmed in the form of lower career earnings, worse benefits, crappier work rules, weaker disciplinary protection, etc than we could have had if our pilot group hadn't stripped its union of funds and legal leverage.