Originally Posted by
Vsop
I need an RLA expert to help answer a question I was thinking about. (SWA Lewbronski are you lurking?) At what point do the company’s actions become their version of self help? For the company “Self-Help includes the right to unilaterally impose changes to the Contract, or ….” I think the argument could be made that they are doing just that.
Can self-help exist when outside of negotiations, or is the grievance process our only remedy?
I want to make sure I’m clear in that I am NOT calling for any form of work action. I’m merely asking what tools are available for ALPA to combat a management team that seems to want to push every button. We saw management get too aggressive with their customers and the aggressive response from the customers was enough to have management change course. How aggressive can ALPA be within the RLA guidelines.
Just a thought of where we could go as this seems to be escalating.
Originally Posted by
bugman61
The short answer is basically never.
There is a built in dispute resolution process in the PWA, and as long as they are “complying” with that, no judge is going to touch any legal action ALPA takes outside of the process. It really doesn’t matter how many disputes there are, as long as they can possibly make an argument. It would really take something like “we are replacing the agreed upon pay tables with these new ones that are 10% less” to get outside action to stick.
bugman is right. The RLA was written to protect management and the consumers, not labor. The only thing alpa could do is file a federal lawsuit against Delta as a "major dispute" and roll the dice in the 11th Circuit, a very conservative district. They won't win.
Unity is the answer. As said above, the customers had a meltdown and the company backpedaled on the SkyMiles thing. When NPS scores plummet because pilots are no longer going that extra mile with pa announcements and "moments that surprise and delight" maybe they'll see their error here too.
I really don't think DH has it in him to unify this pilot group, much less the MEC. He took this job because he wanted to see his name on the marquee and grab as much easy cash as he could at the end of his career, not because he wanted to do the work. He's just a puppet of the previous weak MEC chair who is doing his best to walk in the footsteps of his hero, Lee Moak. The weak majority of the MEC doesn't see a problem and wouldn't want to upset the apple cart and this great scam they have going here. That makes them complicit. Their weakness enabled RG's rise to power and his reign of terror in the first place.
tl:dr alpa is weak and useless and it's going to be up to the pilot to unify and say enough is enough.