The initial post was a little long winded. What is tragic is that pilots from other airlines will miss the significance of this ruling.
Basically, no matter how egregious the violation, no matter how black and white the contractual language is, no matter how much of a slam dunk you think the grievance will be.....
Some idiot arbitrator will come along and make a ruling that defies all logic and reason.
Here's the Cliff's notes version - we had a contractual provision that gave us leverage when our seniority list dropped below 7300 pilots "employed by the company."
That happened. The company disputed it by saying furloughed pilots and pilots on medical disability were "employed."
The arbitrator ruled with the company.
So there you have it folks - any of you on furlough are currently "employed."
Un-freakin'-real.
I hope everyone makes note and blacklists this guy so that he never gets work as an arbitrator ever again.