Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
A couple of things;
- bar, what do you think would happen if a Texas styled liability law became federal especially when a mainline carrier uses a dba regional? To me that'd entail having to commit significant resources to oversight such that it'd no longer be wise to outsource. I mean what if the FAA said colgans hiring, hr and training were at failt so we are fining them $10M and equally CAL $10M because people come to CAL for the tickets so colgans issues are 100% your responsibility and liability CAL. You can be sued equally. To me it'd mean dci would go down to 1-2 carriers max.*
As 80knotsclamp & I pointed out, Deltas underwriters already had involvement in Comair 5191 and Colgan 3407. Instead of 10 million, adjust your thinking to something in the neighborhood of 10 Billion.
As Delta employees, we want our employer to be insulated from these risks and we prefer that the contracting carrier pay whatever fines the government might impose.
If an alter ego, like Republic, were to be fined, who do you suggest the fine be passed along to? Republic Holdings, United, Delta, Chautauqua, Mid Atlantic, Shuttle America, MidWest, Frontier, or US Air? It would be a mess to allow fines to pass through the Certificate where the penalty was initially assessed. Also consider, the FAA want the fines to stick as a deterrent and we sure don't want Delta Inc. to be out of pocket for their subcontractor's screw ups. (arguably we are since costs are eventually passed through to us - but that's getting off point)
While the show held up the idea that “making the Major responsible” could be an answer to reign in outsourced flying, the premise is incorrect. To review:
- Plaintiffs can already recover from the major carrier in many venues under both Statute (as in Texas) or under Common Law (Joint and Several Liability) depending on the venue
- Airlines have insured and mitigated these exposures
- In many cases the regional airlines risk has been pooled with the major's insurance program. As with fuel and other commodities, the parties can get a better deal buying in larger quantities (the justification for “pass though” costs.)
- As employees, we don't want Colgan to be in a position to bankrupt Delta.
- The FAA wants fines to stick to specific Certificates as a way to deter future errors
Bottom line –
ALPA has to do its own heavy lifting on alter ego outsourcing. While the show provided an opportunity for ALPA to provide some lip service to ending outsourcing the reality is that
ALPA negotiated and ratified the very contracts that facilitate this outsourcing.
If anyone has the power and the inclination to do something about this, it is us. We have decided other parts of our contract are more compelling than scope and negotiated accordingly.