Originally Posted by
Check Essential
JC Lawson was a visionary? Bull$h|T.
He was a political hack who bought into the wet-dreams of Dan Ford, Jesse Ashcraft and the other lifers who thought they had won the lottery when Delta bought Comair. Those guys truly believed they would become overnight 767 Captains.
JC Lawson was the RJDC's poodle.
Not at all. The RJDC and Lawson fought quite vigorously. Lawson was a MEC Chair and ALPA EVP. The RJDC had Lawson and Arnold running in fear that their MECs were going to get put into receivership. Consider how upset any MEC Chair would be if a group of pilots was so disruptive as to threaten the existence of that MEC ... like I said, they didn't exactly get along.
Lawson was no visionary, it was very easy to see what was going to happen. Delta ordered 500+ RJ's and they were going somewhere. ALPA refused to allow ASA or Comair to negotiate scope which would allow them to "capture" these airplanes. Delta management was intensely outsourcing everything and wanted many players in the portfolio to compete against ASA and Comair.
The model, as explained to me by Delta employee and ASA's President, Brian LeBreque, was to cycle the airplanes through carriers to avoid any pilots achieving more than 5 years of longevity. By forcing pilots to re-start their careers at zero, the airline could avoid the legacy costs of senior employees.
In Comair's case they were (are) a senior airline with a good contract which equals high costs. They were (did) get slaughtered when flying was being awarded competitively. Lawson did see this coming. His letter was a protest to the fact he had been shut out of negotiations which effected the future of his airline.
... and ... cite the example where a status quo merger put RJ pilots into the left seat of 767's. That's a fairy tale. Again, a merger by status quo is a staple. I actually have the draft of the DCI SLI presentation that was NEVER MADE somewhere. What they would have wanted (if it had ever got that far) is protections which would have allowed them to keep the left seat of their RJ's.
I haven't revised any history ... but now let me try a little speculation. What would have happened if the ASA and Comair pilots would have gotten their PID at the 2000 ALPA BOD meeting?
- Delta pilots would be performing very nearly 100% of Delta flying
- Delta would not have been incentivized to buy (or lease) nearly 700 RJ's
- It is highly unlikely any Delta pilots would have been furloughed (the ASA & Comair pilots would have hit the street instead)
I know it is intensely unpopular at Delta, but based on objective facts as well as probable outcomes, the Delta pilots would have been better off had ASA and Comair been merged, then stapled.