Here you go:
http://www.alpa.org/portals/alpa/mag...ergers_p14.pdf
Until recently, it was pretty easy to guess how a merger was going to shake out, by pre merger equipment and pay. In other words, if you were a 767 First Officer at 50% before the merger, you were probably going to be a 767 First Officer at 50% after the merger. If you made $110K the year before the merger, the goal was to have you making $110K, or a little more after the merger. In other words, same after as you had before.
HOWEVER, recent arbitration awards have not honored status quo. These recent decisions will make the UAL / CAL more difficult because:
- Status Quo now may be assumed on some future expectation
- MEC's are now encouraged to bring future (unknowable) allegations to the table more than ever before
- Pilots will hear these presentations and develop their own unrealistic career expectations
- Mergers now have much greater risk because the outcome is even more uncertain due to the introduction of these new variables which may or may not have any objective basis in fact
- As a result of the US Air fiasco, ALPA is literally scared of its demise and there will be heavy pressure to maintain the peace. Knowing this pressure exists, some will game the system, effectively exploiting fear.
In order to minimize these risks due to new age thinking on what "status quo" means, a better seniority integration and bidding system should be at least looked at. I've called this my "Fair Plan" but a better way to describe it is a Cross Bidding System, that allows pilots to chose when they wish to bid over to the combined operation.
- A pilot at the new carrier would be given two seniority numbers. Their current number for bidding their pre-merger airline's pre-merger equipment and one for bidding system equipment (and growth) post merger.
- New hire pilots would simply receive one seniority number, the new airline's number. As the combined carrier grew the number of "former" pilots would disappear as pilot chose to bid into the combined categories and as they retired.
- Advancement due to attrition would still accrue to pilots in pre-merger order on pre-merger equipment. Seats, pay and pre-merger advancement would be protected.
- Furloughs would also be based on pre-merger results.
In the case of my merger, one side brought future attrition and career expectations to the table as an "equity" and they effectively got credit for their future retirements immediately. One side was very concerned about keeping their rapid advancement that they believed would come as a result of their aged pilot group. The Arbitrator bought off on this plan, but not to the extent the older group had hoped.
Near the bottoms of these FUTURE EXPECTATION lists, the results can get ugly. In my case I'm senior to guys hired 6 years before me, but at the same time I was a 767 First Officer barely holding a line in Atlanta and was now side by side with furlough bypass & reserve pilots on the DC9 in Detroit. While I would have taken a 40% pay cut from present position, those hired before me have plenty to be upset about with my seniority result also. I figure it will take eight years to get back to even. On the other pre-merger side, they may feel they'll never get back to even, despite the fact they can now hold equipment and bases which were no where near their seniority prior to the merger.
The primary advantage of a Cross Bidding System is that it reduces the immediate effect of a arbitrated seniority list. It allows pilots to remain int heir pre-merger status quo until they chose to bid over to the combined categories. While the arbitrated list might not be completely fair, giving the pilot the choice as to when to come over provides much greater security than getting bumped aircraft to aircraft as the displacement and advancement bids come down over them.
At one time I had a much better presentation and model, but the kid is screaming ....