The Delta and Northwest pilots avoided polluting their JCBA negotiations with SLI issues during their merger by reaching an agreement, approved by ALPA, that they would not rely on their JCBA wage rates as a basis for arguing that one aircraft type should or should not be grouped with other aircraft types when constructing an integrated seniority list. The CAL-MEC has refused our repeated requests for a similar agreement.
Doesn't the 777 and 747 pay the same at Delta?
http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/a...acy/delta.html
Isn't it then quite misleading and disingenuous, when looking at this issue, to hold them out as a example of compromise on the JCBA/SLI?
I don't believe for a second that CAL's MEC rejected an agreement that
truly protected the SLI from being influenced by unbanding the pay for the 747. They may have rejected a loosely worded, unreliable agreement.
Whatever form the agreement took for the NWA/DAL merger, the ALPA merger policy wording has changed since then.
If CAL's merger committee chairman is saying it won't work then I'd be inclined to believe him since he was on the committee that re-wrote the merger policy.
If the UAL MEC were willing to agree to an
iron-clad document that prohibited unbanded pay from influencing the SLI arbitration
AND allowed the CAL pilots unfettered access to the highest paying aircraft
AND that highest pay for the 747
does not come at the expense of the pay for the rest of the fleet (ya know the other 99% of the pilots), then I have no doubt that the CAL MEC would sign off on it.