Originally Posted by
Coto Pilot
The US Air lawsuit was not dismissed based on merit, but based on not being ripe (the pilots had not yet been harmed), the lower court had already determined that the suit warranted a "day in court". As soon as the company accepts the revised seniority list, the pilots will have been "wronged" and a lawsuit will again proceed. The same will be true here. If a United pilot with 11 years with the company and 7 years of active service goes junior to a 5 year Continental pilot I assure you there will be lawsuits, and the only claim has to be that the merger committee/MEC did not present a "vigorous defensive" of their due seniority in the integration. The MEC at United is on record as stating that they have a legal obligation to represent all United pilots, including those furloughed, and thus far it certainly appears that they are. Not negotiating a contract before the merger close date is going to prove very costly for the company.
And this is why there are so many lawyers in the world. You go right ahead and throw your money at them. Don't get your hopes too high.
Someone also said that you can't get bumped out of base or seat. Basically no bump no flush during this merger. Don't count on that either. You see once it becomes final and the company starts moving aircraft then people start bidding their new found seniority and if you have a lot fo commuters then they may start moving into bases that they formerly didn't have. So you might not get bumped or flushed in the actual SLI but you may every bid after that. It's happenning here at DAL every time the company closes a category and opens a new one.