Originally Posted by Coto Pilot

SoCal almost everything you said was a synopsis of what I had said. I agree with you that an arbitration board will eventually make a decision, just as was the the case in the USAir/Cactus merger. My point is that the arbitrators decision in that merger still has not been implemented five years after the deal was agreed to. It is like people buying a home in a depressed market, the buyers beat down the seller on price to something less than fair, only to find that they can't get a loan for the home because it won't appraise. The calls on this forum to staple an 11 year United pilot below a 3,4 or 5 year Continental one with fewer years on the property will not happen. If an arbitrator did make that decision, which I am certian they won't based on the new merger policy, it will be a long time before the merged list is accepted by the company. I think all of us involved will know whether the decision eventually rendered is fair or not. As has been said before, a fair decision is going to have just about everyone but a few at the very top, at least a little ****ed off.

Originally Posted by EWRflyr

I have read and reread this a couple of times. I think you either don't understand the case you are trying to cite or you are trying to use completely different facts to support your argument.

The case you are referring to was the West Pilots against USAPA. The West Pilots filed a DFR lawsuit. The pilots the court said had not yet been harmed are the West pilots NOT the East pilots. The court was not talking about the East pilots in this case. The Nicolau award list was thrown out by USAPA, but since the two groups are not yet merged under one JCBA the judge has indicated the West's case is not ripe. IF a new JCBA is ratified that uses a list other than the Nicolau award, then the West pilots would have been "wronged" and their case would be ripe for hearing.

This situation is different. We have agreements in place that state the SLI will not take place prior to the ratification of a JCBA. Should the SLI go to an arbitrator as 125% of us believe, it will be his binding decision on the groups. From what you are saying, your group is ready to use the USAirways East dictionary version of "binding" during the SLI? And what makes you think that when it goes to an arbitrator that both sides will not fight vigorously, vocally, and emphatically for their position? How could that result in a lawsuit over the SLI for lack of fair representation in the process? Or are you suggesting that the UAL folks will somehow perform below their best in order to have an argument to make if the SLI goes in a direction not to UAL pilots' liking?