SKMarz

IMO, there is one major difference when looking at this SLI...UAL pilots were absolutely furloughed to pave the way for this merger, that is a fact. Whether it will be treated as a fact when the time comes and how this will be viewed by an arbitrator, no one really knows.

This key difference is the thing that bugs me most when I'm told UAL furloughees deserve to be stapled, that we had no career expectations. Thanks for that pearl of wisdom, but if weren't for this merger, I wouldn't have been furloughed. While it's true, there would have been some furloughs (just like there were at CAL), it never would have gone as deep as it did. It irks me that so few people at CAL are even willing to acknowledge how it went down, and yet, when the final furloughs were announced at UAL, some CAL folks chimed in on this very board "so now the merger?" So clearly, at the time, some folks understood that the stage was set. Why is it so hard to admit it now?

No, no one is blaming CAL pilots for the plot, (or the merger) that blame clearly falls on management's doorstep, but why is it so hard to admit that many UAL furloughees were sacrificial lambs? And seriously, if I have to hear one more time how eager and excited UAL folks were for this merger to happen, I just might puke. Why don't you ask the 1437 that question?

When it comes down to it, I'm not going to sweat what the SLI ends up looking like, it will be as it will be and it will probably look like a staple, oh well, that's life. But will someone please tell me why folks can't admit that is how it went down?

When, and if, I'm ever back in the cockpit at UAL, and I find myself flying with former CAL folks, I can assure you I will never be resentful, bitter or crappy to you, you did not create this mess. Having said that, a little empathy on your part goes a long way.