Originally Posted by
mastercraft
While I do truly appreciate your sound and unbiased reasoning, I still disagree.
Yes I KNOW AAI negotiated the new contract with some sort of coordination with LUV, as I stated previously.
As far as the judge is concerned, the contract that was in force on Sept 27 was a contract too!
You seem to see it as coincidence that a group that voted 98% in favor of strike after 5+ years of mediation, fighting against one of the indutry's most aggressive and oppresive managements, suddenly made friends with their management two weeks after the acquisition was announced and got a TA.
Reality check- without this announcement, the AT pilots would still be in mediation (though probably on ice until after the new year) and would still be wishing SWA would come to save them...even if that meant a staple!
We simply disagree about the relevance of the previous contract, because I think the fact it's been surperceded is all you need to know about it.
Where you are dead wrong, is in the salvation argument. AAI didn't need to be saved anymore than you need to be saved. Or any less. There is no winning by following this rationale. You're not going to convince a judge, and you're not going to convince the AAI pilots. If it makes you feel good to imagine you're saving a group, and you find a LUV pilot that feels the same way, then you can enjoy the thrill of bashing the other side privately.
What you need to consider is that the fact the other side is getting a raise in an of itself doesn't mean all that much. It's merely one equity being brought to the table. You may have more success getting credit for having a greater proportion (100%) of the larger aiplane, but it's shades of smaller narrow-bodies anyway.
Bottom line: the companies need each other, and the assets of either side are just as valuble to the other. In management's eyes, both of you will do the same function before and after, and they have absolutely zero ambition to ruin the merger by trying to play favorites. This is why the arbitration will be driven, promptly, to something that works for the company.