Originally Posted by
cole
Maybe you smart guys can tell me what career expectations mean? I understand both pilots at AAI/SWA will become a captain on a 737. But a SWA pilot in their career is going to make ALOT more than a airtran captain would, right? So if I started a one airplane airline that flew a 737 making 40k as a captain, and SWA bought me, my career expectation would be a 737 captain. Do I get relative seniority, now instead of being on the top of a 4 person airline, I am on top of SWA seniority list making at least 250k? I mean I was going to be a 737 captain at my old airline, I deserve to be a captain at SWA now right?
I'll put it this way, I just looked at our arbitration award. It's 32 pages and the word pay showed up 3 times. Two times to acknowledge that one side wanted that taken into consideration and one time when they recited a clause in the ALPA merger policy. The did not mention increased pay in the analysis. In other words, they did not consider it.
I'm not saying that arbitrators won't consider it. But, I am saying that, I think you guys need to come up with a better argument, because the arbitrators won't create an entire seniority list based on the fact that one side got paid more than the other.