Originally Posted by FloridaGator

OK Slowplay. First notice that you are the only one on here standing up for the merger fund theft. I have no interest in getting into an anonymous online spat so I will do my best to keep this retort civil on a subject that I am very emotionally heated about.

I can understand being a cheerleader for the merger fund under 3 circumstances.

1) You're a 20 year guy who would like $ from the junior pukes to help save your career.
2) You're a union guy who is begging ALPA national for an office job after Comair furloughs you and your best interest is following instructions from ALPA national.... who wants money from any source given its shrinking membership and unwillingness to cut fat cat costs.
3) You are junior and have some reason why you can't move on somewhere else. Failed checkrides, FAA violations, poor interviewing skills, etc. For whatever reason...your pilot career is tied to Comair and the only card to play is to hope that the company is bought and that you are merged onto another carriers list... of course with excellent seniority thanks to everyone else's $240. A pipe dream.

Now back to the timeline.

I was in upgrade training in November 2007. 5 1/2 years to upgrade makes Mesa look like a fantastic airline... but I chose to go to Comair because it had a better reputation. (Mesa folk would be Check Airmen in that time)

I was in downgrade training in November 2008. Ironically, I was able to meet the brand new president of Comair and ask the pointed questions. "If Mesa has its contract cancelled by Delta, would I re-upgrade?" The answer from Bendo was NO!. He told me that Comair would be lucky to still be operating a year from then.

I was freaking out. Lifetime RJ FO wasn't sounding like the career I had envisioned. Starting over at another regional? After the 9/11 stuff I had endured?

That was when it all began. November 2008. I was told by Todd (Contract Study Committee) that I had nothing to worry about. Things were happening at the union level that were going to make it all ok. He wouldn't say more because of a non-disclosure statement... and pointed me to one of our reps, Eric (Soon to be MEC?).

Eric spilled the beans. Said that by working behind the scenes with ALPA and putting together an application with the NLRB we could "Force" a merger with Compass and Mesaba. (Yes they were considered wholly owned subsidiaries of Delta at that time) I brought that info back to Todd and he was surprised that I was given that Top Secret Information. He decided to add to what I now knew and said that we had only one shot at this and we had to get it right. IF we were successful we could have a huge company and our seniority could be saved.

Keep in mind that this merger fund was instituted the entire 2008 year. It was looking like this NLRB end-around was a perfect use for that money.

Much later I was afforded the opportunity to talk to Paul L. who should have been our MEC the whole time. He told me that the entire NLRB "plan" was fiction. He have me the true story and keywords to search in Google.

The truth is that no MEC can force a merger. I was duped into paying that merger fund by lies. I would have preferred to just opt out of membership had I known the truth.

I guess by your post you think I am lying over and over. But I think I have put the whole story here on line for all to see.

You can argue that our MEC didn't know that they were incapable of forcing a merger. But that sounds stupid. ALPA national could tell them that. The attorneys they were interviewing could tell them that. Why tell people in the crew room that you can do this if you don't have a definitive answer in cold hard fact?

Here is the reality check. Nobody wants to buy Comair. The legacy costs are too high. Everything is too old. The planes....too much maintenance. The FA's, FO's & CA's.... very senior. Why not just hire off the street at 1st year pay? What about Comair is worth buying?

The Senior Captains need to ride this thing into the ground and make as much pay as they can for as long as they can.

The FO's need to get out of there. JetBlue, Virgin America, different Regional, etc.

The FA's are likely in a similar situation as the captains.

I am sorry to sound grim. But a little reality shouldn't be treated as toxic.

The fair and right thing to do would be to return the merger fund 100%. The F.O.s and furloughs would get screwed in a merger so why have them pay for their own screwing? Everybody needs to bring pressure on the new MEC to liquidate this thing.

A merger fund can always be collected when and if a merger or sale is announced. (which there wont be)