Cujo665

Section 6 can be dragged out anytime. Now, or later. They’ll do exactly as USAir did and merge the airlines and let you two pilot groups bicker and fight. Meanwhile everybody else gets raises. They may even buy another carrier for staffing further down the road.... I’d break out the records and study the East vs West SLI BS that cost their pilots over $2B in direct earnings not including investment earnings.

So you want a CBA for just the Atlas Pilots before you’ll do a Seniority List Integration and a new CBA for all the Atlas/Southern Pilots.... is that the gist of it?

Globemaster2827

If you Section 6 two identical contracts there's nothing to merge... Or you can just sign an agreement that the Section 6 is the new contract. Either way there's a vote with a threat of a strike behind it that creates leverage they haven't had in almost 20 years... Leverage that every other airline gets. It's all pointless to discuss now. Maybe they'll get to vote on a contract in 2030 right before Drones come.

I'm expecting a "Kalitta +$1" contract that keeps them compensated at about 60% of the rest of the industry.

Cujo665

Are the two contracts identical? If so, then why not work out an SLI agreement amongst yourselves (Pilots, Atlas-Southern) and then hold it hostage for expedited full section six?

What is it the company wants to do? One CBA for both pilot groups at once?

akfrtdwg 57

Because the last time this happened the company ran with the SLI which started the 9 month clock into arbitration. After that they were stuck with the current CBA for 5 years. Which has the scope language that's causing all the current issues. So the strategy would be repeated over and over with no way out. You're basically saying, capitulate guys. Give management what they want take your pay raise every 5 years and suck up the loss of retirement and work rules. At some point you have to make a stand, put your foot down and say enough of this. Just going with what this mismanagement wants to do is no going to get there. EVER. The only way to change the language in the current contract is Section 6. Outside of that the company can just say no to anything the union says, then the arbitrator is going to give the company current language of the CBA. So no improvements.

Cujo665

Do a SLI and hold it hostage to be approved signed and effective upon a pilot ratified new CBA for both pilot groups.

That is not the only way to change contracts. A side LOA can be done and approved at any time. I don’t see that happening in this case though. Too many things need fixing.

iPilot

The merger process in the contract just requires the management to supply proposals to only the sections they want to modify and stonewall the rest. At the end of the 9 month negotiation period all outstanding sections are automatically averaged by an arbiter.

So management could propose pay scales that look great and then stonewall everything else. At the end of 9 months the rest of the sections are averaged (in this case with identical contracts they'd stay the same). You get headline grabbing pay scales for Airline Pilot Central but work rules that are wildly behind even the regionals.

Arbiter rules the new merged contract good, standard 4 year amendable date imposed and the pilots never get a say in any of it. Just like they did with Polar and Atlas way back when. Hardest part of the whole thing for management is deciding which airline to merge with in 4 years.

iPilot

To add this merger language isn't anything outlandish. When it was written it was top of the line for giving the union the ability to prevent whipsaw by forcing a merger if there's ever a situation like ABX/ATI where Atlas owns two airlines to pit against each other.

What wasn't expected is that the company could turn it around and use it to force the union to merge. The arbiter in the Southern case ruled they could and imposed a 45 day time limit on the SLI which wasn't anywhere in the contract language. Additionally it imposes Southern's merger language on Atlas which is still technically a separate pilot group and union. It would be like FedEx buying Southern and then forcing the FedEx pilots into the southern merger process (and ending up with something between FDX and Southern's contract, somehow). The FedEx pilots wouldn't even get a vote in the matter!

Its a shaky ruling that if allowed to stand is quite dangerous for the industry. It sets precedent where Atlas can merge with any airline and impose a wildly one-sided merger process on the pilots. Not to veer too much into politics but this is what happens when you have severely anti-labor politicians placing judges and arbiters in positions like the NMB where they can wipe out our bargaining ability with a simple court ruling.

Cujo665

The SLI is your hook, not section six specifically. Use the hook to induce the desired changes.

Get both pilot groups mergers committees spun up and work out a SLI. Present it to the company with the conditional language that it not be effective until a pilot group ratified CBA is completed.

Would something like that not work for all parties? Would it not show complete reasonableness in attempting resolution before further litigation or requests for release?

iPilot

There is nothing to offer. When a SLI is produced (now compelled in 45 days by the arbiter) a 9 month negotiation window opens. After 9 months any remaining items are mandated to simply be averaged. If the company doesn't want to change things they just cross their arms until the 9 months is up. The union has absolutely no power in this and the pilots don't even vote for it at the end.

akfrtdwg 57

You seem to cherry pick what is being said. When the SLI is presented the company it starts the 9 month clock. There is no holding it back for conditions. 9 months to negotiate a contract. Any unresolved articles go to the Arbitrator. This is the language the Union is fighting to change. So it's not as simple as holding the list until a contract is done. You present the list the clock starts and this crappy contract is set for another X amount of years or more apt perpetuity.