I disagree with Tsquared many times (Gator living in TN versus a Vol in Florida). But disagreement with him doesn't make him a small man.

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I don't agree.

The long call reserve system would shut down, but that's it.
They can easily run the airline with short calls, greenslips and reroutes. It would definitely cost them some extra cash but that's not a factor in whether or not it would be legal under the law. And the long call system really wouldn't "shut down". Far from it. Do you have any doubt that tsquare and sailingfun would follow Dickson's directives regardless of what the contract says? And most guys would just go about business as usual, they get a trip the day before and they acknowledge it.

ALPA would NOT go broke unless the company started handing out massive numbers of personal drops and if they do that then it means a whole bunch of trips aren't getting covered. Something would have to give long before ALPA went broke. The personal drops would be far less than we've paid in the past for strike assessments. The Comair strike for instance. Eastern Airlines, etc. etc.

If Delta took ALPA to court, what would they argue? That we weren't following Dickson's memo? I'm not so sure they want to go there. Dickson's memo is a wing and a prayer. It is not enforceable by any court or arbitrator anywhere. Its a memo. The only reason it is working is because DALPA has allowed management to use intimidation, fear and punishment to establish new reserve rules instead of using the RLA collective bargaining process.

Nice post! And I agree. But unfortunately we'll never find out because DALPA is so in bed with management it continues to fails miserably at its most fundamental duty---to REPRESENT the pilots.

Won't stand up for brothers under the contract, but trades apple options. Yeah, you're a real risky cat.

Well said, saying they rolled the dice and lost WRT the memo is not fair when, if not for those guys abiding by the contract, we wouldn't have had any leverage for the negotiations in the first place.

Excellent point.

We all should be thanking those guys who are willing to stand up to Flt Ops pay cut threats and aren't afraid of a "Chief Pilot Review".

They are truly "taking one for the team".

So explain to me if we did all you state what you would expect the result to be assuming your interpretation of what would happen in the legal side turns out to be far more accurate then the labor attorneys that have been consulted?

So, you agree that the long call system could shut down, but don't think it would because enough pilots would still follow the SD memo? Ok. Fair point. I agree, there would be some pilots who will follow the memo -- come hell or high water.

But, I believe they are short right now. My category passed out 4 green slips today and there is basically no one left on reserve. I think they will have one, or two guys come in this weekend and that's it. For a category that has 300 pilots, IMO that's very short. It's not even really summertime yet. I don't think they have a body to spare. Green slips, re-routes, and SC's can only go so far.

Personally, I think they are going to be canceling flights this summer anyway. It might be the reason they pressed their ridiculous position to begin with. But, if the union does anything unusual to exacerbate the company's staffing miscalculation, they will become a convenient scapegoat. When that first flight is cancelled, whether it's a reserves fault, or not, Delta will be in court blaming DALPA and the fact that they are "paying their pilots not to fly."

And I'll say it again -- they would win.

Think about it.

Do you really think a judge would make that decision in a vacuum, without weighing the company's ridiculous, contract-abrogating memo (which he may very well take serious issue with)? :confused:

If the LC reserve shuts down so can the SC.