Were you in the St Patrick's day class? There was indeed one Comair pilot in that that (our?) class. There were a bunch of ASA and ExpressJet pilots - but only one Comair.

That is close to being true, but not exactly. The Delta MEC never wanted the ASA or Comair pilots and preemptively made sure changes were made to ALPA's Constitution and Bylaws to change the definitions which trigger the union's longstanding merger and fragmentation policy. Specifically, the definition of "operational integration" was removed.

The reasons Giambusso cited were that if ASA & Comair were merged a military pilot would have a choice of flying an RJ for Delta, or a real airplane at American. By merging our carriers Delta would not be as attractive to military pilots. When asked if he was speaking on behalf of our union, or on the behalf of future military pilots, Giambusso stated he had been a military pilot for many more years than he had been an ALPA member. He also made comments about the education, experience level and belief that many ASA pilots had DUI's. In any event, ASA & Comair pilots were not former military pilots and generally not up to Delta's standards.

Thus rebuked, the ASA and Comair pilots tried to push the issue through ALPA national. Being somewhat unsophisticated at the game on this level they followed the procedures laid out by our union like a sequential check list. One of those procedures was to make the application WITHOUT presupposing a seniority outcome.

In simple terms the union was to decide IF there was going to be a merger before the players put forward their seniority integration methodologies.

In the crew room briefings the question of SLI came up. The ASA & Comair pilots were both told (I was there as an ASA pilot) that "ALPA seniority integration recognizes the status quo ... that means lists are most commonly integrated by paycheck or equipment, in either case that would mean a STAPLE."

On the other side of the concourse Delta pilots were being told ASA & Comair pilots were demanding "Date of Hire." That statement was untrue, but it helped politically galvanize the Delta pilots by giving them a common enemy.

Yes, we're classmates! Coolness.

It would be nice to unwind the clock....

Flying gone and opportunities missed either way.

Bar,

I agree that we should have gone to Delta Management because we owned Comair and ASA........that being said, for Lawson to demand the things he did in that letter was a slap in the face to every Delta Pilot.

Denny

Denny;
Agreed, it was divisive. I still effects a great many things today.

It was true if you reference the stated positions of Lawson and his MEC Chair predecessor Dick DeleGarde.

What had been Comair flying was being outsourced to other members of the DCI portfolio. Comair was afraid of exactly what did happen to them. Today they are a shadow of what they used to be. Lawson was trying to protect the job security and career progression of his pilots.

After all Delta wanted Lawson to negotiate something with his management, Lawson wanted some help in return.

Was he a jerk - sure. Was he offensive - absolutely. Was he trying to get the Delta pilots to negotiate - yes.

At ASA we welcomed our Delta brothers with open arms. We figured it was better to build bridges. Further - we told him it was wrong to use furloughed pilots as bargaining chips.

While Lawson shot us in the back on several occasions and there IS bad blood, he was trying to protect his pilots - that was his job.

Just because I understand what he was doing does not mean I condone it. But it is pretty easy to see what has happened to that airline under Delta's stewardship.

I was at the meeting. I heard Lawson state that ALPA merger policy was all they would except unless a prenup was DOH. Seemed pretty clear to me what his demands were. I never heard CG express what you state. Not saying it did not happen but I never heard him make those kind of statements. There was a surprising amount of MEC support to try and convince the company to merge the lists. I don't think however we would have ever convinced the company to due that for many reasons short of massive concessions in every other area of the contract and management retaining the ability to split off Comair and ASA for sale if they desired.

Sorry ac, had to put the laptop down and begin my descent. LOL Actually I had to leave the office and run some errands.