sailingfun

Someone has posted on another site that the NWA Code A Phone is stating that DALPA has now embraced arbitration after refusing it earlier. If this is true then they are putting out false information. Not one single communication has offered or embraced arbitration. In fact DALPA has said over and over again that arbitration is a failure of leadership. The plan is to complete a negotiated seniority list. Hopefully sooner rather then later. There is no plan for arbitration unless we are forced there by a inability to complete a list via negotiation and mediation. Please ask the NWA mec to put out a correction if this is true. If it is not true then let me know here and I will delete this post.

Carl Spackler

Don't know about the code a phone, but the video taped press conference held by the NWA MEC showed the MEC Chairman stating that DALPA has now inexplicably agreed to arbitration after refusing to agree to it prior to signing the LOA. The links to this press conference have been posted here in a couple of places.

What is troubling about it was that both sides have stated that all items in a combined contract had been agreed to except a SLI. NWALPA offered up arbitration as a way to get the combined agreement, and DALPA refused calling arbitration a failed concept. After the LOA was signed, now DALPA (according to the NWA MEC) is agreeing to arbitration. From what I see, that characterization is not completely accurate. I thought the DALPA position is that given the failure of negotiations on the combined contract, ALPA policy is that the mediation/arbitration process must now begin. For some, that may be a distinction without a difference.

Carl

sully606

Do you have a quote or a written statement from Lee Moak stating this? I have heard him speak and he was asked about this and I did not here anything of the sort from his lips. I may have missed it but I have not read anything as well. Now, is arbitration a possibility? Yes. It is not the goal or even inevitable. Has the NW MEC chairman and leadership given an account of their whereabouts and actions in the last two weeks prior to the merger announcement? I'd ask them with the rumors going around.

Carl Spackler

What do you mean? As far as the statement that DALPA now agrees to arbitration, as I stated in the post, that was said by the NWA MEC Chairman in a videotaped news conference. As far as DALPA wanting no part of arbitration prior to the LOA being signed, there were numerous emails on APC (purported to be from DALPA leadership) that referred to arbitration as a 'failed process' or 'lack of leadership' or 'non-starter.'

As far as getting any info from our MEC - to quote Dan Rather: "the information is locked up tighter than the rusted lug nuts on a 57 Chevy." I'm glad Dan's now getting some "alone time."
Carl

sully606

What do mean what do I mean? Have you heard or read a direct quote from Lee Moak on this subject? You used the word inexplicable when refering to DALPA wanting or excepting arbitration and your reference is your MEC chairman. Since you don't seem to accept most of the replies to questions on this forum I would think that possilbly your MEC chairman got it wrong and maybe you should go to him for clarification.

Carl Spackler

Sully,

OK, at least now I know you're referring to whether or not DALPA is now for arbitration.

I don't need to ask our MEC Chairman for a clarification, the entire videotaped press conference (including his quote that DALPA is now inexplicably FOR arbitration) is on youtube and other spots. He said what he said, it's on videotape...if you hear it you'll see that no clarification is needed. If it is not true, if NWALPA is lying, how easy would it be for DALPA to issue a statement reiterating their long standing belief that arbitration is a failed process and a non-starter? That would instantly clear things up and make DALPA look consistent before and after the signing of the LOA. It would also prove your assertion that NWALPA got it wrong.

Carl

JetFlyer06

Here it is, emailed on 4.14.08:

In This Hotline

• NWA MEC Opposes NWA/DAL Merger

NWA MEC Opposes NWA/DAL Merger
Today the managements and Boards of Directors of Northwest and Delta Air Lines announced their intent to merge. In addition, a new pilot contract was agreed upon by the Delta MEC and Delta management without the participation of the Northwest pilot group. No details on this contract are available at present. The Northwest MEC strongly opposes the merger with Delta Air Lines as it stands.

Reasons for Opposition:

• Northwest pilots will be disadvantaged in obtaining a joint contract and potentially in the seniority list integration process.
• The current process is highly likely to recreate the USAirways-America West merger environment.
• Northwest pilots are not brought to immediate parity with Delta pilots, potentially putting Northwest pilots on a B-Scale for years.

This merger announcement has come after months of negotiations which had resolved all joint pilot contract issues except for the differing views on the integration of pilot seniority. The NWA MEC, on numerous occasions, stated our willingness to resolve seniority integration by expedited arbitration. The Delta pilot leadership rejected arbitration as a means of resolving the seniority list issue at that time, but has now reversed its position. The Delta pilot leadership also abandoned the joint pilot contract approach and agreed to a new Delta pilot contract that increased the pay and benefits for their pilots only. Any previous value and synergy created by the merger is likely to be lost due to this one-sided agreement.

tsquare

FWIW Carl.. I just talked to my Captain rep. (I cannopt believe the guy actually answered his phone while he is on vacation).. Anyway, he told me that DALPA is definitely, without a doubt opposed to arbitration.

staplegun

Here you go, Carl...

Looks like your guys are liars!


Throughout the months leading up to the merger announcement, the goal of the Delta MEC was always to reach a consensual comprehensive agreement with the Northwest MEC and Delta Air Lines management so that at the close of the merger, we would operate as a single pilot group under a joint pilot contract with a fair, negotiated seniority list.


Let me be perfectly clear: Nothing has changed in that regard. In fact, the Delta MEC’s unanimously adopted resolution to ratify LOA 19 contained this very important language:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Delta MEC welcomes the Northwest pilots as partners in the building of the new merged airline and looks forward to working with the Northwest MEC to bring about the rapid completion of a new joint agreement to take effect on the closing of the corporate transaction providing immediate parity in rates of pay and further providing for a rapid completion of a fair and equitable integrated seniority list to take effect on the effective date of the new joint agreement (emphasis added)


From the earliest stages of a possible merger involving Delta, your MEC sought to provide the pilots of both airlines with an alternative to the traditional merger process. None of our actions were taken without a reason; none of the decisions were made in a vacuum. In developing an alternative, we determined that maximum value for the pilot groups could best be extracted by reaching a comprehensive overall agreement between the two pilot groups and the surviving management team in advance of the merger announcement. Despite several exhaustive efforts, however, we were unable to reach an agreement on an integrated seniority list which was integral to an overall agreement.


As the probability of a merger increased and the associated timeline grew correspondingly shorter, the Delta MEC was faced with a choice. We could do nothing and follow the well worn traditional merger path, a path that has rarely led to a successful outcome for labor, or we could continue to assert our relevance at the front-end of the merger process and exercise the protections that exist in our scope language to obtain the maximum possible leverage, a move which eventually would serve the best interests of both pilot groups. In short, while we would like to have achieved an overall pre-announcement agreement including the Northwest pilots, that option was no longer available within the timeframe under which we were working. We had simply run out of time. Your Negotiating Committee negotiated and your MEC ratified LOA 19 to accomplish the first step of what is now a two-step process designed to achieve essentially the same goal—a single pilot group operating under a joint contract with a negotiated single seniority list.


Had our situations been reversed, I am confident that your MEC would have kept the endgame in mind and encouraged the Northwest pilots’ leadership to take a similar approach.

We have always acted sincerely with the best interests of our fellow pilots in mind, and make no mistake, once the corporate transaction closes, the Delta and Northwest pilots will all be Delta pilots. The ethics of integrity, fairness and professionalism must not be compromised as we transition to a group over 12,000 strong.


Any revisionist views about the motives behind LOA 19 are simply fiction.


We have been in contact with both Delta management and the Northwest MEC leadership, and we are attempting to schedule preparations between the two Negotiating Committees and actual negotiations with the company as soon as practical. We will continue to pursue a single joint contract with full parity for the Northwest pilots to take effect at the close of the corporate transaction. We are also committed to the premise that seniority integration should be accomplished after negotiation of the single joint contract by expedited negotiations and, if necessary, expedited arbitration to be completed before closing of a corporate transaction. Unlike our attempt to reach a cooperative seniority list integration before the merger announcement, arbitration can have a role post announcement, either through ALPA merger policy or earlier, through mutual agreement.







Kevin

rvr350

Fellas,

I think we should be done trying to convince the other side the intent of the latest moves by our respective MEC. For all intent and purposes, most of us here have already choose what we want to believe. Let's just share here what our MEC gives us foot soldiers, and leave the comments behind.