No pilot that I have ever spoken to is "mad" at the Comair pilots due to their strike. In fact we admired their fortitude, and in fact every Delta flight I flew during the entire strike I ensured was not in any way a sort of extra section or upgrade of equipment so as to somehow give mgmt a tool to lessen the strike's impact. We even had a booklet printed and issued by our Strike Committee detailing the steps we should take to review such flying.

However, how do you expect DAL pilots to feel when:

a. The Comair MEC unilaterally petitions ALPA national to get on our seniority list (and at least some assumed that their Comair DOH would transfer over, giving an RJ captain an instant 767 left seat).

b. The Comair MEC leadership explicitly rejected the idea of furloughed DAL pilots flying for Comair at the bottom of the seniority list unless they resigned their DAL seniority.

c. Comair pilots were leading proponents of RJDC nonsense.

d. Now "Joe Merchant" STILL thinks that a Comair pilot should get hired at DAL with his Comair DOH used for "bidding purposes"?....

And ya'll wonder?

 

I kind of hear what you are saying. However I have to play the devil's advocate on this one. What did Delta mainline pilots do for Comair pilots when they were furloughed? Did they offer some sort of helping hand in giving them a job as a mainline pilot? Please don't take that the wrong way but this is a discussion board and I think it's worth discussing.

No I do not work for Comair but I hear some of my fellow pilots saying things that make me wonder. Some of these guys should have no beef with Comair pilots but it seems as if some guys just want to hate like others.

This is not directed at you HerkFlyr.

 

We don't really wonder;

a. Our MEC doesn't have the power to unilaterally force Comair to uphold our own contract, much less force Anderson and Moak into a merger. Besides, our guys senior enough to hold Capt. 767 are just senile enough you could tell them they've been promoted to Commodore, give 'em solid epaulets and make them sit j/s for a couple days at a time (just go cold mike & don't let them touch anything). The rest of us junior peaons would gladly take a staple and the worst rsrv. lines on the DC-9.

b. A huge chunk of us weren't here when J.C. did that...we're not big fans of his work!

c.Not so sure RJDC was "nonesense" (granted, it could have been handled differently)...it seems pretty obvious ALPA has a conflict of interest. Wasn't ASA part of that too?

d. I don't want to speak for JoeMerchant, but I believe he was referring to DOH within our peer group (DCI carriers). It'll never happen, but nice to know there are others you can count on in a bar fight.

 

Joe Merchant works for ASA; he was talking about proposing a resolution to give Comair pilots DOH at ASA. I guess unity within a union is a pretty far-fetched concept.

 

ALPA is not a union. Keep repeating that until you get it. ALPA is an association of individual unions. Your airlines pilot group is your only union.

 

I guess I don't follow all the paths of this thread.

Suffice it to say that I am sure that any Comair (or ASA) pilot would make a fine addition to the DAL seniority list. I have no desire to "blackball" anyone. I just want you to know that there are some formerly-furloughed DAL guys (I was not personally furloughed, however) who still have some hard feelings about stuff in the past.

We do need to move on, and have. I hope that we can hire a lot of you all, Comair included. Just do it the way nearly all the rest of have--submit an application, get invited for an interview, and get hired. And then welcome aboard.

 

The LEC 112 meeting was this past Friday, and Joe sat there like a bump on a log.

This is just Joe's latest attempt to embarrass ALPA. He's trying to lure the ALPA cheerleaders to say what a bad idea this is so that he can call them hypocrites. He posted this same flamebait on Flightinfo. Pretty transparent if you ask me.

Move along... nothing to see here...

 

A resolution to give Comair pilots preferential hiring at ASA. How ironic.

The Comair pilots were offered preferential hiring at Delta.
JC Lawson and the Comair MEC said no.
Many, probably most, current Comair pilots would be at the mainline right now.
All Lawson had to do was let CMR hire Delta furloughees without resigning from Delta.
Instead we have December 16, 2002. A date which will live in infamy.
The RJDC and their poodle, JC Lawson, screwed the entire CMR pilot group along with the Delta furloughees.

Here is the offending document.


TO: Comair Pilots
FROM: J.C. Lawson, Comair MEC Chairman
DATE: December 16, 2002

Your MEC met in CVG with the Delta MEC Chairman, Captain Will Buergey, at his request, to discuss preferential hiring of furloughed Delta pilots at Comair. Through this letter, I hope to dispel rumors and provide a more thorough understanding of the purpose and outcome of that meeting.

The Delta MEC, while in session at the bi-annual October Board of Directors meeting in Hollywood, Florida, formally directed the Delta MEC Chairman via resolution to meet with the Comair MEC Chairman to seek preferential hiring for furloughed Delta pilots at Comair while allowing them to retain their Delta seniority.

The general philosophy held by the Comair MEC is:

We are sensitive to the regrettable plight of all furloughed pilots in our industry.
We encourage our management to hire pilots who seek a future at Comair.
We have formally approached Comair management and our management has agreed to preferential hiring of furloughed ALPA pilots.
We agree with our company's policy that requires prospective Comair pilots to resign their seniority at their previous carrier.
We believe our Company's industry-standard policy requiring seniority resignation is sound and wise. It promotes the general health and welfare of all Comair employees and serves to protect the future of our company.
At our meeting in CVG, Captain Buergey offered preferential hiring to Comair pilots if the Comair MEC would recommend to Comair management that they hire furloughed Delta pilots and allow them to retain their Delta seniority.

Your MEC responded that hiring any pilots at Comair who do not resign their seniority at their previous carrier gives rise to numerous substantive concerns. The Delta MEC's offer of (future) preferential hiring at Delta is not sufficiently substantive to overcome those concerns and solicit Comair pilots' support. We suggested three alternative concepts, any one or all of which might lead to a mutually beneficial solution:

Relax the Delta PWA, Section 1, seat restrictions imposed upon Comair and ASA that limit our growth in 70-seat and larger airframes.
Negotiate Delta Brand Scope language with Delta management that defines all Delta flying within the Delta revenue stream to be performed solely by Delta, Comair, and ASA pilots.
Negotiate a plan for future integration of our Delta, Comair, and ASA pilots seniority lists that fairly recognizes the efforts and contributions of all.

The Comair MEC stands ready to work with the collective MEC's to bring about change that makes sense in a challenging economic environment and works for all pilots who perform flying under the Delta brand. As we stated in the Tuesday, December 3rd meeting, our door is still open.

COMAIR MEC
AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL
SUITE 120 3940 OLYMPIC BOULEVARD ERLANGER, KY 41018
859-282-9016 FAX 859-283-5533

 

Yup, that is a horrible stance that those chumps took. They are also no longer in power, yet unfortunately still active pilots here.

There are also 537 pilots here that were hired after that regrettable letter.

I wouldn't mind seeing those responsible for the letter removed from our union permanently.

 

Those responsible for that letter should have been recalled from office the very day that letter was put out.