Sniper

To my knowledge, the PA has been followed and is being followed currently - prior to 1 Oct. 2011, negotiated agreements w/o an arbitrator are to be pursued (the current proposal was finalized prior to 1 Oct.). Now, should the AirTran pilots vote 'no' to the negotiated SLI, there are rumored threats that imply that PA would not be followed in the future.

Is there proof that Southwest management has made threats or otherwise involved themselves in any nefarious way, or any proof that SWA has made it known they have no intention of following the PA, should the latest agreement not be voted in?

Boogie Nights

Southwest raises possibility of alternate plan for AirTran merger
Atlanta Business News 6:59 p.m. Tuesday, October 11, 2011

As pilots at Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways vote on a deal to combine seniority lists for the integration into a single carrier called Southwest, an alternate plan has already been floated if the deal is turned down.
More business news
In an effort to encourage pilots to approve the deal, Southwest has raised the possibility of a Plan B: that AirTran may not fully integrate as planned into Southwest if the pilot proposal fails.
"If we receive a ‘no' vote, it means that we cannot execute the original integration plan and we will have to reset," said Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan in a written statement.
A presentation to AirTran pilots by their union leadership laid out the Plan B scenario. It is unclear what effect the alternative plan would have on passengers. Southwest already has plans to launch its own service in Atlanta in February. But pilot jobs could be at risk.
The prospect came up shortly after AirTran’s pilots union leadership voted against an initial deal, when Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly told employees that a process agreement leads to binding arbitration “in the event that we merge all of AirTran’s operations into Southwest." He said at the time that the company would begin evaluating "all options in addition to or in lieu of arbitration.”
The presentation to AirTran pilots notes that Southwest executives briefed union leadership on Plan B after the first deal was rejected. Executives said Southwest must reexamine its options due to a softening economy, high jet fuel costs and "unforeseen difficulties with AirTran integration." Those issues include "difficulty weaning" AirTran from $200 million a year in revenue from baggage fees and difficulty integrating AirTran's Boeing 717s, according to the presentation.
The alternate plan would call for AirTran and Southwest to remain separate, the presentation said, although other options exist. In the meantime, Southwest continues work on integrating AirTran operations into its own.
"All of our efforts are focused on getting the integration deal with our pilots done. This is critical to the current pace of our integration efforts," Flaningan said.
But even if AirTran remains a subsidiary, major components to the merger likely remain the same: Southwest would still gain access to the Atlanta market; it would still get AirTran's international routes and planes; and it would remove a key competitor, the presentation notes.
One integration possibility is the "slow dismantling" of AirTran. In the 1980s, Southwest acquired competitor Muse Air, changed its name to Transtar, operated it separately and eventually shut it down.
Southwest has pushed for a mutual pilot agreement from the early going, hoping to avoid bitter fighting among employees that could alter its prized company culture that depends on friendliness and collegiality. Pilots continue voting on the seniority integration deal through Nov. 7.
In most airline mergers, pilot unions spend months trying to reach agreement on how to combine their seniority lists, butusually end up going to arbitration. Seniority carries extraordinarily high stakes for pilots, affecting their pay, work schedules and where they live.
But arbitration, as US Airways has discovered in its merger with America West, does not necessarily translate into a quick and happy ending. The US Airways-America West pilot integration has dragged on for years.
On Tuesday, AirTran pilots voted in favor of recalling three of their union leaders, amid discontent over the union leadership decision to decline the first offer.
If Southwest and AirTran pilots vote to approve the seniority integration deal proposed to them by union leaders, it would be an unusual accomplishment in the airline industry.
But some AirTran pilots are concerned about the deal because of the possibility they could get better terms on seniority if they proceed to arbitration. "

Boogie Nights

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-11/southwest-weighs-stand-alone-airtran-option-if-pilot-vote-fails.html?cmpid=yhoo

Southwest Weighs Stand-Alone AirTran Option If Pilot Vote Fails
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) told pilots it would keep operating newly acquired AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI) as a stand-alone carrier if union members don’t agree to combine seniority lists.
Southwest briefed pilots on a “Plan B” for “separate and unintegrated” operations after that union declined to hold a membership election on a seniority proposal, according to an AirTran union summary obtained by Bloomberg News. Pilots at both airlines are now voting until Nov. 7 on a new agreement.
Keeping AirTran flying on its own would run counter to the goal of folding the discount carrier into Southwest, the biggest low-fare airline. Dallas-based Southwest paid $1 billion in cash and stock in May to buy AirTran, winning access to fly into Atlanta, home of the world’s busiest airport.
Winning pilots’ approval of one seniority list would give Southwest a timeline to blend workforces and fleets, and set union members’ rankings for pay, schedules and the types of aircraft they fly. For AirTran pilots, ratification will mean “certainty of integration,” Southwest said in a Sept. 22 letter to union members.
Southwest has met with pilots to explain “what that vote is and what it does,” Beth Harbin, an airline spokeswoman, said in an interview today. “Absent approval, we have to think about, ‘Where is the flexibility?’”
Harbin declined to discuss the AirTran union summary or what options that Southwest would consider if pilots don’t accept the new seniority agreement.
‘Good Momentum’
“I’m certainly not going to go into any detail about what that flexibility is,” Harbin said. “Our focus is going to be on getting the deal with the pilots done quickly because that really does set a good momentum for the rest of the integration.”
Jim Morris, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association at AirTran, declined to comment, as did Jacob North, a spokesman for the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association. AirTran has about 1,700 pilots, while Southwest has more than 6,000.
The seniority agreement now being voted on by pilots was crafted after AirTran’s union decided against sending the original version to rank-and-file members. Under the new plan, current Southwest pilots’ seniority rights would be protected, and AirTran pilots would get pay raises.
“The company believes this proposal strongly merits your support,” Southwest said in the Sept. 22 letter.
Contingency Plan
If the ratification vote falls short, Southwest executives have developed “Plan B” as a contingency, according to the AirTran union summary. Details of that strategy were completed on Sept. 20, the summary said.
“Plan B calls for AAI and SWA to remain separate and unintegrated,” according to the summary, using abbreviations for AirTran and Southwest.
A stand-alone AirTran would provide the same savings and revenue benefits because it would keep collecting $200 million a year in fees for checked bags, and AirTran’s Boeing Co. (BA) 717s wouldn’t be blended into Southwest’s fleet, the summary said. Southwest flies only Boeing 737s.
Southwest has said it expects that full integration of the airlines would take about two years after receiving regulatory approval to operate as a single carrier in 2012’s first quarter. Pilots’ failure to agree on an integration plan can scuttle mergers or keep airlines from operating as a single carrier after a tie-up.
Southwest’s 2009 bid for Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. faltered when the carriers’ pilots couldn’t agree on seniority. US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) pilots are still feuding over seniority after the carrier’s creation in the 2005 merger of its namesake predecessor and America West Holdings Corp., forcing management to follow separate work agreements with two unions.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at [email protected]; Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at [email protected]


Still another article
Airtran Deal Could Hold Southwest Back: Deutsche Bank - Stocks To Watch Today - Barrons.com

Boogie Nights

It is a probability that someone on the AT leaked this.
Comspiracy therory would involve leaking this to manipulate stock price. Who knows.
As far as I know no one has seen anything with a siganture on it.

SherpaLifter

Well at least the threats have been verified by a SWA spokesman and are out in the open (finally).

If AT pilots approve AIP2 (which all indications are they will) and SWA pilots don't, what's next? Plan B or arbitration?