2015 Pilot Discussion.

[cactusboy53]

Ahhh...the good old days in the Honorable Judge Wake's courtroom......
 
[SIZE=12pt]THE COURT: The record will show the presence of the jury, counsel.  Will the foreperson please tell us whether the jury has unanimously reached a verdict.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]JURY FOREPERSON: We have, Your Honor.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]THE COURT: And will you please hand it to the clerk.  All right. And will the clerk please read and record the verdict?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]THE COURTROOM DEPUTY: Omitting the caption, we the jury, duly empaneled and sworn in the above-entitled matter, find as follows: On the plaintiff class's claim for breach of duty of fair representation against defendant USAPA, in favor of plaintiffs.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=12pt]Don Addington, et al.,Plaintiffs, vs. US Airline Pilots Association, et al., Defendants.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Jury Trial, Day 11 – VERDICT[/SIZE]

 

[cactusboy53]

The National Mediation Board on the subject of contract continuity:
 

"When there is an agreement in effect between a carrier and its employees signed by one set of representatives and employees choose new representatives who are certified by the Board, the Board has taken the position that a change in representation does NOT ALTER OR CANCEL ANY EXISTING AGREEMENT made on behalf of the employees by the previous representatives.  The only effect of a certification by the Board is that the employees have chosen other agents to represent them in dealing with the management under the existing agreement”

 

[EastUS1]

9 years later, we have been willing to abide by the product of a MUTUALLY AGREED UPON process.  9 years later our WORD is still in tact as is our INTEGRITY.

 
Goody for you, and nine years later you're still imprisoned inside your self-termed "Fishbowl" with nothing to show for all your ridiculous nonsense. Perhaps "you'se" should have at least considered the likely value of adding a BRAIN to all your "INTEGRITY" and "WORD"...Oh well, both sides did as they best thought fit to do, I suppose. The whole nic nonsense did no favors to anyone but management and a handful of lawyers.
 
"It is our hope (once again) that all those involve will accept and ABIDE by the product of the mutually agreed upon process (just like the last time)." True statement. It is indeed your "hope", but nothing more. No one can tell what will come from arbitration. I've no idea what to expect there, and wouldn't even choose to speculate on the eventual results.

 

[Phoenix]

Everyone has their contractual entitlements, but only one group is whining. Hmmm. Will the BOA find damages and issue retribution.. maybe, maybe not.

 

[Claxon]

west pilots are still trying to mine the money pit. 
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island

 

[Black Swan]

http://youtu.be/nqE2K7_S1D8

 

[Claxon]

How many more days is CB53 in the cornfield?


http://youtu.be/wq70U0UJgvI

 

[Claxon]

Phoenix Crew News February 6, 2007

Pilot: I hear you stand there and talk about how great the view is on your side of the podium is like my compatriot Coladio saying on this side we are pretty upset. You are touting all these improvements but I just wanted to tell you from our view what we’ve seen accomplished. Since this merger was announced it has been complete stagnation for our pilot group. Our schedules are what we are able to do as far as bidding that type of thing. None of that has improved. The pilots that were hired here three years ago have the same schedules that they had. They don’t have weekends off. They spend the same amount of time away from their families. Pilots that we had in our hiring pool were sent home. Pilots that are on the east pilot group are being recalled. America West and this pilot group put you in a position to where you could acquire US Airways. We don’t see that as fair at all. Speaking of unfair, the seniority boarding thing you’ve come out with we view it as a real farce. It’s not seniority boarding, it’s date of hire. There’s people that are on furlough-- pilots that are on furlough that have a greater day of hire than me. They don’t have a job right now when they come back they are going to bump me out of a seat. It’s also a violation of our contract Section 26 says you can’t make any changes to that benefit. We’ve also heard from Scott Kirby that this cost neutral thing was a big mistake and we were told to expect some changes at the bargaining table. Last time we were at bargaining it was pretty apparent from our side that management didn’t spend any time they just came in handed sections out of the east contract. If we follow through on our plan of action while flying an aircraft the way that management is following through on their plan of action, there would be craters in the desert. The question I have for you today is if you agree that as pilots that we should focus on doing our jobs and running this airline as safely as possible.

CEO Doug Parker: The answer to that question is Yes. And let me talk about some of the comments you made. First off, as to the stagnation of growth for America West pilots since the merger what I will tell you is, and this is a hard thing to communicate to people but I believe it with all my heart, that if we didn’t do the merger with US Airways you’d be in a lot worse position. And frankly I think as a 3-year FO, you wouldn’t have a job. We would have gone through a bankruptcy filing. We would have downsized. We had an airline at America West that had 20% lower unit revenues than US Airways and now has the same unit cost. That airline could not survive. We would try to make it better. We’d go file bankruptcy. We’d get ourselves a little stronger now the economy is back we’d be trying to come out like Delta is. But I swear to you that airline was going to file bankruptcy. When it filed bankruptcy we would have downsized at least 15% and you know while you feel bad about stagnation, you should feel better about that versus where you were headed. And that’s we were headed. So I feel very good about what we were able to do with the America West team through the merger because believe me the standalone plan was not gonna work. So again I mean that’s hard for you to appreciate because you never saw it but, you know, it was coming. So that’s point 1.

 

[Claxon]

Last February at Wye River, Rice and Prater told both MECs that the NIC would never be implemented. The East pilots had the votes to stop it. That’s why ALPA spent so much time and money trying to get us to compromise. The failure of Wye River pretty much ended ALPA on the property and ALPA knew it.

The real victims of Wye River are the 175 West pilots getting furloughed. We can thank our MEC for that. The Pro-ALPA East MEC offered a compromise they thought would save ALPA and get a cram-down contract vote out before the final USAPA election. According to our sources who were there, the East offer had fences that protected their retirement attrition and prevented East pilots from bidding into PHX/LAS and pushing down West pilots down. Furloughs would be based on length of service. We hear that came out of an old Empire Airlines furlough model.

The East MEC offer would have put Dave O’Dell ahead of approximately 400 east pilots (not a typo – four hundred). The East MEC’s offer was furloughs based on longevity, months of active mainline service.

That’s right, guys. They were desperate to save ALPA and their cushy union jobs. The polling must have told them their plan would save ALPA. For sure their proposal would “SAVE DAVE” from furlough.

Just like in the B-757 IOU, the E-190 arbitration IOU and unbalanced East-West flying, our MEC ended up getting 175 West pilots furloughed, because they refused to negotiate and THEY TURNED DOWN THE OFFER!

From what we’ve been told, Jeff Freund left the Wye River conference out of frustration over our MEC’s refusal to negotiate a compromise. Our MEC says they held the line. If failure to negotiate, causing 175 furloughs, is holding the line, great job, guys. The East MEC made an offer that would have prevented Dave O’Dell from being furloughed. You turned it down.


So, if you still think our MEC were heroes at Wye River, tell that to our bottom 175 pilots. All we can say is when you update your resume’, just remember who didn’t “SAVE DAVE.”

If the former West MEC goes after us on the facts, we’ll have to put out more details, including actual statements from those who were there on both sides. But that’s the former MEC’s call.

(Go ahead, former MEC members. Deny the truth. Look every pilot facing furlough in the eye and tell them about holding the line at Wye River. Want to talk? We’ll give you our forum to explain yourselves.)


Upcoming U-Turns: (Something that caught U-Turn off guard) Is the NIC negotiable? The case for DFR. Why Wye River’s failure will hurt even senior pilots. Were does Ken Straves stand on Wye River? What does Ken Straver say happened at Wye River? Battling ALPA one week, supporting them the next? Is this Alice In Wonderland or what?

 

[cactusboy53]

[SIZE=12pt]“In this instance, despite a year of negotiating efforts, there was no agreement on a list. Subsequently, the Representatives choose the Undersigned as Board Chairman and opted for the Med-Arb process. Those mediation efforts, held over the course of five days in October 2006, were similarly unsuccessful. Thereafter, the Parties agreed on the arbitration ground rules, and, pursuant to the Policy, each chose a Pilot Neutral from ALPA's Pilot Neutral Master List as a nonvoting member of the Arbitration Board.”[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=12pt]George Nicolau, Mediator[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]AWA/AAA Opinion & Award; May 07, 2007[/SIZE]
 
 
[SIZE=12pt]The Board shall retain jurisdiction[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt] in accordance with Section H. 5 .b. of the ALPA Merger Policy to resolve any disputes over the meaning or interpretation of this Award. This retention of jurisdiction shall terminate when all provisions of the Award have been satisfied. In the event the Chairman becomes unavailable or unwilling to serve to resolve such disputes, the Merger Committees will agree on a replacement Chairman or will select one by the alternate strike method from the most recent ALPA list of seniority integrations arbitrators.  In the event one of the Pilot Neutrals becomes unable or unwilling to serve on the Arbitration Board to resolve such disputes, the Chairman, after consultation with the Parties, shall decide how to proceed.  In any such arbitration, if there is a dispute between the methodology contained in the Award and the accompanying Integrated Seniority List or any other list purportedly using such methodology, the Seniority List prevails.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=12pt]George Nicolau, Mediator[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]AWA/AAA Opinion & Award; May 07, 2007[/SIZE]

 

[cactusboy53]

[SIZE=12pt]“Of course, in negotiating for a particular seniority regime, USAPA must not breach its duty of fair representation. Accordingly, if USAPA wishes to abandon the Nicolau Award and accept the consequences of this course of action, it is free to do so.  By discarding the result of a valid arbitration and negotiating for a different seniority regime, USAPA is running the risk that it will be sued by the disadvantaged pilots when the new collective bargaining agreement is finalized. An impartial arbitrator’s decision regarding an appropriate method of seniority integration is powerful evidence of a fair result. Discarding the Nicolau Award places USAPA on dangerous ground.”[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=12pt]Judge Roslyn O. Silver, Chief United States District Judge[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]No. CV-10-01570-PHX-ROS ORDER; October 11, 2012[/SIZE]
 
 
[SIZE=12pt]“….The Court’s patience with USAPA has run out.  USAPA avoided liability on the DFR claim by the slimmest of margins and the Court has serious doubts that USAPA will fairly and adequately represent all of its members while it remains a certified representative.  But all the Court can do at this stage is implore USAPA to, in the words of CAB, “make every effort to see that [the West Pilots’] are given extensive consideration, and that their interests are fairly and fully represented” during seniority integration…”[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=12pt]Judge Roslyn O. Silver, Chief United States District Judge[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Case 2:13-cv-00471-ROS   Document 298   Filed 01/10/14[/SIZE]


 
 
[SIZE=12pt]US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit                                                                       26 June 2015[/SIZE]
 

[SIZE=12pt]“…USAPA has served as the stalking horse for the East Pilots’ exclusive interests and left the West Pilots bereft of representation.  USAPA’s manifest disregard for the interests of the West Pilots and its discriminatory conduct towards them constitutes a clear breach of duty.  Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s conclusion that USAPA did not breach its duty of fair representation, and remand with instructions to enjoin USAPA from participating in the McCaskill-Bond proceedings except to the extent that USAPA will advocate the Nicolau Award..”[/SIZE]

 

[cactusboy53]

“Actually, it is USAPA that is needlessly delaying the resolution of the seniority dispute and jeopardizing the enforceability of the agreement the parties are able to reach. …….The arbitrator’s decision was to be final and binding on both pilot groups and was to be accepted by the Company so long as certain conditions were met.  The Nicolau Award has resulted in four years of litigation including a trial in federal court and jury verdict fining USAPA’s proposal for a non-Nicolau list to constitute an unlawful breach of the union’s duty of fair representation….”
 
Paul D. Jones; Vice President – Legal Affairs and Chief Compliance Officer

Exhibit 1 of  Declaration of Counsel; Case 13-15000, 02/20/2013

 

[cactusboy53]

Hmmmmmmm......
 

• OLD ANSETT VIDEOS                                 or                        JUDGEMENT FROM DISTRICT COURT JUDGES
• ANCIENT "drug traffiicing" news stories        or                       TESTIMONY FROM THE COMPANY VP OF LEGAL
• Some irrelevant and non-factual blog          or                        THE WARNING FROM MIKE CLEARY

 
“…The Arbitration Board conducts an evidentiary hearing, with witnesses, evidence and a stenographic transcript. The Board’s Opinion and Award are to be issued simultaneously, within 150 days following the PID, unless both pilot groups and ALPA’s President agree to an extension. The Merger Policy provides, “The Award of the Arbitration Board shall be final and binding on all parties to the arbitration and shall be defended by ALPA.” No ALPA seniority integration arbitration result has ever been set aside by the courts although some dissatisfied pilots have challenged the award before administrative agencies and the courts.”
 
US Airwaves June/July 2000
 
US Air Merger Committee Members: Todd Cardoza (PIT), Mike Cleary (BOS),Randy Mowery (PIT)

 

[cactusboy53]

[SIZE=12pt]Freund:   "Okay.  And would it be fair to say that in looking at this slide, if one were to take the American pilots out, what we would see would be Rick Brown's substituted judgment as the new George Nicolau with respect to the relationship between the East pilots and the West pilots?"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]I[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rick Brown SLI cross-examination                                                                      January 06, 2016[/SIZE]
 
 

 

[MUTATIS MUTANDIS]

One only has to look at Continental, United, and arbitrator Eishen in that award to see where this is going, a DFR on 10h a Kirby insert will not ensure any NIC, the 9th was powerless despite any outside political influence to influence a M/B list. Especially with chatter in crew news about the Pilot T, return to AA, My guess wear those ties proud fully, you showed us! OBTW, my dues were a tax deduction , thanx! Now beat your chests proudly!