AWA320
Veteran
You sure can pick'em can't you? They turn on the very people that hired them in the first place. I guess conflict of interest doesn't apply to the Seham's wow.
In this week’s installment of The Seham Series, which explores USAPA’s choice of outside legal advisors, the ACPC will introduce you to the relationship between USAPA’s law firm and the American Independent Cockpit Alliance, Inc. (AICA)—another group that Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen, LLP, started at American Airlines to decertify APA. That’s right, it’s the very same APA the Sehams used to decertify ALPA at American. This article will also further outline the law firm’s track record with the Allied Pilots Association.
The B-Scale Plague
American Airlines adopted the benchmark B-scale in November 1983, permanently reducing pay for newly hired pilots by 50 percent. In fact, under the AA system—negotiated while the Seham firm sat on the labor side of the table—pay rates and pensions for new employees would never merge with those of then-current employees.
Martin Seham wrote proudly of this accomplishment in Cleared for Takeoff: Airline Labor Relations Since Deregulation.
As general counsel to the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the independent certified representative of the American Airlines pilots, I was close to the negotiations that resulted, in 1983, in one of the earliest realization of the two-tier system. APA was not faced with an insolvent or failing carrier; it was, however, forced to deal with an economic environment that had changed dramatically because of the effects of deregulation and was, by virtue of its independence, mandated to reach an agreement consistent with the needs and objectives of its constituency.
—Martin C. Seham
Although B-scales were not a new concept, their initial format was unique to the airline industry. Following American’s lead, other airlines began to demand similar packages—forcing the entire airline labor movement into a new era of concessions. Good for management; bad for pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and all of the airline industry’s workers.
While ALPA pilots were forced to deal with this blight brought to the industry by APA and the Sehams, not one ALPA pilot group accepted a non-merging two-tier scale. The clearest example of this was the ALPA strike at United in June 1985, when the pilots refused to agree to a non-merging two-tier pay scale.
Ironically, it was ALPA’s success in preventing implementation of the Seham B-scale at UAL that led to the Rakestraw case, where replacement pilots who crossed the picket line attempted to reverse ALPA’s successful efforts to negotiate seniority protection for hundreds of pro-ALPA new-hires who had refused management’s demand to become strikebreakers. USAPA’s law firm now misinterprets and misrepresents this case—in which ALPA protected pilots who adhered to union principle and honored picket lines—as somehow giving it carte blanche to change seniority as it sees fit. To read more, click here.
In fact, following ALPA’s win at United, ALPA pilot groups, through their strength at the bargaining table, led the effort to eliminate the B-scale structure. They did it by working together, forging a pattern and sticking to it—the same way ALPA pilots throughout our industry are working to rebuild our contracts after the era of bankruptcy and ATSB constraints.
Ousting an Independent
Last week we discussed the 1992 firing of the Seham firm as APA’s general counsel. There’s more to this drama, however. Just six months after being dismissed, the Sehams launched a bid to create another independent union for pilots at American Airlines—the American Independent Cockpit Alliance, Inc. (AICA)—with the aid of the McCormick Advisory Group, an administrative support firm that funds start-up “independents.â€
According to its website, “AICA was incorporated in June 1993 . . . and provides all services normally associated with a labor union except collective bargaining. AICA exists to become the certified bargaining representative for the pilots of American Airlines.â€
Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen—the same general counsel that USAPA has hired to represent US Airways pilots—set up another independent union to decertify its own former client, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the supposed model for USAPA.
In fact, the AICA website refers to Martin Seham’s experience as APA counsel to show his ability to help establish “independent†unions. It does not mention Seham’s dismissal by APA.
The AICA website also talks favorably about the law firm’s representation of management. Of the firm’s lawyers, the site states: “They have had the experience of sitting on both sides of the table and share one of the greatest aids to negotiated settlements; that is, the ability to put oneself in the other guy’s shoes.†That is a fancy way of saying that the firm, while it primarily represents management, attempts to walk on our side of the street but has no allegiance or loyalty to labor or to unions.
The fundamental question is this: Does Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen help establish independent unions to represent labor?
We don’t think so. Simply put, USAPA’s law firm acts in a way that seeks to divide and conquer labor and, at the same time, helps management undermine contract standards and set legal precedent that is favorable only to management.
The ACPC will further examine Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen’s litigation and bargaining work in the weeks to come and provide some examples of how the efforts of USAPA’s law firm have harmed pilots and the entire labor movement.
For example, in future issues, you’ll see that the firm has also worked to undermine other AFL-CIO unions like the IAM through their representation of AMFA—similar to its work to undermine the APA after being dismissed as its general counsel in 1992.
The Seham Series will explore the track record of Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen, LLP, the law firm that USAPA has hired for legal advice and counsel, to help you make an informed business decision with all the facts on the table. Stay tuned for next week’s installment. You can also read the entire series, as it rolls out, on the ACPC website.
In this week’s installment of The Seham Series, which explores USAPA’s choice of outside legal advisors, the ACPC will introduce you to the relationship between USAPA’s law firm and the American Independent Cockpit Alliance, Inc. (AICA)—another group that Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen, LLP, started at American Airlines to decertify APA. That’s right, it’s the very same APA the Sehams used to decertify ALPA at American. This article will also further outline the law firm’s track record with the Allied Pilots Association.
The B-Scale Plague
American Airlines adopted the benchmark B-scale in November 1983, permanently reducing pay for newly hired pilots by 50 percent. In fact, under the AA system—negotiated while the Seham firm sat on the labor side of the table—pay rates and pensions for new employees would never merge with those of then-current employees.
Martin Seham wrote proudly of this accomplishment in Cleared for Takeoff: Airline Labor Relations Since Deregulation.
As general counsel to the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the independent certified representative of the American Airlines pilots, I was close to the negotiations that resulted, in 1983, in one of the earliest realization
—Martin C. Seham
Although B-scales were not a new concept, their initial format was unique to the airline industry. Following American’s lead, other airlines began to demand similar packages—forcing the entire airline labor movement into a new era of concessions. Good for management; bad for pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and all of the airline industry’s workers.
While ALPA pilots were forced to deal with this blight brought to the industry by APA and the Sehams, not one ALPA pilot group accepted a non-merging two-tier scale. The clearest example of this was the ALPA strike at United in June 1985, when the pilots refused to agree to a non-merging two-tier pay scale.
Ironically, it was ALPA’s success in preventing implementation of the Seham B-scale at UAL that led to the Rakestraw case, where replacement pilots who crossed the picket line attempted to reverse ALPA’s successful efforts to negotiate seniority protection for hundreds of pro-ALPA new-hires who had refused management’s demand to become strikebreakers. USAPA’s law firm now misinterprets and misrepresents this case—in which ALPA protected pilots who adhered to union principle and honored picket lines—as somehow giving it carte blanche to change seniority as it sees fit. To read more, click here.
In fact, following ALPA’s win at United, ALPA pilot groups, through their strength at the bargaining table, led the effort to eliminate the B-scale structure. They did it by working together, forging a pattern and sticking to it—the same way ALPA pilots throughout our industry are working to rebuild our contracts after the era of bankruptcy and ATSB constraints.
Ousting an Independent
Last week we discussed the 1992 firing of the Seham firm as APA’s general counsel. There’s more to this drama, however. Just six months after being dismissed, the Sehams launched a bid to create another independent union for pilots at American Airlines—the American Independent Cockpit Alliance, Inc. (AICA)—with the aid of the McCormick Advisory Group, an administrative support firm that funds start-up “independents.â€
According to its website, “AICA was incorporated in June 1993 . . . and provides all services normally associated with a labor union except collective bargaining. AICA exists to become the certified bargaining representative for the pilots of American Airlines.â€
Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen—the same general counsel that USAPA has hired to represent US Airways pilots—set up another independent union to decertify its own former client, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the supposed model for USAPA.
In fact, the AICA website refers to Martin Seham’s experience as APA counsel to show his ability to help establish “independent†unions. It does not mention Seham’s dismissal by APA.
The AICA website also talks favorably about the law firm’s representation of management. Of the firm’s lawyers, the site states: “They have had the experience of sitting on both sides of the table and share one of the greatest aids to negotiated settlements; that is, the ability to put oneself in the other guy’s shoes.†That is a fancy way of saying that the firm, while it primarily represents management, attempts to walk on our side of the street but has no allegiance or loyalty to labor or to unions.
The fundamental question is this: Does Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen help establish independent unions to represent labor?
We don’t think so. Simply put, USAPA’s law firm acts in a way that seeks to divide and conquer labor and, at the same time, helps management undermine contract standards and set legal precedent that is favorable only to management.
The ACPC will further examine Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen’s litigation and bargaining work in the weeks to come and provide some examples of how the efforts of USAPA’s law firm have harmed pilots and the entire labor movement.
For example, in future issues, you’ll see that the firm has also worked to undermine other AFL-CIO unions like the IAM through their representation of AMFA—similar to its work to undermine the APA after being dismissed as its general counsel in 1992.
The Seham Series will explore the track record of Seham Seham Meltz & Petersen, LLP, the law firm that USAPA has hired for legal advice and counsel, to help you make an informed business decision with all the facts on the table. Stay tuned for next week’s installment. You can also read the entire series, as it rolls out, on the ACPC website.
