cavalier said:
If you would have posted this information before I would not have hounded you!
It makes more sense now and frankly I agree with you about the UAL pilots wanting the entire ball of wax, and that NOT being right or fair in the least. Wow talk about Karma!
CAV,
Before you jump on his bandwagon and buy his BS, let me clarify a few things.
UA pilots did not want what he refers to as "Super Seniority."
ALPA merger policy clearly states that groups will be merged according to
CAREER EXPECTAIONS. The words "Date of Hire" are sepcifically absent from the policy.
At the time, UA (which was owned by the employees... paid for with our very own $$$) was in good shape and it appeared US needed a dance partner to survive long term. UA was PURCHASING another airline with my money. (Mine and every other employee who bought UA.)
Career expectations
at the time meant a US pilot was never expecting to fly anything bigger than a 757/767 (maybe), and more probably nothing bigger than a 737. Of course UA pilots knew that if it went through there would be many years, even decades of law suits (Much like when TWA bought Ozark.) This would drive the company into the ground and destroy the huge investment (in actual dollars) that we all made in the company.
Therfore to avoid the hassles, avoid the law suits, and protect our investment, we insisted on a prenuptual agreement. This was to assure ALPA policy of career expectations was premptively agreed upon and upheld, and to eliminate the inevitable future law suits. After all, we had the right and the power to do so as employees who paid for said right with our own money and were using our own money to PURCHASE and asset.
Now as for the animosity between UA and US employees, I for one saw the benefits of an aquisition, even though I thought the price was too high. And I held no ill will to my counterparts at US. Until on several occasions I personally had the opportunity to ride a US jumpseat and listened to hours of lecture on why any merger will be date-of-hire. I even had one 737-200 captain explicitly claim rights to a 767 Captain slot in San Francisco! And according to him, possibly the 777!
So don't believe everything a certain US pilot on this board tells you. He does not discriminate about which facts he spins and twist.