Explain this which went far beyond any B scale application with any union: "Pay Scales and Pensions would NEVER MERGE!"
American Airlines adopted the benchmark "B scale" in 1983 permanently reducing pay for newly hired pilots by 50%. 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 current employees.
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.