US Airways Pilots Labor Thread 9/19- 9/27..

[Reed Richards]

Reed,

Yes, many issues were brought up and what will be intriguing to the 9th will be interesting to see, as well as reading the Appellant's brief.

I just reread the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, and I find the Judges arguments on many of the issues you illuminated to be much more rounded or comprehensive than the arguments brought forth in the Appellee's brief.

I dare say that it is my opinion that the 9th Circuit will find that Usapa (Seham) when confronted with an opposing argument finds it more compelling to shade or obfuscate than argue the merits.

Thank you sir. I respect your opinion. "Intriguing" is a good description of what we are dealing with. I strongly believe one thing, but await the judgment of the Court(s).

Best to us all.

RR

 

[hp_fa]

... and married in 1964?

 

[Beancounter]

... and married in 1964?

It's all a joke

 

[cleardirect]

I am happy that some east pilots are pleased with USAPA’s appeal to the Ninth Circuit. As usual the work product is exactly what I have come to expect from SSM&P. A lot of irrelevant non sense that has nothing to do with the case or the law. I could almost see the electronic tear stains on the page from the crying over how unfair this whole situation had been.

This appeal only points out that Seham and USAPA still do not “get†what this DFR trial was about. If anyone thinks that this appeal is going to impress the ninth. Go back and read the judge’s Finding of facts and conclusion of law. Then re-read the appeal.

This was a waste of words to the court of appeals. They do not care about your story. They care about if the law was followed. The east got to tell your story to the district court. I pulled a few of the more interesting quotes.

The determination of the East pilots was matched by the intransigence of the West MEC, which refused to authorize “any negotiations which would amend, alter or otherwise change the outcome of the Nicolau Award,†despite the “extreme pressure†exerted by ALPA in favor of some compromise.

Interesting how the east pilots were “determined†but the west pilots were intransigent. Seham said a few times that the west refused to move from our legal position because of the pressure from ALPA. Where was the pressure from ALPA to get the east pilots to ACCEPT the arbitration? It was ALPA’s legal duty to use all means to have the east accept the list. When the ninth reads ALPA merger policy they may have that question. Unless as they should they just totally disregard the argument as irrelevant.

The negotiating goal, in short, was not to permit senior East pilots ready access to positions within West operations, but rather, to prevent junior West pilots from depriving senior East pilots of positions within East operations – positions for which they had been waiting for literally decades.

So I see that USAPA had totally given up on pretext and have finally come clean on what this whole USAPA experiment and false C&R were about. Now if you guys had been honest and negotiated fences back when it was time to negotiate this would have been acceptable. But the east had to have it all, then and now.

In a dissenting opinion, Pilot Neutral James P. Brucia faulted Arbitrator Nicolau for his disregard of the East pilots’ length of service and his failure to take into consideration the opportunities created by the East pilots’ age-based attrition.

So I guess that Seham skipped over the part where Captain Brucia said these things in his statement. Kind of weakens the whole “faulted arbitrator Nicolau†thing.

The US Airways pilots brought with them long haul International flying and routes and the associated wide body aircraft to perform that flying. America West had no similar flying, routes or aircraft. The Chairman's wisdom and experience dealt with these and many other issues in a fair and equitable manner.

Finally I would like to a reaffirm my opinion that the Chairman Nicolau demonstrated exceptional judgment and wisdom working through many very difficult and challenging issues including the disparate aircraft types, routes, compensation systems, and pilot staffing formulas to mention just a few. It has been a privilege to work together with Chairman Nicolau and Captain Gillen on this Opinion and Award.

The legitimacy of the Nicolau decision was also sharply questioned on a number of other grounds, including:

Now this statement begs the question. WHO sharply questioned the award and when? Well your honors it was only the east pilots that questioned the award. Oh and by the way it was POST HEARING that it was questioned. Not during the arbitration but only after the east pilots did not get what they wanted was there a problem. Besides, to now, at this time question what happened post hearing. Ridiculous. His name is Nicolau not Nostradamus. He could only decide a seniority award based on the facts at the time of the PID. Not going into the future. How many times have we heard the argument; “you don’t know if US Airways was going to liquidate.†The same is true with the arguments post hearing.

The post-hearing,…
The post-hearing,…
The post-hearing,…

…America West had planned to file for bankruptcy in the absence of a merger…

This is an un-provable statement which had or has absolutely nothing to do with the DFR trial. USAPA and Seham can continue to argue about the arbitration. But the DFR was not about the arbitration or the results. That is an entirely different case that has never been brought to court. So be happy with the 13,999 words Seham wasted arguing the wrong case. At least you all can point to that document and say at least you got to tell your story to someone else. Unfortunately that someone else does not care about your story nor will be moved by it.

When they read the misstatement of facts the ninth is not going to be very happy with an attorney or a client that has wasted their time.

 

[Richard]

Time for a new thread for the coming week--and do NOT make any further comments about the personal situations of some posters.

Thank you.