May 12, 2012 UPDATE
US Airways management IS NOT NEGOTIATING with USAPA, or the pilots presently employed by US Airways – PERIOD.
If a merger between US Airways and American Airlines in consummated, then AFTER AA emerges from bankruptcy, the company plans to combine the “New AA” with the ”New” US Airways. Keep in mind that “combine” has two different meanings for labor and for management.
Presently, the company sees no reason to negotiate with the US Airways pilots, and judging from the statements from our counterparts in Texas, the APA apparently feels that it is THEIR CONTRACT to negotiate, and is of little concern to either the East, or the West pilots of US Airways. This is also made clear from the language in the APA/US Airways term sheet.