That's what I came up with too. By choice many choose the right seat. Like I said 300 plus F/O's are below seniority number 1800. We have some B737 Captains slightly below 2200. I wish I had those seniority projection tools because you could plug in any pilot and track where they would be on any given date. If I remember correctly there was a large chunk of East pilots who over time who would regress under Nic. The Nicolau list is touted as fair because it's based on relative position. But that is only part of the picture. Nicolau's integration method decelerates East progression and accelerates West progression over time. With a industry standard contract, growth and prospects for a better future I still think Nic is problematic. When you couple Nic with reality - no growth and a sub standard contract offer it's absolutely untenable. Unless of course it is imposed by a Federal court.
Now attrition is the gold standard. I thought you east guys said that DOH was the gold standard. You are incorrect about the average age of 59. But would you care to guess what the average age of the west pilots is?
East progression had been decelerated long before the merger or the Nicolau award. Multiple bankruptcies, high CASMs, and a broken business model are the causes of that deceleration, not the NIC and certainly not the west pilots. Absent the merger the east career acceleration would have gone all the way down to zero, at least at US and on this seniority list. George Nicolau is a skilled and experienced arbitrator and he crafted a well-reasoned and equitable integrated seniority list that took as many of the variables and factors into reasonable consideration as possible to produce a very fair list and very tenable list. It was and is a compromise position that neither group is perfectly happy with, which is to be expected in an arbitration of this nature.
Get the quote right. He said that the east would have been gone. The west might have entered BK. Two very different things.
Which part of the award wasnt well-reasoned and equitable? Was it the protection of the 517 WB east positions? Was it the ratio-based integrations where two east pilot seniority positions were protected for every west pilot position? Was it where he conformed to the ALPA merger policy per his obligation or the part where the list was accepted by Management as meeting all of the criteria as was required by the Transition Agreement? In case you arent familiar with the award, Ill list the points and you can explain where the arbitrator wasnt using reason and equity:
I see that you were unable to make a specific claim against the award, but there is no surprise there really. However, the arbitrator deftly addressed both of these issues you cited (two-sides of the same coin really) and ensured that the award did not constitute a windfall for either side and ensured that any detrimental changes to career expectations were minimized. Remember that windfall is defined as coming at the expense of the other side. The ratio method of integration buffeted the award from being a windfall in comparison to a staple of one list to the bottom of the other. Also, in protecting the 517WB positions, this ensured that even the most senior west pilot would not have the immediate ability to displace any currently-serving WB positions which legitimately would have been a windfall coming at the expense of the other side. Therefore, no windfall.
Sure the Award is problematic insofar as the east pilots often suffer from reading comprehension and the inability to discern logic and reason. It is also problematic when those who enter into an agreement to use final and binding arbitration to settle disputes do not, in fact, honor the results of final and binding arbitration. I’m sure ALPA leadership was aware of the dearth of character present on the east and knew that the east would require a federal court to force the issue after many millions were spend proving that final and binding means exactly what the term implies. As far as that goes, I’m sure ALPA is glad to have avoided the litigation cost of seeing this through when the east was unwilling to come to terms with reality.
