Not a lawyer, 700, but I can quote them, less work than competing with the hps legal brain. Anyone thinking this will be settled quickly, from appeal to decision JA/ALPA took 18 months. ALPA lost the JA DFR because they negotiated a seniority list with the company in a week, completely ignoring JA pilots. JA pilots didnt file their DFR until AFTER the agreed-to list was in place. The 9th said, “The agreement declared invalid here was reached on October 6, 1987. Significantly, between October 1, when the merger became effective, and October 6, no Jet America pilot participated in ALPA negotiations with Alaska, despite requests to participate. ALPA does not dispute that it did not follow its merger policy governing mergers of ALPA-represented groups in negotiating the October 6 agreement.
Bernard sued on behalf of himself and the other Jet America pilots alleging that ALPA had breached its duty of fair representation by: (1) excluding them from all negotiations for an agreement integrating the seniority lists of the two pilot groups; (2) entering into an agreement that discriminated against them in favor of the pre-merger Alaska pilots; and (3) failing to afford them the benefits of ALPA's own merger policy.â€
See the differences between the 2 DFRs? If not so obvious, there was no seniority agreement between USAPA and LCC to complain about. There was no USAPA/company action to dissuade or not allow participation by former AWA pilots in negotiations or in the merger committee by USAPA. Converse, it was the zealots out of AWAPPA who discouraged west pilots from getting involved. Judge Wake pronounced and USAPA/AOL stipulated USAPA has not denied membership to West pilot who has applied. The more you read JA/ALPA the easier to believe the 9th will overrule. snoopo
I think you miss the key issue in the trial. The issue was not about whether the West was allowed to participate or not. The issue was did the East try to use their majority status to trample on the rights of the minority West pilots. There was an agreement by both parties to use ALPA Merger Policy to combine the seniority lists. That process was complete when the list was accepted by LCC management. USAPA was formed to nullify this outcome in favor of the majority East pilots. USAPA has an affirmative duty to honor the agreements they inherited, including the Transition Agreement. All this hooey about not voting on the TA or not voting on ALPA Merger Policy was just that, hooey.
USAPA tries to hide behind date of hire being the "gold standard" and "all other unions used date of hire" but those are irrelevant. You had a process defined, you agreed to the process, the process was completed. You have a seniority list and it is the Nicolau list. Whatever the East pilots feel about how unfair it is, it is the list. USAPA's attempt to reorder the list is clearly a breach of duty of fair representation, they move all the East pilots up and all the West pilots down. The conditions and restrictions attached are inadequate and grossly favor the East pilots. C+R's are also notoriously bad at dealing with the future. In the Northwest/Republic merger they had 18 years of C+R's and 26 arbitrations to fight about them, more than 1 per year.
So it doesn't matter if the West was allowed to participate. It was clear from the start, that no matter what the minority said, the majority East pilots were going to roll over them. THEY WROTE IT INTO THEIR CONSTITUTION. No matter what, the East wins and the West loses, sorry but it's in our constitution.
After decades of working for a mismanaged, failing airline, I can see how the disappointments of the East pilots can generate a sense of entitlement to redress their wrongs. However, they seem to have a mass hysteria that somehow makes them think they have to right to bludgeon the West pilots, whom they have an affirmative duty to represent fairly. You guys are the only ones who see yourselves in the right here, everyone else sees it differently. If you go back and read the Brucia dissent to the Nicolau award, it only applies to a small portion of the list right around the furlough/no furlough break line. He agreed with the rest of the list.
I thought that after the this outcome, the East pilots would get tired of getting smacked in the head by reality. Given the reaction of the BPR I guess they haven't hit that point yet. I am an outside observer and every other outside observer just shakes their head in disbelief at what you are doing. I can't believe this will be overturned on appeal, because to
everyone else in the world, USAPA is being patently unfair to the West pilots. Enjoy your bubble while it lasts, I think it will get popped sometime soon.
