sherpa
Well-Known Member
A Message from the Colgan Air Merger Committee
As we wait for a decision from arbitrator Richard Bloch, your Colgan Air Merger Committee would like to take the opportunity to update the entire pilot group on where we stand as a group on the final days before a decision is rendered.
On April 15th your Merger Committee presented to Mr. Bloch our final rebuttals to arbitration arguments that were heard during the last week of March. This was our opportunity to present any disputes or rebuttals regarding the final positions and statements of the Pinnacle and Mesaba merger committees. As we stated in our last update, Mr. Bloch has 30 days from April 15th to deliver a final arbitrated decision regarding the process to integrate the seniority lists of our three airlines. We expect to have Mr. Bloch’s final decision on or around the 15th of this month.
During final arguments we petitioned Mr. Bloch for permission to share the final positions of all three merger committees to our respective pilot groups; he permitted our request to do so. Your Merger Committee felt it was very important that every Colgan Air pilot was aware of the final positions that Mr. Bloch was presented. The Colgan Air pilot group deserves to know the details of each position prior to receiving Mr. Bloch’s decision; by understanding the final positions it will help in understanding the reasoning behind the final arbitrated decision.
The Mesaba Airlines merger committee presented to Mr. Bloch an integration method of “Date of Hire.” Under the Mesaba final proposal, the new seniority list will be created in seniority order from the most senior pilot of the three groups becoming the new #1 to the most junior of the three groups who would be placed at the bottom. “Date of Hire” integration is a very straight forward integration methodology. However, in the opinion of your Merger Committee, it is better suited when integrating similar pilot groups. Colgan Air is a younger pilot group and we saw very few similarities between Colgan and Mesaba or Pinnacle that would suggest that a “Date of Hire” methodology would best suit the pilots of all three airlines.
The Pinnacle Airlines merger committee presented to Mr. Bloch an integration method of “Status and Category ratio integration.” Under the Pinnacle final proposal, the new seniority list will be created by placing each pilot into 1 of 6 possible groups; group 1 being at the top of the list and group 6 at the bottom of the list. The Pinnacle Merger Committee included all of their pilots within the first 2 groups along with a select number of Mesaba pilots; the first Colgan pilot does not show up until group 3. By delaying the placement of a Colgan pilot until group 3 it would create a list that unjustly underestimates the equities brought by the Colgan Air pilots to this merger. This methodology would place the now #1 Colgan pilot at #1904 on the new list. Your Merger Committee would never approve of a methodology that places our most senior pilot junior to Pinnacle’s most junior pilot.
The Colgan Air merger committee presented to Mr. Bloch an integration method of “Ratio integration.” Under the Colgan Air final proposal, the new seniority list will be created by constructing 33 individual blocks. Each block will be comprised by listing pilots from each airline in a ratio consistent with the number of pilots to be integrated from each pilot group. This method would guarantee that every one of the active pilots to be integrated will remain within 3% of their current, pre-merger, relative seniority position. We felt this methodology would help minimize any disruption in the quality of life of all 2807 pilots to be integrated. Every pilot would maintain the same bidding power after the merger since every pilot will have the same percentage of pilots senior and junior to them. Our intention was to present a realistic integration methodology that would ultimately be accepted by all of the pilots that will soon make up the “new” Pinnacle Airlines. We did not want to propose an outlandish methodology in the hope of having the arbitrator grant a portion of our final position. One of our goals was to have Pinnacle and Mesaba view the Colgan pilot group as an honest and straightforward group.
Mr. Bloch left it up to the Merger Committees to continue unmediated negotiations this last month, up until his arbitrated decision, if we saw purpose in doing so. If Mesaba and Pinnacle were to contact us for continued unmediated negotiations, it would only be considered if both Mesaba and Pinnacle had changed drastically from their final positions. As you can see, the three parties presented three uniquely different final positions and your Merger Committee currently believes it would not be an appropriate utilization of time or dues money to continue these talks if their positions remains the same. We continue to feel that we presented to Mr. Bloch a very strong argument on behalf of the Colgan pilots and believe that Mr. Bloch will deliver a final decision that will be fair and equitable to all pilot groups. Mr. Bloch is free to take any of the methodologies, parts of some, or nothing from the presented final methodologies when constructing his final decision; he is one of the most experienced arbitrators in airline integration and we trust in his judgment and experience.
When Mr. Bloch releases his arbitrated decision we will brief the pilot group on the pertinent details of the decision.
In Unity,
Colgan Air Merger Committee
As we wait for a decision from arbitrator Richard Bloch, your Colgan Air Merger Committee would like to take the opportunity to update the entire pilot group on where we stand as a group on the final days before a decision is rendered.
On April 15th your Merger Committee presented to Mr. Bloch our final rebuttals to arbitration arguments that were heard during the last week of March. This was our opportunity to present any disputes or rebuttals regarding the final positions and statements of the Pinnacle and Mesaba merger committees. As we stated in our last update, Mr. Bloch has 30 days from April 15th to deliver a final arbitrated decision regarding the process to integrate the seniority lists of our three airlines. We expect to have Mr. Bloch’s final decision on or around the 15th of this month.
During final arguments we petitioned Mr. Bloch for permission to share the final positions of all three merger committees to our respective pilot groups; he permitted our request to do so. Your Merger Committee felt it was very important that every Colgan Air pilot was aware of the final positions that Mr. Bloch was presented. The Colgan Air pilot group deserves to know the details of each position prior to receiving Mr. Bloch’s decision; by understanding the final positions it will help in understanding the reasoning behind the final arbitrated decision.
The Mesaba Airlines merger committee presented to Mr. Bloch an integration method of “Date of Hire.” Under the Mesaba final proposal, the new seniority list will be created in seniority order from the most senior pilot of the three groups becoming the new #1 to the most junior of the three groups who would be placed at the bottom. “Date of Hire” integration is a very straight forward integration methodology. However, in the opinion of your Merger Committee, it is better suited when integrating similar pilot groups. Colgan Air is a younger pilot group and we saw very few similarities between Colgan and Mesaba or Pinnacle that would suggest that a “Date of Hire” methodology would best suit the pilots of all three airlines.
The Pinnacle Airlines merger committee presented to Mr. Bloch an integration method of “Status and Category ratio integration.” Under the Pinnacle final proposal, the new seniority list will be created by placing each pilot into 1 of 6 possible groups; group 1 being at the top of the list and group 6 at the bottom of the list. The Pinnacle Merger Committee included all of their pilots within the first 2 groups along with a select number of Mesaba pilots; the first Colgan pilot does not show up until group 3. By delaying the placement of a Colgan pilot until group 3 it would create a list that unjustly underestimates the equities brought by the Colgan Air pilots to this merger. This methodology would place the now #1 Colgan pilot at #1904 on the new list. Your Merger Committee would never approve of a methodology that places our most senior pilot junior to Pinnacle’s most junior pilot.
The Colgan Air merger committee presented to Mr. Bloch an integration method of “Ratio integration.” Under the Colgan Air final proposal, the new seniority list will be created by constructing 33 individual blocks. Each block will be comprised by listing pilots from each airline in a ratio consistent with the number of pilots to be integrated from each pilot group. This method would guarantee that every one of the active pilots to be integrated will remain within 3% of their current, pre-merger, relative seniority position. We felt this methodology would help minimize any disruption in the quality of life of all 2807 pilots to be integrated. Every pilot would maintain the same bidding power after the merger since every pilot will have the same percentage of pilots senior and junior to them. Our intention was to present a realistic integration methodology that would ultimately be accepted by all of the pilots that will soon make up the “new” Pinnacle Airlines. We did not want to propose an outlandish methodology in the hope of having the arbitrator grant a portion of our final position. One of our goals was to have Pinnacle and Mesaba view the Colgan pilot group as an honest and straightforward group.
Mr. Bloch left it up to the Merger Committees to continue unmediated negotiations this last month, up until his arbitrated decision, if we saw purpose in doing so. If Mesaba and Pinnacle were to contact us for continued unmediated negotiations, it would only be considered if both Mesaba and Pinnacle had changed drastically from their final positions. As you can see, the three parties presented three uniquely different final positions and your Merger Committee currently believes it would not be an appropriate utilization of time or dues money to continue these talks if their positions remains the same. We continue to feel that we presented to Mr. Bloch a very strong argument on behalf of the Colgan pilots and believe that Mr. Bloch will deliver a final decision that will be fair and equitable to all pilot groups. Mr. Bloch is free to take any of the methodologies, parts of some, or nothing from the presented final methodologies when constructing his final decision; he is one of the most experienced arbitrators in airline integration and we trust in his judgment and experience.
When Mr. Bloch releases his arbitrated decision we will brief the pilot group on the pertinent details of the decision.
In Unity,
Colgan Air Merger Committee
Love ya Steve-o. Tram you had something to do with this didn't you? I knew it was you!
