surreal1221
Well-Known Member
Previous theories that attempted to explain the delayed process for acquiring a joint contract for the XJT/ASA pilots largely rested upon disagreements over which scheduling system platform to utilize, but perhaps there was a far more nefarious reason one side felt it was necessary to disagree to nearly so much, so often. And that disagreements regarding scheduling, B fund, vacation adjustments, were all nothing more than a smoke screen hiding the real reasons behind such extensive delay and failure to negotiate in good faith.
I was fortunate enough to receive some information regarding the current landscape that exists between both MECs. Information was shared with me that indicated both groups had retained lawyers for future SLI work. The ASA MEC secured the SLI lawyer that the United MEC utilized during its negotiations with Continental. Additionally, from the same individual, it was stated that the XJT MEC retained the lawyer the Continental MEC used. This is important due to the lawyer's different positions regarding when a seniority list snapshot should occur. One says at date of acquisition and the other says date of contract signing.
The lawyer retained by XJT MEC holds the position that a snapshot of independent seniority lists should be taken at the data of contract signing. This may explain why the XJT MEC has been dragging their feet during this whole process, in the very significant effort to capture the most during an SLI process by way of professing a declaration that the seniority list snapshot occurs at date of signing of a new contract. Consider for a moment the traditional, and widely held view, that for the purposes of an SLI, the seniority lists used have customarily been generated from date of acquisition/merger announcement. This process protects the integrity of an integrated list by not providing a windfall for one side that may benefit due to explosive growth (movement, etc., lord knows there hasn't been any legitimate growth Company wide since 4 Aug 2010).
Considering that certain members of the XJT MEC, and even CNC, were observers during the UAL/CAL SLI process, this seems to be an interesting decision taken by the XJT MEC. Certain members of past and current XJT MEC and CNC committee may have played a direct role in wasting the Company's funds and time by failing to negotiate in good faith over the past four years, in an effort to allow their already bloated seniority list to grow even larger and thus generate a greater windfall for their pilots. It is this belief, widely held by individuals close to negotiations, that may shine a light on the XJT MEC's failure to negotiate honestly. By doing so they attempted to provide an unacceptable springboard for many new and low seniority ExpressJet (XJT) pilots over and above long standing ASA pilots.
Mentioned by name as having direct involvement with this plot against ASA pilots are previous MEC Chairman Chris Grable, JNC Co-Chair John Wood, Scheduling Committee Chairman Steve McKnight, and Agreement Compliance committee member Ron Stevens. It was stressed to me that additional individuals may have played a role in developing this strategy, but that confidence was not high enough to name additional individuals.
One bit of evidence that suggests this play by the XJT MEC is indeed real was their inability to present a proposed seniority list during a meeting with the Company and ASA MEC, in the presence of an arbitrator, last week. Granted, the real work regarding an SLI cannot, and will not, begin until after a joint contract is ratified - but the foundational blocks, when asked by the Company last week, are not even at the job site for one party of this little dance. Seems odd that they couldn't present a list to be used after nearly four years of knowing these questions would be on the horizon at some point...considering that the traditional philosophy was that the independent seniority list as of 4 August 2010 only needed to be verified. Odd now that they can't even produce that list. Unless, of course, they planned all along to attempt to execute on an extremely progressive, and never accepted before, philosophy of integrating two seniority lists.
For anyone who thinks that this is not important, it may be a good time to highlight that one side has enjoyed higher attrition and higher hiring rates over the past four years while one side has seen marginal, if any, attrition, weaker hiring, and even less upgrade opportunities. This side, the ASA side, would have an even greater negative impact due to this merger if the XJT MEC's tactics were able to come out ahead.
For this one ASA pilot, I now see that the charade of complaining about our PBS was nothing more than a wall of smoke concealing the true goal of our "Brothers" on the other side of the battlefield - to erode good faith negotiations, to delay as long as practical, and to milk the SLI process by using an extremely radical philosophy to integrate seniority lists.
And here I was thinking some of these guys were good folks. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Clearly a number of individuals are at fault for the extended period of negotiations, and in no way am I saying I am disappointed by our collective No Vote. I am however, extremely disappointed in the behavior of certain individuals who were, and have been, entrusted by their constituents to make sound decisions that can protect their short-term career stability.
The time for games is over, but I am now, more than ever, extremely concerned that the games being played by the ExpressJet MEC are much more disastrous than I initially expected. My level of respect for their hard work over the past four years is now at a very low level due to this recent news and it concerns me that they would jeopardize the livelihoods of their pilots by wasting excessive amounts of negotiating capital and time on such a ridiculous scheme to undermine seniority.
Imagine if they had put as much effort as they have in developing this strategy into negotiating promptly, negotiating for five days a week instead of three, and working with all parties involved - we might actually have a contract that our pilots would have supported. But, alas, that didn't happen - and here we sit. More games, less results. We, all pilots working under the ExpressJet umbrella, need more results and less games from all parties involved.
I was fortunate enough to receive some information regarding the current landscape that exists between both MECs. Information was shared with me that indicated both groups had retained lawyers for future SLI work. The ASA MEC secured the SLI lawyer that the United MEC utilized during its negotiations with Continental. Additionally, from the same individual, it was stated that the XJT MEC retained the lawyer the Continental MEC used. This is important due to the lawyer's different positions regarding when a seniority list snapshot should occur. One says at date of acquisition and the other says date of contract signing.
The lawyer retained by XJT MEC holds the position that a snapshot of independent seniority lists should be taken at the data of contract signing. This may explain why the XJT MEC has been dragging their feet during this whole process, in the very significant effort to capture the most during an SLI process by way of professing a declaration that the seniority list snapshot occurs at date of signing of a new contract. Consider for a moment the traditional, and widely held view, that for the purposes of an SLI, the seniority lists used have customarily been generated from date of acquisition/merger announcement. This process protects the integrity of an integrated list by not providing a windfall for one side that may benefit due to explosive growth (movement, etc., lord knows there hasn't been any legitimate growth Company wide since 4 Aug 2010).
Considering that certain members of the XJT MEC, and even CNC, were observers during the UAL/CAL SLI process, this seems to be an interesting decision taken by the XJT MEC. Certain members of past and current XJT MEC and CNC committee may have played a direct role in wasting the Company's funds and time by failing to negotiate in good faith over the past four years, in an effort to allow their already bloated seniority list to grow even larger and thus generate a greater windfall for their pilots. It is this belief, widely held by individuals close to negotiations, that may shine a light on the XJT MEC's failure to negotiate honestly. By doing so they attempted to provide an unacceptable springboard for many new and low seniority ExpressJet (XJT) pilots over and above long standing ASA pilots.
Mentioned by name as having direct involvement with this plot against ASA pilots are previous MEC Chairman Chris Grable, JNC Co-Chair John Wood, Scheduling Committee Chairman Steve McKnight, and Agreement Compliance committee member Ron Stevens. It was stressed to me that additional individuals may have played a role in developing this strategy, but that confidence was not high enough to name additional individuals.
One bit of evidence that suggests this play by the XJT MEC is indeed real was their inability to present a proposed seniority list during a meeting with the Company and ASA MEC, in the presence of an arbitrator, last week. Granted, the real work regarding an SLI cannot, and will not, begin until after a joint contract is ratified - but the foundational blocks, when asked by the Company last week, are not even at the job site for one party of this little dance. Seems odd that they couldn't present a list to be used after nearly four years of knowing these questions would be on the horizon at some point...considering that the traditional philosophy was that the independent seniority list as of 4 August 2010 only needed to be verified. Odd now that they can't even produce that list. Unless, of course, they planned all along to attempt to execute on an extremely progressive, and never accepted before, philosophy of integrating two seniority lists.
For anyone who thinks that this is not important, it may be a good time to highlight that one side has enjoyed higher attrition and higher hiring rates over the past four years while one side has seen marginal, if any, attrition, weaker hiring, and even less upgrade opportunities. This side, the ASA side, would have an even greater negative impact due to this merger if the XJT MEC's tactics were able to come out ahead.
_______________________________________
For this one ASA pilot, I now see that the charade of complaining about our PBS was nothing more than a wall of smoke concealing the true goal of our "Brothers" on the other side of the battlefield - to erode good faith negotiations, to delay as long as practical, and to milk the SLI process by using an extremely radical philosophy to integrate seniority lists.
And here I was thinking some of these guys were good folks. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Clearly a number of individuals are at fault for the extended period of negotiations, and in no way am I saying I am disappointed by our collective No Vote. I am however, extremely disappointed in the behavior of certain individuals who were, and have been, entrusted by their constituents to make sound decisions that can protect their short-term career stability.
The time for games is over, but I am now, more than ever, extremely concerned that the games being played by the ExpressJet MEC are much more disastrous than I initially expected. My level of respect for their hard work over the past four years is now at a very low level due to this recent news and it concerns me that they would jeopardize the livelihoods of their pilots by wasting excessive amounts of negotiating capital and time on such a ridiculous scheme to undermine seniority.
Imagine if they had put as much effort as they have in developing this strategy into negotiating promptly, negotiating for five days a week instead of three, and working with all parties involved - we might actually have a contract that our pilots would have supported. But, alas, that didn't happen - and here we sit. More games, less results. We, all pilots working under the ExpressJet umbrella, need more results and less games from all parties involved.
