A federal appeals court overturned a federal district court ruling granting an injunction to the America West pilots who were dis-enfranchised when former US Airways pilots balked at an abritration ruling during the America West / US Airways merger that integrated seniority in a manner that more “blended” the seniority lists. 

US Airways pilots wanted a “date of hire” integration whereas the America West pilots favored a “blending” of the two lists.  Since seniority is everything at an airline, the US Airways pilots felt they had a lot to lose.

This has been going on now for 4 years and, frankly, I believe the US Airways pilots have not only done the America West pilots a disservice, they’ve hurt themselves as well. 

The original arbitration was done “in house” by ALPA between the two unions for each airline.  It was to be binding and while it didn’t settle everything to everyone’s satisfaction, it was as about as fair as one could get in such a situation. 

America West pilots shouldn’t be materially harmed by a merger when it was, after all, their company taking over US Airways.  Likewise, US Airways pilots shouldn’t be “stapled” to the bottom of the list at America West.  The original ruling did neither.  America West pilots weren’t significantly harmed by the initial ruling and, hey, US Airways pilots got to keep their jobs.

It is arguable that without the merger, US Airways would have likely gone into their third bankruptcy and they would not have survived.  Further, America West management corps has done quite a credible job of managing an airline that, among legacy airlines, is probably at a material disadvantage. 

US Airways pilots didn’t like the initial ruling and decided to form a new union for all pilots.  Since they had a  slightly larger number of pilots between the two groups, they got a new union (US Allied Pilots Association) certified and America West pilots rightfully didn’t like that and sued.  Using larger numbers like that was dirty pool.

This new ruling basically says that USAPA hasn’t materially harmed the America West pilots yet and, therefore, should be allowed to negotiate on behalf of all pilots until there is harm.  In essence, they (the court) said “Hey, this is a bit premature.”

I couldn’t disagree more.  Intent on the part of USAPA has been clear from the beginning.  They want a date of hire seniority list and now they have the ability to go negotiate such a deal.  Those negotiations with US Airways are liable to take 2 to 4 years before an agreement is in place.  In other words, it could be 2 to 4 years before these America West pilots can “prove” harm.

The rationale being used is, in my mind, flawed with respect to timeline, etc.  There was already a union (the same union for both airlines) certified at the time.  There was binding arbitration.  If arbitration isn’t binding, then what is it?  Allowing the original agreement to be nullified by establishing a new union with a slight majority of votes is just plain wrong.  

Who wins?  US Airways, of course.  They get to continue to pay pilots according to agreements that have been amendable for a long time at lower pay rates than much of the industry and a dollar saved today is worth 2 dollars tomorrow. 

Who loses?  Both parties to this disagreement.  They are looking at another 2 to 4 years before an agreement is in place and if that new agreement is based on date of hire, there will be another court battle that is likely to overturn that agreement.  Then you can tack on another 3 to 4 years to resolve that dispute. 

When everything is done, these pilots are looking at as much as 12+ years to settle this.

The fair settlement is a blending and everyone gets together and negotiates a new contract and gets that done in 2 or 3 years.  Then everyone earns more. 

A 12 year timeline potentially devestates senior pilots at both airlines who will retire before that conclusion. 

The best conclusion would be for pilots on both sides to get together, toss out the existing leadership in favor of a blending and then get to work on getting that new agreement asap.  Sadly, I don’t think that will happen.  The intransigence on the part of US Airways pilots is just to fixed for them to be moved into a real compromise.

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