U-Turn Speaks To The US Airways/UAL Merger

Wall Street thinks there’s a 30% overlap in combined flying. If we were still in ALPA, who do you think ALPA would protect? LCC or UAL pilots? They’d be neutral, right? Everyone sharing the pain. But we have an aircraft floor. UAL doesn’t. With ALPA now off-property, they can’t meddle. They can’t use their clout to protect their biggest dues payer. It’s ALPA’s worst nightmare.

UAL/LCC Merger? “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” Guys, now that CAL’s out of the picture, it looks like LCC is going to make a move on UAL. That merger could end up being a good deal for us out west short and long term and not hurt the East too much either. U-Turn says: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” In order to understand why, you’ve got to take your blinders off. If you can’t do that, then just hit the delete button. Dump U-Turn on your SPAM list. Hit UNSUBSCRIBE. We don’t want to waste your time. With over 9,000 other subscribers, we won’t miss you. If your mind is already made up and you don’t want to be confused with the facts, hit delete. A merger with UAL isn’t going to change much of anything. All this speculation about furloughs before, during or after a UAL merger is paranoia. We’re protected by the TRANSITION AGREEMENT! The TA and LOA-93 set minimum numbers of aircraft that the company can’t go below without negotiations. It doesn’t make any difference who the CBA is. Doug Parker knows he has to follow both contracts and all the LOAs until they are renegotiated. He’s stuck with the TA. Funny how CJ Szmal blasted the TA a month ago, but now he believes the TA’s our only protection from downsizing, merger or not. For once, CJ’s right. The TA is our protection from downsizing. The TA set a floor of 120 aircraft for the West and 202 for the East. Those numbers exclude the Jungle Jets. We should have 25 of them by the end of the year. Right now the East has about 206 aircraft. We got around 121-124. Worst case for us is the company drops West down to the minimum 120. That’s 1 to 3% reduction. For that small amount, the company isn’t going to furlough. They learned the hard way about the costs of furloughs and retraining back in the fall of 2001. Worst case, they reduce the line hours. Even if the LAS base is closed late summer, West aircraft floor is still 120. The company has to bring those planes back to PHX or set up a permanent base for us somewhere else. They can’t give those planes to the East crews. The TA says no. Temporary satellite bases aren’t allowed under the TA. They could set up a permanent SO-CAL base for West pilots. But that’s a company choice. The TA protects both East and West from further reductions and furloughs. But what if USAPA negotiates away those aircraft? If they do, without the same percentage loss back East, can you say “Mother of all DFRs?” “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” If a merger with UAL happens, it won’t be LCC pilots getting pink slips. We’re protected by the TA. UAL pilots face another BK or more downsizing and they have no aircraft floor protection. They also face the possibility of a fragmentation with pieces, equipment and routes sold off to the highest bidders. Wall Street thinks there’s a 30% overlap in combined flying. If we were still in ALPA, who do you think ALPA would protect? LCC or UAL pilots? They’d be neutral, right? Everyone sharing the pain. But we have an aircraft floor. UAL doesn’t. With ALPA now off-property, they can’t meddle. They can’t use their clout to protect their biggest dues payer. It’s ALPA’s worst nightmare. But it’s not our problem. We’re protected by the TA. Even if you hate USAPA, who do you really think would better represent LCC pilots in a merger with ALPA’s biggest MEC? ALPA or USAPA? Who do you want protecting the existing TA? ALPA or USAPA? If you can’t answer those questions, please hit the UNSUBCRIBE button at the bottom of this page. In upcoming U-Turns: What really happened at Wye River? What did ALPA know and when they know it? What was ALPA’s last ditch attempt to save the property? What happens if UAL gets split up? Meanwhile: “Don’t Worry! Be Happy!”

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