EMBFlyer

Because they're the smartest people in the room. Just ask them.

(And that goes for every BOD there. The names change, the attitudes once you cross the threshold on Trinity Blvd do not.)

Al Czervik

To make this successful current medical department must stay intact with ALPA. Make or break issue

NuGuy

A couple of steps between here and there.

Had APA decided a merger with ALPA was the way to go, that could have been negotiated, along with a lot of other things, like disposition of property, employement of the staff, status of contractors, etc. After watching the merger with ACPA (Air Canada Pilots Assoc), there was a lot on the table to work with and apparently lots of accomodations made to the way they ran things.

Now, pilots petition for an election, and assuming ALPA wins, ALPA immediately becomes the bargaining agent in charge of your agreement, and APA becomes an empty shell. A company without a cause (or income), but lots of staff and expenses to pay, and that runs into a wall almost instantly..

The ALPA President will designate temporary reps/officers in each new council (typically 1 base = 1 council), and will choose temporary MEC officers while the election process gets spoolled up for permanent reps, whose terms may or may not be lengthened or truncated to fit into a "group" election cycle (ALPA uses offset elections for LECs to prevent the entire MEC turning over at once, so a large airline is typically divided up into 2 or more groups), who will then elect a permanent MEC. At some point, given AA's size, an election would be held for AA's Executive VP, which would represent the AA pilots at the national level. The ranks would swell to amost 70,000 pilots, and AA would become a very important voice in the organization, matched only by UAL and DAL.

Would some accomodation be made at that point? Almost certainly because it would be in the best interests of the AA pilots to keep their staff, experts, etc, the Association would have an immediate need of staff and experts on AA and their agreement, and a desire to make sure everyone "was cool". That said, it would probably be on ALPA's terms, rather than a meeting of the minds.

If you're APA, you really need to examine how this plays out if a majority of pilots clearly have a preference for ALPA. If it looks like it's going to happen anyway, it's far, far better to negotiate ahead of time.

Al Czervik

This is exactly why APA is so toxic/dysfunctional. They will use this as a chip against the merger. "We might lose medical." Just watch.

Al Czervik

If ALPA wants this to happen and are smart about it they will come out immediately with assurances that these assets witll remain intact post merger.

MasTamales

Reading through the past merger case studies it's clear that ALPA has made a wide range of accommodations to the various new properties that they've onboarded.

It was also clear that these mergers were done with unity among the pilot groups including the existing union leadership.

272922

I think a bigger weapon could be PMA and POD. I'd expect the current APA leadership to make those front and center in any potential election.

NuGuy

I think ALPA "wanting this to happen" is a bit strong. APA played Lucy with the football twice already, so it's perfectly understandable why they'd be fairly standoffish. They're going to wait until it's pretty clear cut. That's certainly no ding on the folks who want to see it happen, but just past experience with APA.

Andrew_VT

PMA has pretty much been made unnecessary with our new ESB. It was good timing too because the financials of the PMA program have been in decline for years now.

ALPA has a product that can replace our POD. It's an unsubsidized insurance product, why wouldn't they?

Al Czervik

ALPA wants it for the money and ALPA's alliance is with the AA pilots not APA. They should remain standofish with APA.