cactiboss

I guess you don't believe federal judges. If the Nic doesn't exist why is usapa trying to replace it?

cactiboss

I do have a star tec along with many others, figure if I live long enough they might be worth something.

Carl Spackler

Who said that cactiboss? I said just the opposite and even underlined the relevant words in my post so nobody could miss it:

Then you quote my post. And you still miss the fact that I said the Nic does exist. I don't know how to be any clearer, and still it doesn't seem to make any difference with you.

Carl

LittleBoyBlew

^^^^^ Cacti only understands Spartan Logic.. The man only sees what HE wants to see.

GW258

Cacti is obsessed with getting the windfall of the NIC. The NIC should never become a standard for any court, for any pilot group.

The east he hates is the only reason he will be part of a real airline. Based on his post, he and his group are willing to grenade the deal if they don't get what they never earned from other pilots that earned it.

tailendcharlie

I hope we never see another Nic....I say this as a west pilot who also spent time on the east....I hope we never see another pilot group and another airline as devastated as US Airways was by 2004. The Nic was a travesty because Airways was a travesty. 17-year guys on the street, 7-year captains; here you go now make a list out of that good luck.

For the record I think more or less you guys are gonna get away with it. Not DOH maybe, but you'll basically accomplish what you set out to do with USAPA.

R57 relay

You're right, US Airways was a travesty. A travesty of mismanagement for decades. But, the pilots did what they thought they needed to do, and helped save it. Then Nic gave much of it to the west.

You are also correct that the SLI was probably the most difficult of any two airlines that could be merged. But, Nic could have done better and we wouldn't be here.

R57 relay

USAPA's POV:

Communications Update on Litigation

Documents have been added to the Legal Library in two recently filed lawsuits. The first (the Bankruptcy Injunction proceeding) is a complaint in the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York which seeks to stop Leonidas, LLC from taking any action that would interfere with the merger between US Airways and American Airlines. The second (Addington II) was filed by several former America West Pilots against USAPA and US Airways alleging that USAPA is breaching its duty of fair representation (DFR) by refusing to implement the Nicolau Award and seeks to require USAPA and US Airways to put that ALPA proposal into effect.

Background

As all of our pilots know, there is considerable background to the dispute over the Nicolau Award.

The Nicolau Award was part of an internal Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) process called the ALPA Merger and Fragmentation Policy. The ALPA Merger Policy applied whenever there was a merger in which ALPA represented the pilots at the two airlines and its purpose was to determine what position ALPA would advance with respect to integrating seniority of the two pilots groups. The pilots of both US Airways and America West were represented by ALPA before the 2005 merger, and the ALPA Merger Policy required the two ALPA Merger Committees (for US Airways and for America West) to participate in an internal arbitration proceeding as part of the process to determine ALPA’s position with respect to integration of the two seniority lists.

The Nicolau Award was issued under the provisions of ALPA Merger Policy in early 2007. Among other things, the Nicolau Award placed US Airways pilots with almost 17 years of active service and no furlough time below America West new hires; significantly delayed and in many cases deprived these same US Airways pilots of expected attrition-based promotional opportunities to Captain and wide body international flying; and transferred these promotional opportunities to America West pilots. As a result, the Nicolau Award gave junior America West pilots an enormous windfall at the expense of senior US Airways pilots. For example, the Nicolau Award would place an America West First Officer (FO) born in 1971 with 1.5 years of seniority ahead of a US Airways FO born in 1955 with 17.8 years of seniority. If implemented today, the Nicolau Award would delay the advancement of the US Airways FO for the remaining 7 years of his career while the America West FO would enjoy a significant and accelerating improvement over the remaining 23 years of his career. In fact, under the Nicolau Award, the progression of the US Airways FO, in comparison to his stand-alone progression, would steadily worsen until his retirement, when he would be over 13% lower than he would have been otherwise. Conversely, the America West FO would see an immediate jump of over 12% increasing to over 27% higher than on a stand-alone basis. There are hundreds of similar examples — US Airways pilots suffering significant delays in career advancement under the Nicolau Award compared to America West pilots enjoying significant windfalls.

The US Airways pilots were understandably upset. The Nicolau Award was inconsistent with the requirements of ALPA Merger Policy that any award issued under the policy must “[m]inimize detrimental changes to career expectations” and “[a]void windfalls to either group at the expense of the other.” Despite several proposed compromises, the former America West pilots refused to consider any modification to the Nicolau Award.

In early April 2008, as the result of a representation election conducted by the National Mediation Board, ALPA was decertified and USAPA was elected as the exclusive bargaining representative for the combined pilot group of former US Airways and former America West. USAPA rejected the Nicolau Award and, after considerable study and review, proposed a Date-of-Hire list with a set of conditions and restrictions that protected the pre-merger career expectations of both the America West pilots and the US Airways pilots. Former America West pilots boycotted attempts by USAPA officers and representatives to explain the proposal.

Addington I. In early September 2008, six former America West pilots sued in federal District Court in Phoenix alleging, in part, that USAPA was violating its duty of fair representation by refusing to implement the Nicolau Award. The complaint and other filings in this case are posted in the Legal Library under “Addington I.” A jury trial before Judge Wake resulted in a verdict and judgment requiring USAPA to implement the Nicolau Award. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the verdict and judgment, remanding the case to the District Court with instructions to “vacate” its decision and judgment. The request for reconsideration and the petition for review by the Supreme Court that were filed by the plaintiff America West pilots were both denied. As Judge Wake later said, “[T]he substantive rulings in Addington have been vacated pursuant to mandate” and subsequent litigation “would now write on [a] clean slate[].” Ninth Circuit decisions uniformly hold that a decision to vacate a lower court’s judgment “effectively annuls or sets aside the lower court’s decision for all purposes” and the judgment should be treated “as if [it] never occurred.” Nevertheless, counsel for various former America West pilots continues to repeatedly cite decisions issued by Judge Wake in Addington I that have been declared null and void.

Phoenix Declaratory Judgment case. In July 2010, shortly after the Ninth Circuit denied the plaintiffs' request for reconsideration in Addington I, US Airways filed a lawsuit in federal District Court in Phoenix before Judge Silver seeking a declaratory judgment on whether USAPA is required to implement the Nicolau Award or is free to pursue a different seniority proposal. A class of former America West pilots argued that USAPA was required to implement the Nicolau Award. USAPA argued that it was not required to implement the Award for a variety of reasons. In October 2012, Judge Silver issued an opinion agreeing with USAPA’S position and rejecting the position taken by the West Pilot Class. Judge Silver specifically ruled that USAPA was free to pursue something different than the Nicolau award in collective bargaining, subject to the duty of fair representation which applies to any union action. US Airways, supported by the West Pilot Class, then asked Judge Silver to reconsider her decision. That too was denied. US Airways has appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in still another attempt to overturn her decision and the previously decided case in the Ninth Circuit. USAPA asked the Ninth Circuit to expedite consideration of the appeal because counsel believes the Ninth Circuit will uphold Judge Silver’s decision, and in order to eliminate any doubt as quickly as possible. The West Pilot Class opposed the request and the request was denied. Briefs in the case are due on various dates through June 2013, with oral argument to be scheduled thereafter.

Recent Developments

Threat to Stop the Merger. On February 19, 2013, an attorney for Leonidas, LLC sent letters to USAPA, APA and US Airways threatening “to file a third round of litigation and seek an injunction of the merger process . . . .” The merger provides substantial and life changing benefits to all our pilots, including former America West pilots. In a message to all USAPA pilots, President Hummel said the Union would “aggressively oppose any efforts to slow down or stop the merger” and directed counsel to prepare appropriate legal action to prevent the threatened interference with the merger.

Bankruptcy Injunction proceeding. On March 6, the BPR authorized lawyers for USAPA to file an action as part of the American Airlines Bankruptcy Proceeding to prevent Leonidas, LCC from enjoining or otherwise interfering with the US Airways/American merger and, in particular, to prevent any interference in the orderly integration of the pilot workforce which is an integral and important part of effectuating the merger. The Complaint and related filings are posted in the Legal Library.

Addington II. Also on March 6, eight former America West pilots filed a Complaint in the federal District Court in Phoenix against both USAPA and US Airways asking the Court to issue judgment:

declaring that USAPA violated the duty of fair representation by entering into an MOU that did not require implementing the Nicolau Award list;



declaring that USAPA is continuing to violate the duty of fair representation by insisting that it will use a date-of–hire seniority list rather than the Nicolau Award list;



finding that US Airways has violated the Transition Agreement by failing to implement the Nicolau Award;


requiring USAPA and US Airways to conduct seniority integration according to the MOU procedures but using the Nicolau Award for the US Airways pilots; and



awarding Plaintiffs the reasonable litigation expenses, including attorney’s fees, incurred since 2008 protecting the fair representation rights of the former America West pilots.

The case was assigned to Senior United States District Judge Rosenblatt. The Addington II plaintiffs also filed a motion to have the case reassigned to either Judge Silver or Judge Wake. Click here to read these documents.

What’s Next

In the appeal from Judge Silver’s ruling in the Phoenix Declaratory Judgment case, and as mentioned above, briefs are due on various dates through June 2013. The Ninth Circuit will then set oral argument and following oral argument will issue a written decision. There is, at this point, no way to know when the appeal will be argued or decided. Judge Silver’s decision, which upholds USAPA’s authority to advance a seniority proposal other than the Nicolau Award, remains in full force and effect pending the appeal. Counsel for USAPA believes that the Ninth Circuit will affirm Judge Silver’s decision.

In the Bankruptcy Injunction proceeding, the answer from Defendant Leonidas, LCC is due on or before April 8 and the initial pre-trial conference is set for April 23. USAPA’s counsel in the Bankruptcy Injunction proceeding advise that a threat to interfere with the merger, which is already before the Bankruptcy Court, is clearly prohibited by the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay provisions.

In Addington II, any response to the motion to transfer the case to Judge Silver or Judge Wake is due on or before March 25. The answer to the Complaint is generally due 30-60 days after service. Counsel representing USAPA in Addington II advises that most, if not all, of the claims asserted in that complaint have already been decided by Judge Silver in the Phoenix Declaratory Judgment action, which is currently on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and that there is no merit to any of the claims.

In any event, it will be several weeks if not months before either Court issues any decision on the merits of the claims asserted in the complaints. We will keep you informed as matters progress.


USAPA Communications

Wiskey Driver

And what exactly is it that you see?? Case and point no need for response...

WD at AWA

Wiskey Driver

This is hands down the most foolish post to ever make this forum. No one is doing anything of the sort yet your leash holders have you believing that west pilots are going to tank this merger. That is not only laughable but it further demonstrates the complete lack of understanding most of you have of this process.

WD at AWA