On November 13th the Airline Division hosted a meeting of
Principal Officers, Business Agents and the ten rank and file members of
the National Seniority Integration Committee representing the new
United Airlines. The Airline Division called the meeting in order to
resolve disagreements among the National SIC over what method should be
used to integrate the seniority lists as well as the applicability of
the Consent Decree. The Division believed it was in everyone’s best
interest to resolve these disagreements promptly, as both suggested
alternatives had the very real potential of winding up in federal court
and in front of an arbitrator. If that happened, the amalgamation
negotiations would have ground to a stop until the federal court
litigation and arbitration were completed – processes that likely would
take years to complete.
The meeting began with introductions and a history of what had
transpired over the course of the last year. It was explained to the
group that there were several legal opinions gathered as well as the
input of Arbitrator/Mediator Ralph Berger regarding the Consent Decree
and its applicability to the combined group upon ratification of an
amalgamated contract. All of the experts agreed that efforts to
terminate or amend the Consent Decree through federal court litigation
likely would not succeed given the high legal hurdles that exist. In
addition to the limited chance of success, the Principal Officers agreed
that the litigation process would be lengthy and extremely expensive.
It was felt the better course of action was to secure strong job
protections, including no-furlough protections as strong as or even
stronger than the ones that are in the existing agreements. The
Principal Officers also agreed that two members of the National
Seniority Integration Committee will assist the negotiating committee to
help achieve these critical job protections.
The Airline Division also addressed the idea of a rank ratio for the
purposes of bidding. It is the opinion of the Division that this idea
goes against the very core of unionism and has been destructive in other
work groups that have used it.
The group was also made aware that the 55 member rank and file
steering committee recently agreed to enter expedited bargaining with
the carrier.
The Airline Division then informed the group that it would not
commence or support litigation seeking to terminate or amend the Consent
Decree, and that it opposed the use of rank ratio method to integrate
the seniority lists. The Airline Division also advised that it would not
finance any federal litigation or arbitration regarding these matters.
The Principal Officers were then asked if any of them planned to either
appeal the Decree or attempt to arbitrate for the purposes of rank
ratio. None of the Principal Officers were willing to proceed down these
paths. The Airline Division then declared that this matter is now
considered closed institutionally and the integration will proceed under
the constraints of the Consent Decree and without using a rank ratio
method to integrate the lists.
The committee now has several issues to work through including how to
handle premium seniority, how to fairly apply the rules of the Decree
for the sCO and sCMI groups, as well as other matters, such as tie
breakers for future employees.
The committee will meet on November 27th -28th with a follow up meeting on December 10th -14th. Future dates will be discussed at these upcoming meetings
