Mainline & Regional Pilots at AC

[Guest neo]

Dear colleagues,

Despite all the current upheaval, and despite the dim view which many take of AC's handling of who will fly the new small jets, it's possible that there is a silver lining to it all.

The way this issue has been structured is likely to apply considerable leverage to bringing the two groups under one banner. Will either group prefer to have someone else decide who flies the new jets, or will they prefer to negotiate an outcome? The answer based on ACPA's past would suggest the former; but I doubt if there's still that feeling of impregnability sround ACPA HQ. Let's hope that we've all learned to bend, rather than break.

I offer this observation in support of a new initiative to join the two groups: the previous ruling on AC's Common Employer status is now a burnt piece of toast. (IMHO, of course.) You'll recall that the CIRB's ruling of some 5 years ago denied the regional pilots' bid to enforce a Common Employer status on the AC mainline. Well, it would appear that AC management has, by creating a situation where the two groups bid on the same work, rendered that previous ruling to the junk bin of labor history.

How can you have two employee groups bidding on the same work, and not have a Common Employer situation? Now, I recognize that the CIRB moves in mysterious ways, and that it's a political beast, but how they could now deny that a common employer exists?

I'd say that a merged list of regional and mainline pilots waits only for the first union to apply for it.

Best wishes,

Richard Roskell