Although TheEye has been dormant as of late, we certainly have not ceased paying attention.  The looming LOA 93 decision coupled with the eventual cementing of the Nicolau Award in Judge Silver’s courtroom have made commentary on the circus called USAPA rather unnecessary. 

But the latest hypocrisy spewing from articles published by the website Compass Correction Coalition is too much for us to ignore. While we don’t necessarily disagree with much of what the Coalition writes, it is important to remind the readers of the recent history of its primary authors: Eric Rowe, Dave Ciabattoni, and Doug Mowery. 

Let’s start with Capt. Rowe. It is well known that Capt. Rowe was the self-proclaimed protector of the “junior” pilots as Chairman of the PHL local council under ALPA. He led the charge to fire any member of the Merger Committee who wavered from a hard line DOH position. Even after repeated warnings from Arbitrator Nicolau, Capt. Rowe was not going to budge and compromise. After all, as an A330 Captain at the pinnacle of his career, he had little to lose by maintaining a “damn the torpedo’s, full speed ahead” approach. The minute the Nicolau Award was released he parlayed his role as protector into a founding supporter of USAPA and its mission to circumnavigate Nicolau. Few of his admirers ever stopped to question the ineffectiveness of his leadership. In fact, it could be strongly argued that had he ceded true autonomy to our Merger Committee, we would never have had to deal with the Nicolau Award as we know it. Doing so, however, would have surrendered his epic status among his faithful flock.

Next we have Dave Ciabattoni who served with Capt. Rowe as First Officer Representative under ALPA for the PHL domicile. Capt. Ciabattoni supported his chairman’s hard line approach and demanded full DOH allegiance from the Merger Committee. They along with John Brookman and Mark King in Pittsburgh formed a four vote roll-call to block any movement off of strict DOH. Once the Nicolau Decision was released, Capt. Ciabattoni quickly jumped ship to the USAPA cause. One must wonder if he was really surprised by the Nicolau Award given his hardline stance and the warnings from Nicolau. Could it be possible that his position was designed to get the result it did in order to decertify ALPA? We’ll never know. What we do know is that Capt. Ciabattoni took a lead role in the new union and wrote a substantial portion of the USAPA Constitution and By-Laws. The same document that now deprives his clique of absolute power. The irony is uncanny. 

Moving on to Doug Mowery: the “nice guy” behind the Rowe and Ciabattoni front. Capt. Mowery was a member of the JNC negotiating a contract that would blend the east and west contracts. He worked hard for the JNC right up to the release of the Nicolau Award and then jumped on the “too shocked” to continue bandwagon. Why he was so shocked is a mystery to us as he was fully briefed and on board with the hard line stance taken by the PHL and PIT representatives. With the new union up and running, Capt. Mowery became the face of USAPA that the old hardliners wanted to advance. His name is continually found on USAPA nominating and election ballots. More recently he has begun signing his name to Compass Correction Coalition articles. 

What caught our Eye was the statement they made in their November 30th open letter to the BPR. They wrote, “If USAPA loses the right to negotiate its own seniority system, the repercussions for the profession and our pilot group should be obvious to the Board.” They must understand that no one argues that USAPA doesn't have the right to negotiate its own seniority system. The problem for them is that they helped form a union with the documented goal of purposely disadvantaging the AWA pilots. If USAPA exercises its right to negotiate, the west pilots will most assuredly sue for DFR and win. And if Judge Silver doesn't release US Airways from their obligations as memorialized in the Transition Agreement they will be sued too. Their favorite lawyer either never told them this inconvenient truth or they never listened to opposing viewpoints when they joined Capt. Bradford in the back of the van. Their blind acceptance of the notion that changing bargaining agents would free the east pilots from the Nicolau Award was as dangerous then as it is now. What is further troubling is that these so called “unionists” believe that their failure to destroy the careers of another group of pilots will somehow have negative repercussions for the profession. They must have missed the fact that their actions have allowed US Airways to employ some of the lowest paid pilots in the world for the past decade.

In the coming officer elections, the names above are highly likely to surface on a ballot or nominating form. Yup, the same old-same old is coming to a ballot box near you. We get to choose between the failed hardliners of the past who make us feel good with their ineffective posturing and the current dictatorial regime that has gotten has absolutely nowhere since their ascent to power. Add these two factions together and one could only begin to calculate the damage inflicted on our pilot group. We are all desperately in need of results, yet these names have never produced anything of meaning for our group.  

Recycling the past hasn’t worked too well. We need new, brave, and bold leadership.