It’s election season in USAPA world and the candidates are busy filling our mailboxes with diatribes of blame as to why we haven’t achieved a date-of-hire contract and fulfilled the union’s original intent. On one corner there is founder Stephen Bradford whining about the firing of Lee Seham and on the other side is the paranoid fringe represented by Bill McKee claiming a vast conspiracy between his opposition and the Phoenix candidates. 

One theme consistent between virtually all of the candidates is the finger pointing and incessant blame that all of our problems are a result of the former bargaining agent and those who served under its evil grip. 

What is abundantly clear is that almost every single candidate running for office has had their chance to create the promised utopia, but failed miserably to do so. Now they seek your vote with absolutely no vision or plan to move the combined pilot group forward. 

Looming on the horizon is a possible merger with a much larger pilot group. If the analysts are correct, a merger between US Airways and American Airlines is likely before the end of the year. 

American Airlines currently has 1,685 pilots on furlough and recently announced plans to furlough an additional 400. (source: www.airlinepilotcentral.com)

A vote for any of the date-of-hire candidates will place the employment of thousands of US Airways pilots at risk. Pilots who brought jobs to the transaction could be furloughed all in the myopic quest to destroy the careers of the America West pilots. 

Incredulously, when this theory is mentioned on the line, the typical response is that an arbitrator will protect those who brought jobs. What they don’t realize is that the USAPA Constitution requires the Merger Committee to pursue a date-of-hire integration regardless of the devastation it could cause the pre-merger pilot group. Further, using  USAPA’s own pretext, if the American pilots are unhappy with the arbitrated list they can use their significant majority to circumvent the arbitration and impose their self determined seniority list on the smaller US Airways pilot group. 

This possibility should send shock waves down the spine of every US Airways pilot. 

Stay tuned for more from TheEye. This election is too important for anyone to sit on the sidelines.