Opinion ID: 323057
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the 'fair and equitable' integrated seniority list

Text: 27 By its order of 24 April 1972 the Board ordered that provision be made for the integration of existing seniority lists 'in a fair and equitable manner . . ..' 35 The problems of compiling a seniority list for any given employee population are compounded when two previously established lists must then be integrated. Petitioner's desire to rely heavily on length of service is shortsighted in view of the many other significant factors contributing to the fair and equitable integration of any seniority list. 36 28 In addition to length of service or age, experience, especially among airline pilots, is vitally important. Not only does equipment vary in size and technical sophistication from airline to airline, so do route structures. Five years' experience on one airline may be the equivalent, for example, of only three years' on an airline with larger and more complicated equipment or different route structures. Furthermore, Northeast was a failing airline, and its personnel being absorbed by the surviving carrier could naturally be expected to adapt to the Delta scheme rather than require Delta to rearrange its operations to accommodate the new pilots. 37 Other important considerations include past hiring practices and relative prospects for continued employment and advancement at Delta and Northeast absent the merger. 29 The mention of Northeast being a failing airline emphasizes the significance (and wisdom) of this integrated seniority list being produced by negotiation. Obviously, if Northeast had been allowed to fail and cease operations, its pilots would largely have been reemployed by other airlines taking over Northeast routes. The Northeast pilots reemployed, however, would not have joined another airline carrying their total seniority from Northeast. The former Northeast pilots may not necessarily have gone to the bottom of their new airline seniority lists, but to the extent each achieved a position higher on the ladder, it would have been as a result of individual negotiation. 30 And so here, to the extent any former Northeast pilot was ranked higher on Delta's integrated list than previously employed Delta pilots, those Delta pilots were dropped a notch in seniority to make room for the Northeast pilots. Hence, negotiation among those most directly affected, by those most knowledgeable of respective pilot qualifications, was a proper way to compile the integrated list. Petitioner itself has recognized in another context the complexity of the problem with which the Board was faced in arriving at an equitable result. 38 We likewise are impressed that the problem has no facile solution and, accordingly, defer to the negotiated result.