“If the US MEC cannot bring the problems of the US pilots to this governing body for redress, where should it turn?”

So ends a 21-page presentation filed Monday with ALPA by the US Airways East pilot group.

The ugly situation with the seniority process of the old America West pilot group and the US Airways East pilots took yet another turn Monday when the US Airways East pilot group filed a formal complaint to ALPA, in which it claims the recent seniority decision by ALPA arbitrator Nicolau “violates the requirements of ALPA Merger Policy and should be invalidated and remanded to another arbitrator for resolution consistent with merger policy.”

You can download a copy of the document here.

As one PlaneBusiness Banter subscriber wrote to me today,

“Did you catch that very last sentence in the presentation given to ALPA National yesterday by U-ALPA?  Was that not a shot across the bow?

This thing will come down one of two ways… either ALPA National vacates the award because the arbitrator did not follow ALPA Merger Policy, or ALPA will cease to exist on LCC property.  It’s really quite as simple as that.  It has nothing to do with the argument for a random outcome as the AWA pilots seem to suggest.  You have to ask yourself, what would happen if the arbitrator had decided to integrate the list by hair color?  Would ALPA National be bound by his decision as the AWA pilots seem to suggest?  Of course not.  So now we will wait to see how the Executive Council rules.  I don’t place much faith in ALPA to do the right thing… but in this case, it has been made clear to them that either they fix this atrocity, or they will lose 5,000 dues paying members.  In the end, it’s always about the money.  Remember the cliché, “follow the money”.  I think that may be apropos here.”

Tickers: (LCC:NYSE)