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AFFILIATED WITH THE A. F. of L.

Mr. Gitt
"SCHEDULE WITH SAFETY"

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Air Line Pilots Association 
INTERNATIONAL 
3145 WEST SIXTY-THIRD STREET 
CHICAGO 29

TELEPHONE 
GROVEHILL 6-2200

[[logo]] 537

June 30, 1950

Honorable Robert G. Simmons, 
Supreme Court, State of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska

Re: Gitt vc Colonial

Dear Judge Simmons:
Considerable concern has been expressed by a number of pilots regarding your Decision in the Gitt Grievance. As a matter of fact, I have found it difficult to inform inquiring pilots as to the meaning of portions of that Decision.

I intended writing to you soon after the Decision arrived but was prevented from doing so by having been away from my office a considerable part of the time. Naturally, I have hesitated to reply directly to the pilots raising the questions, until such time as I was able to communicate directly with you, not wishing to commit myself without the benefit of your advice.

A majority of the pilots' inquiries relates to a statement contained on page 2, paragraph 2 of the Decision, reading as follows:

"The carrier hoped to secure a bid from a pilot who was qualified to operate the planes on the Bermuda runs without the expense of checking out a pilot."

The question of pilot-qualification is one long debated within the air line industry. The pilots have always contended that if a pilot's seniority entitles him to a particular run, the Company is obligated to qualify him on any equipment utilized by the Company on such run. If this were not so, seniority would lose much of its meaning, for the reason that the Company could prevent a pilot from successfully bidding a run by the expedient of refusing to qualify him on the equipment utilized. The companies, for

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