I wonder just how much ALPA is watching out for it's membership, or what part of the membership is being looked out for if any. NWA has just pretty much succeeded in dismantling one union, though AMFA kinda screwed itself to begin with by lumping the cleaners and mechanics into the same union. Now I'm sure that will tick off some hardcore union guys, but look at the trend - and we've all heard it before - the Wal-martizing of the airline industry. NWA didn't even blink with bringing on the replacement mechanics, and was ready to bring on replacement FA's in case they struck with AMFA. NWA even contracted out an NWA flight to Champion Air a few months ago, testing the waters I'd say to see how far and what they can contract out. NWALPA's response? "Hey, stop that! Don't! OW! I'm telling!!"
So you say to me "Yeah, but it's not as easy to train a pilot!" Well, who's flying these RJ's now? Kids (Sorry to offend you younger guys) that are out of places like UND and other schools are teaching on glass A/C, and guess what the regionals are going to be flying? And when you're at a regional, you can become a senior pilot pretty quick when you're working a 13 hour day every day. And what kid that just got done with flight school/flight instructing/running checks is going to balk at $30,000/year not realizing that they may be there for the rest of or most of their flying career? Of course they are going to jump at it, and the majors are going to use it to screw us over, and what is ALPA doing to stop it?
The NWA/AMFA strike has set the trend for even pilots. NWA flight attendants are next, the flying in Asia will most likely be contracted out to the cheapest bidder, and we all know there are people, thinking the airline industry is such ritz and glamour, that they will work for next to nothing, not only in Asia but worldwide. Continental contracts to fly EMB RJ's round trip from OMA to the east coast, on cramped RJs! Now as a pilot having clawed your way to a major, how safe do you think your job is when they are taking a cramped RJ on long route like that? Where does the RJ market end? Doesn't Mesaba fly from MSP to SLC?
NWA is now talking of getting rid of the 100 seat fleet (Granted, fuel guzzling, but paid for, DC9s) and starting a new airline to fly 100 seaters or less, ie, another regional. How many routes can you put a 100 seater on today and fill it? A dang lot of city pairs, and considering that NWA has the biggest DC9 fleet in the world, well, that's alot of mainline pilot jobs CONTRACTED OUT! But don't worry, you'll get 1st dibs at getting that 1/2 pay or less new pilot position!
It's been said before, we seem to be the only industry that has its increased operating costs passed on to the employees! DAL's CEO should have been canned for getting a BILLION dollars in concession from the pilots, then turning around and launching that idiotic capped fare sale! What irresponsibility, and barely anyone raised an eyebrow. The general public is expecting and getting used to these cheap fares, a dangerous trend is what it means to us. Do you want to be flying a B73 or A320 at commuter pay/scheds where you're gone at least half the month, a 401K, you pay for your medical, and hopefully you won't be ousted out of business by some other upstart carrier down the road? It's true, like someone else said, this is not your father's airline. It is a new scary world out there, and I think ALPA is just rolling over and taking it, because anyway, their top leadership is no different than any other CEO or business. They are out of touch, protected with generous benefits - of which WE are paying for out of our dues. What are we seeing for those dues? DAL, NWA, UAL, and the other ALPA majors fund a big chunk of ALPA's money, on top of that we are asked to give to the ALPA PAC! In another post I saw someone suggesting that pilots do a collective 1 day strike. Well, obviously you can't do that. But what about suspending your ALPA dues for awhile? I bet THAT would get their attention.
Southwest is the big boy on the block now, but what happens when their fuel hedging runs out and the operating costs shoot up? "Well, gee sorry SWA pilot, but we need concessions or we're going to go bankrupt." Where does it end?
Another pilot told me to him it seems like the 'My name is Earl' show. "I just won $100,000 by getting hired at a major, and now it's blowing away in the wind." he said.
It's been said that everyone gets furloughed at least once in their airline career. Well, unlike the old days which aren't that old, the company you left will be a far different and less employee friendly one when/if you get recalled. Chances are today that if you get furloughed you will be back to RJ pay/scheds for a long, long time. Corporate/fractionals are a possibility.
Well, if you're okay with that, more power to you. I'm not okay with that. I don't think alot of us did all the hard work it took to get to a major, spent all the money we paid to flight schools (for those that weren't military), to only have to go back to commuter airline type flying again. It was okay when we were young and single starting out. Now many of us are older, rooted down with families, kids in school in a good place, nice house in a nice area, and yes, you have to say it, you've got your toys, all of this that you've worked hard to get.
The pilot group is that last real workgroup that has the power to get peoples attention, whether it be ALPA, the company, or the flying publics. I'm not sure what exactly can be done now. There are so many upstart airlines and regionals out there, I think ALPA's power is slipping away. There are always hungry pilots to fill in the voids for dirt pay and work conditions. Is it too late? Have we lost our negotiating powers? I know's there's something terribly wrong when a major can't even let a $5 fare increase sit awhile on the account of no other carriers will match it, even though the planes this summer were at record load levels (Yes, even NWALPA tried took the airlines side explaining how quickly an airline looses money when others don't match, but guess what?! We lost a %$#@ of money anyway and everyone is in bankruptcy anyway). Chapter 7's (liquidation) will be very rare. US Airways survived, but with a gutted contract. Furloughs there went back to what hire year, 1987?! There you are thinking, "I'll be okay, Iv'e been on for 14+ years...." Bam out of a job! And if you are able to come back to it, what are you coming back to?
Sorry people. I don't mean for this to be just a 'bitch' letter. There are plenty of aviation jobs out there if you are willling to start over, even non-aviation jobs. I know very senior guys will probably tell me to shut up as some of them figure they are close to enough to retirement to escape the wrath to come. Higher ranks of ALPA at it's headquarters will try to knock me off for even daring to say withhold dues that would threaten their annual meetings in LAS or MCO or the other terrible places they go to help us poor slobs. But it is wrong that the pilot group at ANY airline be asked to suck up the increased costs as we have been asked to, while the discounted fares are kept up at a feverant pace to the public, and all ALPA says is "yes, times are rough - HEY! What's that over there?!" (sound of squealing tires as they speed away to their meeting in LAS)
So when you get a new contracted flight attendant crew in the back, beside the small chit chat of where are you from, how many day trip is this for you, etc, you can include "and what company do you work for?"
One company flying the airplane, another selling the passengers a $1 bag of nuts, another fueling, another maintaining, another catering, another cleaning.... How many companies does it take to run one airline? How many different jobs can a company contract out?
So you say to me "Yeah, but it's not as easy to train a pilot!" Well, who's flying these RJ's now? Kids (Sorry to offend you younger guys) that are out of places like UND and other schools are teaching on glass A/C, and guess what the regionals are going to be flying? And when you're at a regional, you can become a senior pilot pretty quick when you're working a 13 hour day every day. And what kid that just got done with flight school/flight instructing/running checks is going to balk at $30,000/year not realizing that they may be there for the rest of or most of their flying career? Of course they are going to jump at it, and the majors are going to use it to screw us over, and what is ALPA doing to stop it?
The NWA/AMFA strike has set the trend for even pilots. NWA flight attendants are next, the flying in Asia will most likely be contracted out to the cheapest bidder, and we all know there are people, thinking the airline industry is such ritz and glamour, that they will work for next to nothing, not only in Asia but worldwide. Continental contracts to fly EMB RJ's round trip from OMA to the east coast, on cramped RJs! Now as a pilot having clawed your way to a major, how safe do you think your job is when they are taking a cramped RJ on long route like that? Where does the RJ market end? Doesn't Mesaba fly from MSP to SLC?
NWA is now talking of getting rid of the 100 seat fleet (Granted, fuel guzzling, but paid for, DC9s) and starting a new airline to fly 100 seaters or less, ie, another regional. How many routes can you put a 100 seater on today and fill it? A dang lot of city pairs, and considering that NWA has the biggest DC9 fleet in the world, well, that's alot of mainline pilot jobs CONTRACTED OUT! But don't worry, you'll get 1st dibs at getting that 1/2 pay or less new pilot position!
It's been said before, we seem to be the only industry that has its increased operating costs passed on to the employees! DAL's CEO should have been canned for getting a BILLION dollars in concession from the pilots, then turning around and launching that idiotic capped fare sale! What irresponsibility, and barely anyone raised an eyebrow. The general public is expecting and getting used to these cheap fares, a dangerous trend is what it means to us. Do you want to be flying a B73 or A320 at commuter pay/scheds where you're gone at least half the month, a 401K, you pay for your medical, and hopefully you won't be ousted out of business by some other upstart carrier down the road? It's true, like someone else said, this is not your father's airline. It is a new scary world out there, and I think ALPA is just rolling over and taking it, because anyway, their top leadership is no different than any other CEO or business. They are out of touch, protected with generous benefits - of which WE are paying for out of our dues. What are we seeing for those dues? DAL, NWA, UAL, and the other ALPA majors fund a big chunk of ALPA's money, on top of that we are asked to give to the ALPA PAC! In another post I saw someone suggesting that pilots do a collective 1 day strike. Well, obviously you can't do that. But what about suspending your ALPA dues for awhile? I bet THAT would get their attention.
Southwest is the big boy on the block now, but what happens when their fuel hedging runs out and the operating costs shoot up? "Well, gee sorry SWA pilot, but we need concessions or we're going to go bankrupt." Where does it end?
Another pilot told me to him it seems like the 'My name is Earl' show. "I just won $100,000 by getting hired at a major, and now it's blowing away in the wind." he said.
It's been said that everyone gets furloughed at least once in their airline career. Well, unlike the old days which aren't that old, the company you left will be a far different and less employee friendly one when/if you get recalled. Chances are today that if you get furloughed you will be back to RJ pay/scheds for a long, long time. Corporate/fractionals are a possibility.
Well, if you're okay with that, more power to you. I'm not okay with that. I don't think alot of us did all the hard work it took to get to a major, spent all the money we paid to flight schools (for those that weren't military), to only have to go back to commuter airline type flying again. It was okay when we were young and single starting out. Now many of us are older, rooted down with families, kids in school in a good place, nice house in a nice area, and yes, you have to say it, you've got your toys, all of this that you've worked hard to get.
The pilot group is that last real workgroup that has the power to get peoples attention, whether it be ALPA, the company, or the flying publics. I'm not sure what exactly can be done now. There are so many upstart airlines and regionals out there, I think ALPA's power is slipping away. There are always hungry pilots to fill in the voids for dirt pay and work conditions. Is it too late? Have we lost our negotiating powers? I know's there's something terribly wrong when a major can't even let a $5 fare increase sit awhile on the account of no other carriers will match it, even though the planes this summer were at record load levels (Yes, even NWALPA tried took the airlines side explaining how quickly an airline looses money when others don't match, but guess what?! We lost a %$#@ of money anyway and everyone is in bankruptcy anyway). Chapter 7's (liquidation) will be very rare. US Airways survived, but with a gutted contract. Furloughs there went back to what hire year, 1987?! There you are thinking, "I'll be okay, Iv'e been on for 14+ years...." Bam out of a job! And if you are able to come back to it, what are you coming back to?
Sorry people. I don't mean for this to be just a 'bitch' letter. There are plenty of aviation jobs out there if you are willling to start over, even non-aviation jobs. I know very senior guys will probably tell me to shut up as some of them figure they are close to enough to retirement to escape the wrath to come. Higher ranks of ALPA at it's headquarters will try to knock me off for even daring to say withhold dues that would threaten their annual meetings in LAS or MCO or the other terrible places they go to help us poor slobs. But it is wrong that the pilot group at ANY airline be asked to suck up the increased costs as we have been asked to, while the discounted fares are kept up at a feverant pace to the public, and all ALPA says is "yes, times are rough - HEY! What's that over there?!" (sound of squealing tires as they speed away to their meeting in LAS)
So when you get a new contracted flight attendant crew in the back, beside the small chit chat of where are you from, how many day trip is this for you, etc, you can include "and what company do you work for?"
One company flying the airplane, another selling the passengers a $1 bag of nuts, another fueling, another maintaining, another catering, another cleaning.... How many companies does it take to run one airline? How many different jobs can a company contract out?
