Mesaba, Colgan, Pinnacle....apples to apples to apples
SWA, Airtran....not so much
Really? You might want to look again, because every ridiculous argument that the SWA pilots are making here on FI about how our career expectations are so different are exactly the same between these carriers. Let's take a look:
1. Contracts - The Pinnacle and Mesaba contracts were far superior to the Colgan contract. In fact, Colgan didn't even have a real contract, just a "handbook," because they didn't have their first contract negotiated yet.
2. Length of service - About 90% of the Colgan seniority list was hired in the past 4 years. Again, not even close when compared to Pinnacle, or especially Mesaba. The Mesaba guys are incredibly senior for a regional carrier.
3. Acquired - Pinnacle was the acquiring carrier of both Mesaba and Colgan. The first spot on the new list, though? Held by a Mesaba pilot. In fact, the first two spots are held by Mesaba pilots.
4. Attrition - Colgan continually lost pilots to other regional carriers, including many that went to Pinnacle or Mesaba. By contrast, very few left Pinnacle until they went to a major, and Mesaba had an incredibly low attrition rate, especially in the top half of the list.
You see, all of the same arguments made by SWA pilots to claim that the AirTran pilots have different career expectations, or that we work for different classes of airlines, also applied in this SLI. Did any of it make any difference to the arbitrator, though? Nope, not a bit. Senior Colgan Saab pilots sit right next to senior Mesaba Saab pilots. Senior Pinnacle CRJ900 pilots sit right next to senior Mesaba CRJ900 pilots.