I agree smart. I really am more concerned when happy hour starts and if they have Jameson available. I make 18 thousand dollars a year I don't get paid enough to care outside of work hours. I come on flight info to have fun.( Which I am having speaking with you now). I dont get paid enough to be a leader, Getting a union apparently will not change that either. A second year fo at your company makes 24 dollars an hour and one of ours makes 23. The union really did a lot of good there. You have been in contract negotiations for how long? While a union does try and protect certain things and helps you out with work rules and such be realistic. ALPA is just a really expensive magazine suscription. I just think it would be a hassle especially when our pilot group is so small. We have to get crapped on first buy the new management to even entertain the idea. I really don't think many in this company care or have the balls to even suggest we get a union. We have to grow first and have some people fired unjustly before we do anything. I haven't heard crap from ALPA yet. Do they even have an opinion on this whole thing. Wouldn't they make a statement by now? I dont think they see enough union dues coming from the 350 pilots Colgan has to make it worth their while. I am still waiting for a friggin letter in the mail or an email telling me the benefits of becoming unionized. It's been awhile now. I am sure ALPA has access to all our names and stuff. So whats the deal union rep? So far things are looking good for us. We are bought and promised more flying and bigger planes. The management doesn't sound like full of lies to me. Every indication points to them running seperate airlines entirely. Why would we want to merge with you and lose the senority we have built up at Colgan? Really what all this union talk seems to me is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors I havent seen any action yet by either the pinnacle pilots or colgan pilots. If you guys are so serious about this crap then when are you going to quick talking and acutally do something?
You compare our pay which was agreed too seven years ago and was subject to change soon compared to your pay which was evaluated this year or last. The company's last offer had 2nd year FO pay around 30. Sounds alot better than your 23. Our MEC said no because it still was not good enough. Pay in this case is not a fair comparison being that ours is very outdated and subject to change while yours is newly adjusted.
Alpa is still evaluating the situation. Waiting until you get shat on to do anything is like waiting until you run out of fuel before you divert.
So as long as things look good in your opinion for you, who cares if the company uses you to harm our pilot group. This is the " as long as I got mine attitude" I mentioned in another thread.
You have no basis to say that 9E management is not liars. You have no idea and should not be making statements like that yet. I can tell you that they have lied worse than than a crack adict.
Why do you think that you would lose seniority with an integration. Not one pinnacle pilot has suggested a staple. Why would you lose seniority? Our current pilots for the most part are very content with thier base and equiptment, I would be very surprised if more than a few even made the switch to the colgan certificate. I think it much more likely that 9L pilots that are not tied down to a base would transfer to the 9E certificate for better pay when our new contract is done. But how many or few making the transfer is not the point. The point is that the company could not pit one pilot group against the other for the lowest wages. In the end 9L and 9E pilots would enjoy more flexibility, more base choices, more equiptment choices and better pay. Our upgrade is under 2 years now and dropping. We are upgrading 60 plus pilots in just the next two months. And that is before the delta flying that will be anounced soon. I just don't say were you lose out. But in the end, it is not about you, me or the senior or the junior pilots. It is about what we leave behind for other pilots in the future. By that I mean, what labor situation do we leave for future 9L and 9E pilots. What kind of pressure does this put on other pilots groups in our industry. We have all seen how bottomfeeder contracts and airlines have a ripple effect through the rest of the industry. The ripple effect does not just stop at regionals but trickles up to LCC and legacy carriers.
Current airline pilots our the stuards of this profession. WE are responsible for maintaining what is left of this job. And to improve it. The decisions we all make must at least have our profession in mind. Think about what you would want to leave behind for your son or grandson, if he wanted to be an airline pilot.
