The original question was: Should Colgan pilots consider joining a union?
I am going to ignore the rantings from both sides over Pinnacle's scope clause and concentrate on the question at hand.
By joining a union you, the Colgan pilots, get the right to actually negotiate with your management and mutually agree to wages, working conditions like scheduling rules, rest rules, health insurance, retirement and job protections. Without a union, you get to accept whatever your management wants to dish out. This all comes down to the critical issue of having a contract that you can enforce. I have had some pilots on this board talk about seeing pilots active in trying to get a union on the property singled out for proficiency events and subsequently fired. This should be enough to say "yes" to a union.
By putting together an unionized workforce, Colgan pilots have the right under ALPA bylaws to elect fellow pilots to represent their interests. This gives someone for management to talk to and, just as important, someone for the Pinnacle pilots to talk to. This is very important: working with the Pinnacle pilots is your best bet of insuring your careers and gaining your work rules and compensation goals.
While the current Pinnacle contract may be below current industry standards, it is light years ahead of the Colgan contract. You have zero protections. Only the word of Mr. Trenary. That and $2.00 will get you a grande coffee at Starbucks.
By working together you may be in a position to negotiate a contract that is much better than the typical "first contract". You may also be in a position to not only be bidding on vacancies in 1900s, Saabs and Q400, but also on 50 and 70 seat jets. If this is offered by the Pinnacle pilots, I don't see why you would not want to take advantage of this. Getting everyone on the same list would create a very powerful pilot group and make the Pinnacle/Colgan combination a real destination for pilots with a wide variety of equipment and domiciles.
Forget all the junk you hear on this board. The VAST majority of Pinnacle pilots want nothing more than to work with you to insure ALL our futures. Talk to the Colgan pilots who are putting this drive together who have met some of our leadership. We can all work together.
