auspac said:
How the hell do you know that? Did you include our 5-6% (past performance does not guarantee future results) bonus and subtract your union dues? From airlinepilotpay.com - Express jet 5 yr $66.40 Skywest $65.25 add about $3.25 an hour to that for a 5% bonus. You know I don't give a crap what you make - i just know I don't make enough.
Current Skywest 6th year Captain = $65.25/hour
Holt makes the assertion that our 2006 rates get us to Skywest rates. That is patently false. Our December 1,
2004 rates hurdled us ahead of Skywest to $66.40. However, in 11 days we will get another 2.5% increase to $68.06 for 6th year captains. So in 11 days we will be roughly 4.3% ahead of Skywest pilots for that longevity step in the left seat on hard pay rates alone. And in 12 months and 11 days, a 6th year captain will be at $69.76/hour, which would be roughly 6.9% ahead of a Skywest pilot. Of course, this doesn't factor in the 1.2% bump Skywest wants to give its pilots.
You mentioned Skywest's performance bonus. However, Skywest isn't the only company to have profit sharing. ExpressJet pays out 10% of its pre-tax net income (profit) to its employees, which includes the pilots. Historically that has average around 8% of one's W-2. However, this past summer XJT modified the CPA with CAL to reduce our operating margin and as a result, one can expect out profit sharing to pay out less than in years past...but it is designed to give a minimum of 5% each year to each employee on top of his W-2.
Let's talk about 401k matching...which is really just an extension of one's hourly rates (deferred compensation), right? That 6th year Skywest Captain would receive 4% from the company if he puts in 4% and subsequently will also receive a little more since the company puts in 5% of its profit into the 401k plan. Obviously how much that 6th year captain would receive is dependent upon how many employees are eligible as well as what the company's pre-tax net income is.
The same 6th year XJT Captain would receive 4% for free and another 5% if he puts in 5% for a total of 9% (on top of hourly pay rates that are already 4.3% higher than a Skywest pilot's).
Holt also asserts that Skywest's work rules are the best in our segment of the industry...
Vacation...I'll be honest - all I know about Skywest's vacation is that it is going to hinge on how PBS works...which means no trip conflicts with a vacation period. A pilot at XJT, however, can touch 2 4-day trips up against his 7 day vacation period and receive up to 24 days off in a row (and still be protected to his min pay guarantee of 75 hours). Can a Skywest pilot do that?
Days off? At XJT, 12 days off minimum for lineholders and reserves get 12 days off 5 months of the year and 11 in the other 7 months.
Scope? Nevermind.
1.95% for union dues? I call it cheap insurance for a variety of possible issues. No need to get into that discussion right now however.
I could go on but hopefully this paints a more accurate picture of where XJT stands in relation to Skywest...re: BH's comments as well as yours above. I do agree with your last statement however. It is always that way, isn't it?
-Neal
