After much thought and discussion with the wife I have decided to take another step forward in my aviation career. For my own privacy, I will not mention where I will be going but rest assured that I will soon enjoy the protections of a union and a legally enforceable contract. Talking with my fellow pilots the last several months, I DO NOT believe that ALPA will be voted in this time and I DO NOT want to be here to again witness what has occurred after the previous couple of failed drives. Without a legally binding contract, your pay/QOL will continue to slide. SAPA will continue to be a joke and the feel good emails from management will cease along with their willingness to work with the pilots. Now that I have that off my chest, I want to wish each and every one of you the very best (including the ALPA-haters Skynation, JEA, etc.). I will come back to the REGIONALS board to visit now and then but will spend most of my time on the MAJORS board. Later.
Skywest Pylot
Congratulations Skywest Pylot! I have recently left Skywest too. I'm very happy to be employed by an ALPA carrier and hope the rest of the Skywest pilots see the benefits of legal representation. When I started at Skywest I had intentions of spending my career there. However, after seeing the constant slide in QOL during record profits, coupled with managements lack of integrity I decided to pursue employment at a major. For those of you who continue to boast about how wonderful the Skywest management is, I would recommend stepping back from the company Kool-aid cooler and taking a look at...
-Don Douglas was fired for lying and Tony Fizer was promoted while lying.
-Breaking their agreement with the pilot group on a plethora of occasions.
-telling the pilot group that they can't afford to give them a raise and there is no way they will ever get retro pay...then turning around and offering ASA a significant raise, a huge improvement in work rules and 13.5 mil. in retro pay (signing bonus).
-suckering your group into flying 70 seat a/c for 50 seat rates by telling you that you won't regret it. Undercutting the rest of the industry for huge growth (which is why some of the pilots think that your management team is so great)
-constant "we don't need or want ALPA" proclamations from your SAPA reps. who should spend their time trying to fight for improvements and leave the anti-alpa campaign to management.
Skywest
was one of the best regional airlines and is now average heading toward MESA.
Skynation will be on soon telling us that pilots from other regionals have jumped ship to come to Skywest. Only for the fast upgrade my friend (these pilots would work for 25/hr for PIC time). Maybe an occasional replant that wants to live in domicile but it is primarily for a fast upgrade so they can move on to a union represented major/legacy.
Good luck Skywest pilots...If I were you I wouldn't hesitate to vote for ALPA!