Mesaba & Pinnacle Screwed Again

[avrodriverj85]

Well fellas, if the recent NWA TA' gets ratified, the pilots of XJ & 9E will be taking it in the rear again. There is a provision in the TA, allowing NWA to bring a 3rd Airlink on property! Maximum of 40 - 50 seat CRJ's and an unlimited amount of CRJ's with less than 50 seats. (Can anyone say "MESA?")

I'd like to thank ALPA and our current MEC Chairman - Tom Wychor and his lynchpin mob, for once again stabbing us in the back. We know that your personal interests and political careers within ALPA are far more important than the livelihood and security of the pilots and their families, you claim to represent.

 

[Catbird]

It's the ALPA Rump Humper Club. Bring in the new meat, fatten them up, fit the new kneepads, and have them serviced at the Bath House. Worthless, Beebe,and the other Fatcats at National have taken the corruption to new levels. A few Lawsuits are breaking the surface of the crimes. Time will tell if anything of substance will be achieved. It's hard for a ALPA National Junky to put away the Expense Account and Flight Pay Loss Crack Pipe. While the working pilots take pay cuts and recieve the knife in the back from the "brothers" at NWA,DALPA, and the poor, poor #asturds at Airways, the Czars at National jack the pay and retirement benifits through the ceiling. The new Alpa Mantra- Let them eat $hit, Mesa will contract the work and maintain the Goodies at the Mainline contract.

 

[mmmdonut]

It aint gonna be Mesa.. but there are a few EMB-135 operators out there...............

 

[storminpilot]

Well fellas, if the recent NWA TA' gets ratified, the pilots of XJ & 9E will be taking it in the rear again. There is a provision in the TA, allowing NWA to bring a 3rd Airlink on property! Maximum of 40 - 50 seat CRJ's and an unlimited amount of CRJ's with less than 50 seats. (Can anyone say "MESA?").

Rumor has it that Skywest is the new Airlink.

I'd like to thank ALPA and our current MEC Chairman - Tom Wychor and his lynchpin mob, for once again stabbing us in the back. We know that your personal interests and political careers within ALPA are far more important than the livelihood and security of the pilots and their families, you claim to represent.

Mesaba's MEC has nothing to do with this, it is the NWA MEC who put "personal interests and political careers" ahead of your family.

Try this place if you feel neglected.

http://www.rjdefense.com/

 

[avrodriverj85]

Yeah, in a technical sense it's true Wee-chor had nothing to do with the NWA TA', but that guy is the lapdog of Woerthless and McClain over at NWA. All last year during our contract negotiations he ran around spewing the ALPA agenda, which at the time was that we were all a "family", NWA pilots were our brothers and sisters and we had to protect each other. McClain even drafted a resolution proclaiming that XJ & 9E were to be the only Airlinks in the NWA "Red Tail" family to do the flying. We pushed hard for a scope clause that is worthless today. Didn't cost the company or ALPA a dime, but it cost us everything. Yes, we voted for it, but only after the Wychor and his mutts scared the pilot group into thinking the company would close if we didnt sign.

Can you say conflict of interest? Yeah, our ALPA attorney that represents us; her husband is the ALPA attorney for the NWA pilot group. So, you can't tell me that there is not a lot of collusion going on around here, while we carry the water bucket.

 

[~~~^~~~]

Is this ALPA's BRAND SCOPE we have been hearing so much about?

and boys the Delta pilots have been watching the NWA deal and looking for leadership....

So jets for jobs has been replaced with, lets just force the jets on to another property and take all the jobs.... and we will underbid the Regional guys to get them.

ALPA - fighting for pole position on the race to the bottom.

 

[LegacyDriver]

Don't forget the 44-Seat EMB-140. CHQ has options on those.

 

[DetoXJ]

Just another NWA ploy to scare the Airlinks. I think XJ & NWA have spent too much $$ ramping up Mesaba for growth just to send CRJ's elsewhere. No guarantees but we shall see. I'd put my $$ on XJ to get the next batch.

P.S. T.W. had NOTHING to do with NWA ALPA selling out on brand/family scope.

 

[Mel Sharples]

P.S. T.W. had NOTHING to do with NWA ALPA selling out on brand/family scope.

That may be true, but what bugs the #$%@ out of me is that he hasn't exactly been beating the pulpit against it. When it comes to a 3rd Airlink or a Jets-for-Jobs proposal, he keeps saying "let's wait and see."

How about "hell no will ANYONE come in senior to one of our pilots"? How about, "Mr. McClain, you need to make sure a 3rd Airlink doesn't come in here"?

I don't think my fellow XJers are mad at Wychor for what he has done, but they are very disappointed for what he hasn't done.



.

 

[avrodriverj85]

Just another NWA ploy to scare the Airlinks. I think XJ & NWA have spent too much $$ ramping up Mesaba for growth just to send CRJ's elsewhere. No guarantees but we shall see. I'd put my $$ on XJ to get the next batch.

Oh yeah? Another ploy huh? Well you must really have your neck in the sand or are a Wychor Kool-Aid drinker, because XJ is screwed. Tell me what things are being done to ramp us up for the growth. Look around you. Oil is $55 a barrel. Indy Air is going bankrupt. Delta, AA, UAL, and USAIR are in the toilet and you think NWA and Steenland are going to follow that path and give us CRJ's?

You really need to get educated and stop believing everything ALPA is telling you.

P.S. T.W. had NOTHING to do with NWA ALPA selling out on brand/family scope.

Yeah, I agree.. but with all the close relationships he says we have with NWA and Mark McClain, he certainly isn't doing anything to help us. Unless of course it's in his best political interest - like running for re-election for EVP, or sitting in a $400 a night suite down at the BOD meeting, which by the way are being paid for with YOUR dues money.

His political future is his only concern - NOT OURS !!

 

[Monster Buck]

Avro driver, I also work for XJ, and I assume you have read the actual TA yourself since you seem very mad. I have not but I have read a few news articles on the subject. Outside actually reading the TA the third hand news on the specifics are very muddy at best. I hope your fears are wrong, if not, I will be as dissapointed as you. One breath of hope (maybe not much) after the TA went out, Mesaba doubled its next class size and has three times the class size we were supposed to have in a month for December. If XJ and NWA are in bed together as much as I think, then I would HOPE that this was for a good reason. Those new hires would be coming on with our slowest months of the year. ??

 

[avrodriverj85]

Yeah, I have seen it. Wish I could get a copy of it to post here, because our MEC probably isnt going to let us read it, much less tell the truth on what it really contains. We'll pull up one day and see a Mesa or Freedumb CRJ sitting at the gate in Detroit, with a red tail, and that will be that.

 

[Av8rPHX]

Do you mean a Freedom B1900?

 

[Monster Buck]

Avro driver, well I quess we will see. We can't do anything to stop NWA from doing what they wish. But I don't know one single airline out there that isn't constantly being threatened to be outsourced. I fight the best I can to stop it, but it hasn't happened yet and to tell you the truth I still bet we will see some new 50 seaters. Probably not a big deal to an Avro CA but it looks good to this seventh year Saab driver.

 

[sf3boy]

Those new hires are also being told in class to expect an eight year upgrade, or at least they were a month or two ago. Only 2.5 years to go and I'll be an 8 year FO myself. We'll see how the TA plays out. I myself would like to keep the bigger planes at the majors (regionals tend to pay less for the same job) than have them come to XJ anyway. If indeed a third airlink is invented, maybe some of the jumpseat forms will be signed by XJ pilots with "MEC lied, no ride."

 

[Monster Buck]

sf3boy,

I wouldn't doubt what they are being told in class. But company Kool-aid goes a very very long way with a new hire. I was only looking at what they are doing , not what they are saying. Also, look at the reverse, TA for mainline fresh on the paper and they tell our new hires we are getting new planes?? Not that they wouldn't, but I believe that would be riskier for them. Hope for the best.

 

[dondk]

.02 for whatever it is worth...


In July I sat in on a N/H presentation.. The union was telling these dudes 5+ years to upgrade...

In September during upgrade.. the class next door had a "street captain" (in a N/H class) and he is currently doing OE right now.

I agree something is up, especially if XJ has increased class sizes.. Over at the other 'link.. The school house is still full with 50 new FO's/month for the remainder of the year. As for Captain's.. who knows.. the last vacancy alluded that it may be over for CA upgrades for the year. As for growth, we may be coming to an end and we are still 20 planes from the end of the order.

Personally, I hope XJ gets the RJ's.. it will give us 9E guys an argument for our negotiations. As for another entity into our the airlink's. I hope not, because we all know we will get screwed and badly at that.

Save those J/S forms for the "new" airlink.. remember those dudes will have to get to work one way or the other and unless the new TA really opens up the scope, those 50 seaters (new airlink) must be flown out of the hubs...

 

[Mel Sharples]

I agree that something may very well be up, and I also wouldn't be shocked if we saw a 3rd Airlink pop up.

My big beef is with ALPA both at XJ and NWA. I don't know what the 9E ALPA guys are saying (probably more worried about the contract which is understandable) but the XJ MEC is not exactly shouting down a 3rd Airlink or jets-for-jobs.

I have heard some of our ALPA guys say, "It's up to Northwest. We just have to wait and see." While that may be true, how about a statement of, "We hope the NWA MEC remembers that we are one, big (disfunctional) family and we are united strongly against new CRJ's going anywhere except Pinnacle or Mesaba. We also would like to help our furloughed brothers at NWA, but we will not sacrafice the seniority of even one of our pilots to give one of theirs super-seniority."

All we get from ALPA lately is rhetoric. I think most of the pilots are starting to see why you can't have one person play two hands of poker at the same time and expect everything to work out okay.

ALPA has done some good things for XJ but right now they are allowing us to be bullied without taking a stand. We better all hope that this doesn't go the way it is looking or soon will have new hire fo's reading checklists to furloughed NWA guys with super-seniority in a shiny new 70-seater.

My question for ALPA: If Mesaba and/or Pinnacle gets new jets but they are flown by NWA pilots, who REALLY benefits?

I have yet to hear a good answer to that.



.

 

[dondk]

Our MEC has not said anything (yet). We have enough issue's with the accident, re-election/elections, and the contract. The 70 seater's coming to 9E is just a dream, we all know it and our MEC has basically stated not to even consider it. The best offer was the flow through and I doubt our MEC will sign on for it.

I have heard there is a genuine concern as the higher up's at 9E's managment have something brewing and it is significant. I have heard shake up's (or downs), and most of us know our mgmt has shopped around for financing for thier own fleet of CRJ's.

 

[The5th]

Did ya'll forget Big Sky Airlines? That's my bet on who's to be the third airlink, if any.