Mesaba Ta From Their Roadshow

[Sam Fisher]

Re: Re: Re: Like g159av8tor said...it's all about the soft pay...

It's a mix of things...100% cancellation pay, better of actual or scheduled block, a couple months were "standups" so I actually flew very little but got paid well (we get half cuty on standups rather than just the monthly guarantee of 75 hrs), October had 2 weeks of vacation in it and with creative bidding I turned 2 weeks of work into almost 108 hours of pay. It comes from everywhere.

Good to see that someone out there recognizes the value of work rules and doesn't just focus on "pay rate." Nice job on knowing how to "work" the contract.

Sam

 

[XJXJXJ]

1st of all, when Comair negoiated their industry leading hourly pay rates, they were making $150,000,000 per year PROFIT and they were almost a major airline on their own. Additionaly, it was pre 9/11 when record contracts were being signed and all airlines were making tons of cash. Most of those contracts are now concessionary, UAL, Air Willy, Delta, ACA (Ind Air), NWA soon?, ect, ect, ect Mesaba pilots who were expecting Comair rates were fooling themselves and had expectations that were too high and unrealistic. Nice job for Comair to get those rates a few years ago but good luck the next time around. Last I heard you guys are about to take concessions. Nowdays, nice payscales WITHOUT Scope don't mean didley! We would be on strike now if XJ Mgmt's final offer was Comair + 10% with no scope. Just ask all former Orlando based Comair pilots how much of their hourly rate they would have given up for Mesaba's Industry Leading Scope.

 

[e120pilot]

XJXJXJ,

Your scope will do nothing to prevent what happened down in MCO. NWA has already done this to a lesser extent in MSP and DTW with PCL. You have nothing to protect the further outsourcing of your jobs to PCL....that is the biggest threat, not Big Sky.

 

[ACE]

Good luck Mesaba pilots. It looks like this is definitley a difficult decision. I agree that these are different times from when Comair was negotiating. However, remember you guys have fought too long and too hard for anything substandard. The rest of us are lucky we do not have to make this choice and should be behind you guys 100%, no matter the outcome. I give you guys credit for not adding to the downward spiral like Mesa and Skywest. Once again, GOOD LUCK!

 

[jarhead]

xjxjxj

To quote you speaking about Comair: "Last I heard you guys are about to take concessions".

Where in the world did you hear that bit of mis-information? The CMR MEC may have been approached about that many weeks ago, but they turned down the "carrot" of more aircraft for concessions" It was never even considered to be put to a vote by the membership. The current contract is firm until June of 2006.

 

[saabtrash]

One thing everyone should remember before they talk about how all of a certain pilot group ripped on skywest or anyone else for that matter is that you are talking about what you see on this board. If some XJ dude rips on skywest, that is by no means the entire pilot group. If some XJ guy rags on pinnacle or vice versa, that is not the entire pilot group. We are talking about maybe 5 guys from each pilot group that talk trash on this board...myself included sometimes. Just something to think about.

 

[surplus1]

You have some interesting perspectives. How you vote is up to you, but some of your claims are not exactly accurate.

1st of all, when Comair negoiated their industry leading hourly pay rates, they were making $150,000,000 per year PROFIT and they were almost a major airline on their own.

The profits were indeed high when Comair negotiations began and they stayed high up until Delta bought the Company. By the time the negotiations ended we were negotiating with Delta surrogates, not with Comair. Delta caused the strike, not Comair.

Additionaly, it was pre 9/11 when record contracts were being signed and all airlines were making tons of cash.

You got that right, but I have to ask .... which regionals have lost money because of 9/11? I thought all the regionals grew and were making a fortune because the took over mainline flying? Are you guys negotiating for Northwest or with Mesaba? If it's NWA, then I get your point.

Most of those contracts are now concessionary, UAL, Air Willy, Delta, ACA (Ind Air), NWA soon?, ect, ect, ect

Delta isn't concessionary. They've been asked but so far they haven't given in. Why did Air Willy and ACA (before Ind Air) have to take concessions? Did they think they could save United by doing that? If they all said NO, what was United going to do, cancel all of its feed? In my opinion, Air Willy, ACA and SKYW did not need to make concessions to keep their UAL contract. If they had all stood tall instead of caving in, UAL would have had to deal with them. Instead, all they've done is put you and other regionals into a corner.

I don't have a problem with the ACA guys doing something to launch Independence, but concessions for United (which they agreed to, but never actually took) were unnecessary.

Last I heard you guys are about to take concessions.

Comair has been asked, but so far the answer has been NO. We don't think we can buy growth by giving up our contract. However, one thing is certain, inferior agreements made by others are not helping us to hold the line.

Nowdays, nice payscales WITHOUT Scope don't mean didley! We would be on strike now if XJ Mgmt's final offer was Comair + 10% with no scope. Just ask all former Orlando based Comair pilots how much of their hourly rate they would have given up for Mesaba's Industry Leading Scope.

Payscales without Scope have never been worth much of anything. I'm one of those former MCO based Comair pilots, so I'll answer the question. I'm glad you got what you did in Scope, but don't call it industry leading. Your new Scope does nothing, zero, to protect you from what happened to us at MCO.

Your new scope protects you aginst Big Sky and against MAIR, but it does NOT protect you agains PCL or any other subcontractor that NWA might decide to use. If NWA wants to replace you in DTW tomorrow with CHQ or MES or TSA, there is nothing in your Scope that prevents them from doing that. Nothing, zip.

Don't tell your fellow pilots that your new Scope protects you from what happened to Comair in MCO, because it does not. The lowest bidder can still replace you with NWA just as readily as it could before. If that's what you call "industry leading" .... somebody has been blowing a lot of smoke your way.

I wish you the best, but the truth is your Scope does nothing to prevent whipsaw. Forget Big Sky, all NWA has to do is accept a low bid from Mesa to replace you and you and your Scope will both be history, notwithstanding the hype from ALPA's President.

Nothing against you, that's just the way it is.