I'm not saying you should have done this or that. All I'm saying is that many of the FO's you see as you're walking through the terminal already make as much as you ever will as a Captain.
That's great that you're one of the golden boys. That instant gratification is a wonderful thing. Perhaps there are other people out there who aren't?
Keep us posted how things are going in nine years. You've already essentially hit the wall at year four, selling back vacation. This is it. No future. I wish you good fortune with your upcoming raises.
I heard that if you're sick for more than a few days, VA will dump you onto the CA disability system. Please tell me I've been misinformed.
More non-union fear mongering from a person who has probably never been non-union. Guess what - management at non-union companies rarely make work rule changes and in my experience at two non-union companies they don't cut pay either. The only time I have ever taken pay cuts was at an ALPA carrier. Your arguments sound great in theory, but they do not match with reality.
In my time at Virgin we have had two pay raises and have been informed by the CEO that the BOD has approved another pay raise for this year. We all agree the pay is not where it needs to be and that the raises were not what we have hoped for in the past. But the point is you do not need a union to get pay raises and in fact often times a union contract serves as perfect ammunition for management to
NOT give raises in many years - refer to USAirways.
The only FOs out there making $120/hr are legacy FOs on widebodies. 16 year FOs at USAirways east on the A320 are topping out at $85/hr (and captains are topping out at $125/hr - less than VX captains). United FOs show a yr 12 rate of $94/hr on the A320, and captains are showing yr 12 at $137 on the A320. Even the mighty Delta has 12 yr fo's a $119/hr on the A320.
In real world math $85, $94 and $119 are less than $120. Don't know what math looks like in your world.
I am kind of curious as to how you argue he has "hit the wall". He has annual hourly raises coming, just like at any other carrier. And there is another rate increase coming this year. So how do you arrive at the logic that there is no more coming?
The simple facts are that while a union may be able to give you some bargaining power in some circumstances, in the end the only thing they can guarantee is to take 1.95% of your pay - they cannot guarantee anything else. Argue all you want but there are plenty of examples of to prove every point you make wrong. A union cannot guarantee job security, a union cannot guarantee pay raises, a union cannot guarantee against pay cuts, a union cannot guarantee seniority protection in a merger, a union cannot guarantee solidarity among the pilot group. I fully agree that a union may be needed at times. But your argument that we exist fully at the whim of management and that somehow being in a union means you are not shows extreme ignorance of the realities of the world in which we exist.
