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Ode to a scab

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i agree,all these guys are always railing on guys willing to work for "nothing"but you have to to get started, i know i did.
 
Dinger said:
IT'S NOT ABOUT LABOR RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.....IT'S ABOUT SOLIDARITY AS A PILOT GROUP. If you are picketing, obviously the labor relations and collective bargaining didn't do squat.

We try and stick together to get a fair shake in this industry but some selfish, spineless lizards undermine it. It allows management to take advantage of us. The strength of a pilot group is only as strong as its weakest link.

How many times have you "seen" on this board people complaining about pilots willing to fly jets for darn near free, all the while they complain about the industry wages taking a nose dive because of it. It is a somewhat similar situation.

As long as there a SCABS and people willing to whore themselves out as a professional pilot flying 70 seaters for 24k/year we will never, ever, ever have any true strength at the table.

Unfortuneatley, there will always be the ones willing to sell out the profession..........it is here to stay, that is why our jobs don't have the "shine" to them that they used to.

So, off to work I go.

Um... Lets keep things real please.

The "as long as there a SCABS and people willing to whore themselves out as a professional pilot flying 70 seaters for 24k/year" line particularly grinds my gear. I think that you need reminded that if it weren't for the mainline unions trading away regional jet flying to the connection/regional's we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. For that we have ALPA to thank. I said this years ago when Comair was getting their first RJ's. Jet flying should have been mainline flying, PERIOD.

They used this as a bargaining chip for something else they thought was more important to them at the time and their short-sightedness basically hosed us all. Now people like you want to come along and bash these kids for doing what every other upcoming pilot has done in the past, go to work at a regional. The salary they fly for (24k/yr.) is pretty much the same as it was (adjusted for inflation) when this whole mess first started. It's not their fault that the mainline union goofs gave them the RJ's to fly. This essentially shifted the burden of getting a fair wage for flying them to the regional unions, who by the way had the added problem of being represented by the same people (ALPA) who were busy doing other brilliant moves. ALPA (and other mainline carriers) just sent them the scraps that at one point they were too good to fly.

And here we are now... All you Johny-come-lately's come along and bash the regional pilots for what should have been prevented had the unions done their jobs to begin with. So please sir, spare me.
 
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H25b,
You must be a carpenter because you totally nailed that one! RJ's should be at mainline carriers, ALPA's mainline MEC's dropped the ball on that one.
 
I know that I havent forgotten where I've come from...but the pay now isn't much more than it was 'where I come from'. It's definitely NOT what the brochure said.

What is the 'future' of aviation? Is there a bottom to the payscale? Are the Airlines destined to operate like the Cruise ship business, with the aircraft registered in Iberia and crewed by the cheapest foreign labor possible? Staffed by one meagerly paid third world Captain and F.O.? If the erosion of pay/benefits doesn't stop, this is where we are headed.

There are many more professions out there that pay better, so I ponder, why would one of my kids ever aspire to be an "Airline" pilot? Its definitely not the pay.

RJ's. I hear a lot of excitement "we are getting 12 RJ's a month", or "we fly our RJ from XYZ to CUN/SJU/etc." That is not necessarily a good thing. The more RJ's flying around means LESS seats for you at a Major. Is a pilots goal to be trapped in an RJ job forever making 80K-100K? Most guys wont leave at that point anyway, to start a a major for 35K.

It is my belief the the RJ's should be in-house, and as a new hire you would start on the RJ, Dash, ATR, etc. and not have to be "rehired" at the bottom of another list, unless of course you choose to do so. Working your way from RJ F.O. to 777 Captain for one company.

Later.
 
h25b;

A superb post. I now go into the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror. I practice my smile while I plagarize your post as my next response to the inevitable flack I sometimes get while jumpseating. The flack normally ceases when I flash my ALPA card that says furloughed on it, but I like your response better. Well said.
 
[/QUOTE]Not that I agree with crossing a picket line, but getting heaven and hell somehow involved with labor relations and collective bargaining is taking things a bit far.
When I first saw the Ode to a SCAB, I also thought that it was a bit extreme to include the Heaven and Hell points of view, but I think the author was expressing the fact that a SCAB deserves no respect. NONE! A scab is a worthless, spinless being who cares only about himself. He is basically a thief who is accepting personal gain at the cost of others who deserve it. I repeat, HE DESERVES NO RESPECT!

A young guy who is busting his a$$ as a flight instructor, commuter pilot or charter pilot for low wages in the hope of making a major deserves respect. He/she is working hard at each rung of the ladder hoping to make it to the top. The SCAB has found a way to climb the ladder while skipping steps others who have pride and respect in themselves must take.

Wages as flight instructors, charter pilots and commuter pilots will always be lower than the majors, but that doesn't mean that these pilots shouldn't fight for every nickle they can get.
 
SWPA Pilot said:
When I first saw the Ode to a SCAB, I also thought that it was a bit extreme to include the Heaven and Hell points of view, but I think the author was expressing the fact that a SCAB deserves no respect. NONE! A scab is a worthless, spinless being who cares only about himself. He is basically a thief who is accepting personal gain at the cost of others who deserve it. I repeat, HE DESERVES NO RESPECT!

A young guy who is busting his a$$ as a flight instructor, commuter pilot or charter pilot for low wages in the hope of making a major deserves respect. He/she is working hard at each rung of the ladder hoping to make it to the top. The SCAB has found a way to climb the ladder while skipping steps others who have pride and respect in themselves must take.

Wages as flight instructors, charter pilots and commuter pilots will always be lower than the majors, but that doesn't mean that these pilots shouldn't fight for every nickle they can get.

I don't disagree with that at all... I just get really p*ssed when all of these idiots come along and start bashing the regional guys for flying RJ's and suggesting that they are bringing down the profession. They didn't get us in to this mess, ALPA did. Care to try and imagine where we would be now had they refused to allow jet flying by the regionals ??? Food for thought.
 
Well............I agree. In re-reading my post, I see that I was way off base regarding the low pay RJ jobs. I guess I could try and wittingly write my way out of this one, but I just don't have the energy or time.

So I go before "the board" and repent. I have duly noted that rambling on and tying unrelated topics together on issues won't get you invited to any flightinfo Christmas parties.

Hey, well gotta go. The timer just went off, time for a nice Crow sandwich with a big ol' slice of humble pie.

Apologies to all offended.
 

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