Our jobs and the entire airline industry is about to implode............

[tomgoodman]

They know what they're doing

Maybe the unions held a gun to their head....It was either give in or a strike....Pensions and health care have been the topic that nobody really wants to address.

Social Security, Medicare, and medical/retirement costs are not sustainable due to the changing demographics and overly optimistic actuarial assumptions....

The problem remains on how to deal with people who were made promises that were never realistic in the first place.

Leaving aside Frank Borman's exculpatory "gun" metaphor, I agree with you. Threatening a strike is what unions are supposed to do, or else contract negotiations become merely an exchange of opinions. But demographics don't change greatly during the term of a single CBA. It serves no good purpose for management or labor officials to sign an agreement which they know they cannot live up to, or which they simply have no intention of living up to. They do it to defer problems for others to solve, meanwhile keeping their executive jobs a while longer.

 

[Lebowski]

It's about establishing a standard that is the minimum. If it is a true union, then why not say that "X" is the minimum per hour (with everything considered) to be the minimum before your contract is a "professional" pilot contract. ALPA should work to make the "bennies" of professional airline pilots be reserved for professionals. If you want to start up an airline at below professional rates, then know going in that you won't get ALPA qualified pilots so all you will be able to hire is the local misfits who are willing to work below that rate. Not a viable operation to expand if you can't use your competition to commute into the job.

Also, if I were ALPA president, doesn't he get to sign each contract, well I wouldn't be worried about losing a group, and I would refuse to sign any contract that was below the minimum standards in pay and workrules.

Lastly, if an ALPA carrier went chapter 11 or furloughed, those junior "ALPA" pilots should know that they would be the first to be hired for any hiring ALPA carrier, perhaps even with longevity credit for previous ALPA experience. I know everyone thinks this is pie in the sky, but ALPA would be better served by increasing the benefits of membership and making it something to strive for and stop worrying about bringing the twobit operations under the tent. I assure you that Colgan could not operate without access to the jumpseat, look at the two that recently crashed the plane, neither lived in the same timezone as their base.

Maybe it's time to homoginize the professional pilot ranks so that being a professional 121 pilot is a fixed cost and the only thing management has to compete on is other labor, customer service and marketing strategies. Pilots love to be the "highest paid" when times are good but hate the furloughs when things slow down.
Luv

Outstanding post. I guess I say this because I agree 100%.

The alternative is that we are all going to be whipsawed by RAH pilots flying EMB190s for 30-something an hour--unless a new professional standard is set. Who else can do this but ALPA?

I see no reason why ALPA cannot and should not adopt the policy you suggest--and make it reciprocal with SWAPA, APA, or even non-union carriers who adhere to the standard.

It would be FAR more effective than the current piecemeal approach to reinstate professional wages. It's neither pie in the sky nor ridiculously impractical (like a national list would be). You could simply enact an "airline pilot minimum wage" based on 100-110 seats, 111-120 seats, etc.

In case no one has noticed, the line between "regional" and "major" has blurred. RAH flies 190s for crap pay and is putting major wages at risk through lousy comps. Another example: SkyWest Inc.'s combined emplanements (that is, SkyWest plus ASA) make them the seventh largest carrier in the U.S. (just after Continental).

The writing is on the wall. We should either establish a national payscale that makes pilots a fixed cost, or forever be subject to being undercut by "regionals."

 

[poydras]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lax-colony20-2009jul20,0,6714758,full.story


Absolutely depressing....................

 

[Scope out RJ's]

crj567 is a knob!

Hmmmmm...... Where did you see these guys at work?

He probably saw them when he was servicing their lav.

I've been fortunate enough to see AeroMexico and Mexicana crews coming through training in Miami on the 'Bus. They were top notch. They had it together (they came in to training prepared, they had great attitudes -- and skills--, and they were ready to learn).

Don't confuse crj567 with facts. The fact that he wears a headset at work to take burger orders makes him think he's a pilot.

I have also seen waaaaaay too many RJ crews that I wouldn't let walk my dog, let alone drive a plane I was riding in the back of.

And that sums it up about crj567!

I would hands down get on a Latin American mainline carrier (limited to Avianca -- the best guys I've ever seen go through training..., Aero Mexico, Mexicana, or LAN) before I felt comfortable on an RJ tooling around the mountains.

Shhhhhh! crj567 can't respond. His boss at Wendy's is yelling at him for playing on the work computer again.

(And yes, I know the majority of Regional pilots are safe, mature, etc. In fact, I would even say the VAST majority of Regional guys are fine. The problem is, we all know the few guys that slipped through the cracks at a Regional. The nice thing about the Southern carriers you mentioned is that they don't slip through the cracks there... they're shown the door and they go fly for a second tier carrier.).

Only I bet they don't go to work for Wendy's like crj567!

Anyways, you're entitled to your opinions (no matter how wrong they are), but as for me, until the regionals find a way to get rid of the pilots that have no business being in a cockpit (at all), I'll stick with the mainline carriers...

Well said!

 

[pilotyip]

A source of tax revenue

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lax-colony20-2009jul20,0,6714758,full.story


Absolutely depressing....................

Now that it is public knowledge, someone will come with an idea to tax it, to save the State of California