Both.
Seriously though, back in '01 the company was just starting to receive a large number of jets but the training program was all screwed up and the failure rate was somewhere between 60-70% for Saab CA to CRJ CA. The course was built by Flight Safety for guys who had already flown a jet and did not give ANY basic jet performance and handling characteristic instruction. So they hired a bunch of street Captains, I thnk around 30 or so of us, promising the street captain hirings would continue and we'd be off reserve in 90 days. Almost all of us were furloughed from cargo ops like Kitty Hawk, Express One, Emery, Polar, etc and had plenty of jet time so the transition was relatively painless despite the negativity of the training department ("Memorize these or you'll be fired!" - I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the picture).
That was May, June, and July... then September of '01 came and we all found ourselves furloughed in October. Then back by the end of December but VERY slow hiring, plus they fixed their training problem so upgrades started coming from within again, as they should anyway... So everyone upgrading was WAY senior to us, and we have spent three years on reserve, albeit at Captain pay so we can pay the bills, but we had no life outside of PCL during this period (two days off when you live out of base is barely enough time to keep the wife from divorcing your *ss); it's the price we paid to be able to come into the airline straight into the left seat of the jet and most of us have just sucked it up with a minimum of whining... OK, I whine more than some, but not more than all!
As far as preparing for a strike goes, I haven't been saving for Mesaba's strike, I've been saving for OURS. We're starting negotiations in three months and I've been saving the last year and a half. If things go well, I'll simply have a nice chunk to help pay off the car and a strike fund won't be necessary. But I always prepare for the worst while I'm still hoping for the best, so my Strike Fund by this time next year will be almost three month's salary (after tax). I'm not leaving myself ANY reason to vote for a contract that doesn't put us in the top 3 of the regional carriers for pay, days off, retirement and other QOL issues! If our MEC brings us something less than that I'm likely to set it on fire right there in the roadshow! H*ll, they might be lynched on the spot...
