Regional Airlines taking pay cuts?

[stillaboo]

Watching the fostering of an economic turnaround plus seeing that Goldman believes the airline I work on behalf will be profitable this quarter . . . I will pass on your race to the bottom theory.

Mine's one of the darlings of 'The Street', and it's stock has almost trippled in value since March. Goldman upgraded it to 'in-line' April 1st. Since then, it's up 76%. In-line my a$$! Show's how much Goldman knows.
The race to the bottom isn't my theory, it's the board's theory. I think it's a market of supply and demand. There's a huge supply for airline pilot jobs, and negative demand. Downward pressure on wages is obvious. And since most pilots on this board seem to believe that the reason their group didn't get the wage they desired is b/c another group didn't get the wage they should have gotten, the cycle will continue until some group steps up to the plate and refuses to take a pay cut, and then refuses to work for less than a substatial raise from their current 'un-acceptable' wage. CMR recently did this. CHQ is at least feigning to be trying the same thing. Everyone else is nowhere to be found.

BTW, my pilot group has not taken a pay cut of any sort since 9-11 and the company has not even considered this as an option during our current contract talks. Watch your generalizations, they make you look uninformed and ignorant... [/B]

So what? Mine got a raise after 9/11, improvements in every section of the contract but one, which stayed the same.

Mine also is the subject of more flames on this board of 'informed and un-ignorant' pilots than all others combined. Go figure.

This forum is an easy way for pilots to vent their frustrations. There is education going on too, but I just think it's totally hipocracy when regional pilots say that they aren't paid enough to fly airplanes, and then promptly blame another group of pilots for their problems. Each pilot works under a contract their group voted for. Don't try to blame someone else for the results of YOUR vote. If you aren't paid enough, then stop dragging the wage down and refuse to work for less than what you deserve. All the ignoramouses at your company vote for concessions to an already pitiful wage - well, quit and go work somewhere where the pilots respect themselves. By staying in your job, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

I stand by my statement:
The facts speak for themselves: every non-LCC mainline and major regional has either taken a cut (Wisky, ACA, etc), signed a contract that doesn't raise their rates enough (SKYW, Mesa), or is facing heavy pressure to do so (CHQ, CMR). If everyone on this board weren't all talk, this wouldn't be happening.

Do we really believe that the 'educated and informed' pilots on this board are the 20-30% of the group that's always voting against concessions?

Maybe I'm wrong. Just trying to further the discussion.

-Boo!