SkyWest Announcement is in...

[vtech]

Lyin' BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!

Back in 1999 during the last ALPA drive, they had less than 1000 pilots at SkyWest. They said they'd grow and look what happened.

Today, they've only got 2800+ pilots.

Lyin' BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[120% Torque]

Lyin' BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!

Back in 1999 during the last ALPA drive, they had less than 1000 pilots at SkyWest. They said they'd grow and look what happened.

Today, they've only got 2800+ pilots.

Lyin' BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And skywest pilots work more now than they ever did before. The RJ's they fly now replaced the boeing jobs they might have had at much higher wages. The work rules have been and continue being gutted. With the current system of compensation a captain will be making less in 18 years than he is today in real dollars. Yeah it was a real windfall for the pilots alright. But hey your upgrade came six months sooner and you got to fly a 90 seat jet for 50 seat wages. SCORE!!!

 

[FlySacto]

And skywest pilots work more now than they ever did before. The RJ's they fly now replaced the boeing jobs they might have had at much higher wages. The work rules have been and continue being gutted. With the current system of compensation a captain will be making less in 18 years than he is today in real dollars. Yeah it was a real windfall for the pilots alright. But hey your upgrade came six months sooner and you got to fly a 90 seat jet for 50 seat wages. SCORE!!!

BINGO! You sir are Ale worthy. All this reality demands a pitcher of your choice on me.

 

[WWEfan]

When I got hired at ASA we were already union with about 700 pilots. Today we have ~1,700. Don't let management tell you that a union will cause growth to stop.

 

[PCL_128]

When I got hired at Pinnacle, I was seniority number 535, and PCL had already been ALPA for years. Now, Pinnacle has just under 1400 pilots. Like WWEfan said, growth has nothing to do with whether you have a union or not. Never believe management when they tell you that having a union on property will stunt growth.

 

[120% Torque]

BINGO! You sir are Ale worthy. All this reality demands a pitcher of your choice on me.

Thanks. Can we take the Stinson up too? Thats a slow but steady flyin bird

 

[Vegaspilot99]

And skywest pilots work more now than they ever did before. The RJ's they fly now replaced the boeing jobs they might have had at much higher wages. The work rules have been and continue being gutted. With the current system of compensation a captain will be making less in 18 years than he is today in real dollars. Yeah it was a real windfall for the pilots alright. But hey your upgrade came six months sooner and you got to fly a 90 seat jet for 50 seat wages. SCORE!!!

Amen!! I really hope ALPA gets voted in.

 

[OO pilot]

Who cares if there are families in small bases with children who have to transplant the entire family so that they can transition to the jet.

Yeah, who cares about all the West Coast bases...You forgot that eveyone in the small bases should be glad to move to fly a shiny jet!!! (like HelloNewman).
SGU can't even put CALI on a map, why would they care. But as soon as ASA opens a SLC base, Jerry buys the all thing to protect the Holly land...

 

[120% Torque]

Originally Posted by vtech
Lyin' BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!

Back in 1999 during the last ALPA drive, they had less than 1000 pilots at SkyWest. They said they'd grow and look what happened.

Today, they've only got 2800+ pilots.

Lyin' BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To further illustrate my point:

There was an island in the caribbean, St. Tropic. , It had one direct flight from Miami, served by a big airline, Giant Airlines on their B-700. That big airline contracted out feeder flights to three different operators, who flew Cessna 172’s from St. Tropic to other small islands. Operator A flew to island 1, Operator B flew to island 2, and Operator C flew to island 3. Each feeder airline had one plane and one round trip route. Each Cessna had two pilots, a captain and a safety pilot. All of the pilots were paid decent, and when they got enough captain experience, they could apply for Giant Airlines. Each airline kept to itself and provided a good job for their pilots.

The island was small, and had few pilots. Being a pilot was a worthy career aspiration, but it took time, hard work and skill. But it paid well, and was worth it.

One day, the owner of Operator A, wanting revenue growth, told his pilots that if they took a pay cut of $2 an hour, they might be able to take the flying from operator B, and add a new plane to the fleet to fly that route. This new plane would have a full autopilot, a GPS, shiny new instruments and a sweet paint job. This would also require hiring 2 more pilots, and upgrading the current safety pilot to captain of the new plane. The pilots said sure, seeing that there would be more movement and a new plane.

Well, Operator A got the contract for operator B’s flying due to being cheaper, and put those pilots out of jobs (They ended up getting hired by operator A at first year safety pilot pay).

Now Operator C, seeing that they were probably next to lose their route to Operator A, went to their 2 pilots and asked for a $4 pay cut in order to keep their route and even take over the more routes. This also had the added benefits of quicker upgrades and shiny new planes. The pilots voted yes. Sure enough, Operator C took over the route Operator A had previously stolen from Operator B. The only problem was that Operator C couldn’t find any qualified pilots to fly for their low pay rates. So, they started a flight school, where young kids on the island would pay to learn how to fly, and then in a short period of time would get a job with their airline. It was easy recruiting these kids, after all, flying was so much fun. Plus, with all the new advanced avionics, it was so easy to fly.

Operator A continued the trend, by cutting their pay in the name of growth to further undercut Operator C. They also started their own flight school to find pilots willing to fly for cheap.

The big airline loved this, after all, they were struggling enough to turn a profit and this just gave them cheaper feed.

Yes, pay was going down fast for feeder pilots on the island, but it was all in the name of getting experience and moving on to the big airlines. In fact, the lowest cost feeder airline at the time, due to expansion and labor cost cuts, had enough money to purchase larger planes, large enough planes to replace the B-700 Giant Airlines was flying to the island. They were called E-700’s. The pilots and the planes were cheaper than the B-700 cost per seat mile. So for a small pay raise, these feeder pilots could fly big, shiny, cool planes. Giant Airlines loved this, as they could get rid of some of their high paid pilots and planes and used these feeder airlines to do some their previous flying.

Well, in the world of the big airlines, their fleets were shrinking, the feeder airlines were growing like crazy. The only big airlines that were doing well and hiring were those who had made drastic cost cuts, particularly to labor costs. One such airline was Cheap Air, they paid $10 less per hour than the other giant airlines, but they were expanding and had nice shiny big jets.

Back in the land of the feeder airlines, all that the pilots could dream about was flying for Cheap Air someday......