Skywest, It's time to unify

[maddog805]

Brain. What up?

 

[ArcticFlier]

'Sup???

Brain. What up?

How's the Moosehead treatin' ya? I was in MEM a few weeks ago. Had a Big Ass Beer (okay....a couple), a shot of Crown, and wrecked the flight attendant. How's that?

Need to get down to the Hard Rock and see if Shawn is still running the place. Keep that bar tab down.


AF

 

[Rick James]

Bring ALPA on NOW! I've called and asked to help the next drive, no response yet. Maybe it's because I've got a bit of a hot head???

 

[SkyWstman]

ALPA is really our best bet. No sense in trying to re-create the wheel. You gotta have teeth (strike fund) and backbone (unity). If you have true unity in the ranks you can do anything. Comair was a great example. I wish the pilot group at Skywest could see that they are totaly disrepected by management. The reason they walk all over us is because they can. They don't know who they hired. It's time we show them that they hired professional airline pilots and that we will have a say concerning our future.

 

[Truckdriver]

ALPA is really our best bet. No sense in trying to re-create the wheel.

Your right on here. If you set up an in-house union, it may take you years to get things set up to run in your favor. APA and SWAPA have had years to get things going right and they both work fine. When your in a bind, like it seems SKYW pilots are, the last thing you want to do is figure out how to set up a union. You would be much better off to bring in ALPA and use all of their resources to get things done right the first time. I worked for a few years under the IACP at XJT and things have been much better with ALPA, and the IACP had been running for awhile. I'll step out on a limb and say that ALL 2600 XJT pilots along with ALL other ALPA pilots will stand firmly behind the SKYW pilots in a drive to bring ALPA on property. The regional industry, especially DCI, would benefit greatly from SKYW being represented by ALPA.

 

[Gobi Gred]

SkyWstman,

I completely agree with what you are saying. However I just don't see it happening. I lost faith in the SkyWest pilot group awhile ago. How many more times do I have to listen or read some SkyWest pilot say "Gee fellas I just don't know if ALPA, certified SAPA, UPA is right for us." "We don't need that union stuff here." "Now is not the right time, our TA expires in 18 months." You get the picture.

 

[SkyWstman]

The Giant is waking up from it's stupor. I meet guys every day who have changed their mind. I meet guys that are down right angry at the way things are going. It's our only hope. There is nobody on our side. SAPA is a four letter word that means weakness. What we have is a vote concerning our future. At this point that's all we have. Let's make this thing happen. It's only going to get worse if we don't stop the trend of the needle.

 

[BluDevAv8r]

Ive been at XJT for over 8 years. The progress we have made is simply amazing. We went from 10 days off and 13.49 an hour for new hires to up to 12 (in 31day months) and a lot more pay. When I could have taken my first upgrade the pay was 27-29/hr.....even for the RJ!!! Im now at over 70/hr. I don't train on my days off. I hardly ever talk to crew scheduling. I've asked for and gotten 3 round trips dropped in the last 6 weeks. In 2004 I had 199 days off.....even with picking time up for OT. I trade my whole line to do only trips I want. I overnight at home about 2 times a month. I always get commutable trips unless I want something else.

The cool thing with ALPA are all the committees we have. Saftey, Jumpseat, Scheduling, pro-standards, hotel, ect. Management has realized that it's easier to let us as a union handle all this stuff than for them to do it and listen to us b1tch. For instance, our union builds our monthly schedules!!!! They get guidance and direction as to what needs to be flown but the union does 90%. It pretty cool if you think about it.

The best thing is not worrying about my job. If the company does somthing thats not right the union goes to battle not the pilot. (major issues)... So we are not intimidated, theres no reason to be. I highly suggest the pilots of Skywest get on board....no matter which union for christ sake do somthing!

Steve,

Good post. I just want to clarify something you said though...all lineholders get 12 days off in ALL months...it is reserves who only get 12 days off in 31 day bid periods.

-Neal

 

[Illinois]

Skywest folks,

Don't forget a union would instantaneously fix the 401K problem. Our senior pilots are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run because SGU is incapable/unwilling to fix our "retirement plan."

Most people I hear that are against the union do not want to pay for representation they do not feel they need. None of us are infallable, and while we already have ASAP I think 2% is worth the medical and legal coverage ALPA provides.

Even if dues were not tax deductable, we should all be stepping on eachother to vote YES to protect ourselves in retirement. Many of us are going to call SKYW home until age 60, and your 2% to ALPA now would pay huge dividends to your 401K account in the coming years.

 

[Truckdriver]

Skywest folks,

and while we already have ASAP

How does ASAP work at SKYW? Who reviews ASAP reports and who can decide on what kind of action comes from the reports? Is there someone from the pilot group that represents you that has an interest in protecting the pilots? I just ask these questions because I'm not sure how it works at SKYW.

At XJT we have a management representative, an ALPA representative, and an FAA representative that all review the ASAP reports. If any one of the parties thinks that no action should be taken, the issue is dropped and the data is used to learn what to fix in the airline. I don't know of anyone who has filed and ASAP and been violated. It just isn't going to happen with ALPA in the room unless you tell them in an ASAP that you smuggled stuff in from Mexico or flew drunk.