Skywest, Republic, and ALPA

[Rez O. Lewshun]

PCL was at 2 of the biggest scumbag outfits there are (Gulfstream then Pinnacle) and is now at what is, or has been, known as a "scab" airline. You can't possibly take anything this jerk has to say seriously. Talk about "F-the industry, whats in it for me?"....what an idiot.

The guy put his job on the line by starting a petition to get membership ratification for his pilot group. He was threaten by managment with his job for empowering the pilot group....

Your thoughts?

 

[BigLebowski]

Most of us at SkyWest chose to come here due to the exact labor group/management relationships that most other companies have failed rather consistently. You see the union as a means to strong arm your employers into the standards you wish to have in your career, which the unfortunate poor management of your respective company's create. We chose to avoid those relationships by choosing an employer with a reputation of valuing their employees and circumnavigating the need for organized labor that in the end has no more guarantee for your career than without.

well said

 

[FORESTGUMP]

The guy put his job on the line by starting a petition to get membership ratification for his pilot group. He was threaten by managment with his job for empowering the pilot group....

Your thoughts?

My thoughts? I think you're an over-dramatic clown. thats what my thoughts are. put his job on the line? threatened by management? oooh! how terribly scarry! wow....

you guys are pathetic.

 

[CFIT]

Until you gain representation that is all you'll be.....

So if I can wear an ALPO pin, then I'll be a real pilot?

Is that how it works?

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

So if I can wear an ALPO pin, then I'll be a real pilot?

Is that how it works?

you are on cue......

What makes you professional at Skywest?

 

[FORESTGUMP]

you are on cue......

What makes you professional at Skywest?

are you actively flying for an airline?

 

[WalterSobchak]

What makes you professional at Skywest?

Rez...all due respect, but what makes CFIT and other SkyWest pilots unprofessional? Is it because they choose to not participate in an establishment that a majority of the workgroup feels is broken? Let me tell you, I've dealt with pilots from many airlines, and I've never met a more consistently professional group of pilots than the pilot group at SkyWest.

Note that I refer to professionalism in regard to the areas where it counts, not just based on wearing a certain lanyard or pin -- knowledge & airmanship, appearance & conduct, and a willingness to do the right thing.

I know the response I'll get from this: "If these pilots would join and participate in ALPA, things would be better"...while the other end of the argument is, "If ALPA hadn't, in our eyes, failed it's membership, then perhaps we would consider joining".

I'm not siding with either the pro-union or anti-union side here...I can see the benefit of both situations...but, it's been a circular argument as long as most of us have been in this business. At what point do you just agree to disagree?...and how do the underhanded accusations of lacking professionalism toward a non-member workgroup really help your cause?

 

[Skywest Pylot]

I've got a question for Bricktop, CFIT, Biglebowski and FOREST GUMP. I want honest answers here. What would happen if organized labor (ALPA, Teamsters, APA, SWAPA, USAPA, etc.) all ceased opperations in the aviation community? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? What effect would that have on you, SkyWest pilots?

Walter, feel free to chime in here as well. It might be nice to get an SGU perspective.

 

[FORESTGUMP]

I've got a question for Bricktop, CFIT and FOREST GUMP. I want honest answers here. What would happen if organized labor (ALPA, Teamsters, APA, SWAPA, USAPA, etc.) all ceased opperations in the aviation community? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? What effect would that have on you, SkyWest pilots?

Walter, feel free to chime in here as well. It might be nice to get an SGU perspective.

well, obviously the airline industry would shut down and cease to exist. Since its obvious that no type of industry could possibly operate without the guidance of such upstanding and reputable leadership like all those unions.

 

[Minimaniac]

The new head of Teamsters Local 747, which represents RAH pilots, put in 30 years as an ALPA member, and as an elected leader of his airline's membership along the way. He has stated that he feels ALPA is broken beyond repair, and that most of its support comes from nostalgia, not actual performance over the last decade.. The Local 747 has been weak thanks to the former President, who ran unopposed and for other reasons is in a world of legal issues related to his management of the Local. Our new trustees are trying to turn the ship around here at Local 747, and the next two years will decide the fate of Teamsters on the RAH porperty.

I sincerely wish Skywest would unionize. Things have gone well for the pilots there, but they do not realize how the lack of organization in their workforce is damaging the rest of us. I know Skywest guys in general don't mean to harm us all, and don't see the consequences, but that does not change the fact that they are causing damage to our profession. Union membership does not define professionalism, but it does define character. The 3% you sacrifce could help to raise the wages in our segment of the industry 5% to 15% in the short term, and more down the road.

I will never trust ALPA to represent the interests of a regional airline so long as ALPA is representing the pilots of the contracting major airline. It is a conflict of interests. Any gains acheived at the regional level come at the expense of mainline, and vice versa. I will only join ALPA is an ALPA mainline carrier purchases my aircraft and adds me to their mainline seniority list. End of story.