SkyWest Staffing Problem

[Splert]

And I'm positive mesa guys would die for our QOL... go alpa! ha ha hah a ha ha ha tools

You are Okay with SkyWest, Inc. transferring Emb120 flying to a third company?

You are also Okay with SkyWest, Inc. transferring CRJ200 flying to a forth company?

These are the segments of SkyWest, Inc's. portfolio that is getting relatively expensive to continue to have SkyWest Airlines seniority list pilots operate.

There are more than a few "new" operators that can do the flying with much lower 'crew costs" than SkyWest Airlines Pilots. It's better for SkyWest, Inc. to spread the crew cost of an 18 year CA over 70 seat than 30/50 and have a 1st year CA at a new company fly the 30/50. You do understand SkyWest, Inc. bids against other carriers on crew costs. The majority of other expenses are not bid, they are "passed though" to the code share partner.

That is what killed the QOL of other carriers. They had to foresight to band together and fight to keep all flying on one list. It hurts to win this battle but in the long run it is worse for your career to have to fight with your pay value, benefits and work rules in order to keep the flying on SkyWest Airlines pilot seniority list.

Just ask an ASA pilot about the reality of SkyWest, Inc. transferring 900 flying to SkyWest Airlines.

 

[Gr82Aviate]

alpa is the one offering the box-o-poo. see ASA... mesa... any and all bankrupt major... i have a steamy box for you- courtesy of alpa (I ate their free lunch yesterday) they have empty promises and im pretty sure they have thoroughly hosed ASA guys- didnt they sue alpa for non representation? Id bet that ASA guys (not all) would be happy with what we have. And I'm positive mesa guys would die for our QOL... go alpa! ha ha hah a ha ha ha tools

So you're basically saying that ALPA caused the majors to go bankrupt?
You also fail to see the difference between a bankrupt carrier, and Skyw which has been making record profits(the highest profit margins in the entire airline industry accoding to AIN) and their ability to give us at least a fair raise and COLA(not the 0 or 1%)?????

 

[Soverytired]

Nope he's an idiot, we've already had a few years to reconsider.

Nice. Good rebuttal to the patently untrue "No ALPA carrier would only give it's pilots 8 days off a month" assertion.

More power to your union drive, if that's what you truly desire. My only reason for posting on this is that for many at Skywest, it's their first airline and potential union job. They need to understand that while a union solves some problems, it creates a totally different set of obstacles; you're a fool if you don't recognize this.

As the the actual union choice, I would personally NEVER go with ALPA. Why?

• Completely ineffectual at Mesa for my 10 year stay in hell
• Completely ineffectual at protecting the pensions of those retired at the legacy carriers (you know, the guys who paid dues for 30+ years?)
• Over 150 "officers" on the ALPA payroll making over $100k a year from your dues. Over 30 making over $200k/yr from your dues. It's a payroll scheme that would make most corporations blush.
• The RLA virtually strips airline unions of the ability to STRIKE . . .their only true bargaining chip. Airline contracts take YEARS to negotiate. UAW took 9 days and a 3 day strike.

ALPA is excellent, however, at making reasonable sounding excuses.

There's a good reason union drives have nose dived over the past 30 years, and it's not because the blue collar workers are stupid.

That said, if you truly want ALPA on your property, good luck, take ownership of your union (re: volunteer), and never complain about ANYTHING between contracts, because nothing changes until contract time . . . so be sure and think of every possible contingency that could ever happen over the next 5 years. (HINT: it takes 3 or 4 contracts to figure every contigency out)

 

[SkyNation]

great post.

we have problems. if we vote in ALPA, we trade them in for new problems. I think the majority of us won't make that trade.

 

[kj6991]

great post.

we have problems. if we vote in ALPA, we trade them in for new problems. I think the majority of us won't make that trade.

I wouldn't be so certain. It might not pass, but it will be very close. I would say more people are for it than not that i have flown with recently. wouldn't surprise me.

 

[BigLebowski]

ALPA is not the perfect answer...but it is the best one. At least with ALPA, you have guarantees and protections with a contract. I have heard rumors (granted, they may be false) that SKW guys are being taken down to 8 days off in some cases. This would NEVER happen with an ALPA contract.

As I said, ALPA is very flawed but it is better than nothing at all.

Actually I used to work with an airline that was ALPA and they would do that. The only thing scheduling would tell you was to "grieve it" That is the answer to everything when you have a union...it never stops the company from doing what they want.

 

[USCtrojan]

Actually I used to work with an airline that was ALPA and they would do that. The only thing scheduling would tell you was to "grieve it" That is the answer to everything when you have a union...it never stops the company from doing what they want.

Unless you quit being a pu$$y and just refuse to do it. You can do that you know, I've done it at ASA. And ALPA just got ASA an industry leading contract to vote on.

Trojan

 

[USCtrojan]

EVERYBODY READ THIS.... This guy knows what hes talking about!!!

Try refusing a legal assignment at SkyWest. See what happens. Buddy of mine at SkyWest got extended into his "personal day off" by 10 minutes. When he called Scheduling to re-arrange it, they told him, "it was only 10 minutes, so tough." At ASA, I would have refused it. Nothing they can do. I don't blame my buddy at all, I would have done the same, he could've been fired.

If you don't know your contract, it's your problem. Fly, grieve, etc. Otherwise, flat out refuse it, if it's against contractual rules. A nice thing to have.

Case in point. A few months ago I had an 8 hour Reduced Rest overnight. Contract says we can work a max 10 hour duty day following 8 RR overnight. They tried to extend me and send me out again (which would have extended me beyond that 10 hours duty.) Told them NO. They asked if I was refusing the assignment, said, yep, absolutely REFUSING IT. Why? Because of my CONTRACT. Never heard another word about it.

Trojan

 

[PBRstreetgang]

EVERYBODY READ THIS.... This guy knows what hes talking about!!!

Don't you have a N.A.M.B.L.A. meeting to chair? SKYW does this on a daily basis, it's called PBS and scheduling discretion. Now shut up and don't touch anything in the cockpit, except yourself, LOOSER?
PBR

 

[jea]

Don't you have a N.A.M.B.L.A. meeting to chair? SKYW does this on a daily basis, it's called PBS and scheduling discretion. Now shut up and don't touch anything in the cockpit, except yourself, LOOSER?
PBR

ha ha ha ha you are my new hero! You seem so informed, educated, mature... Do you have your atp yet? If not I can help you out with that

 

[PBRstreetgang]

great post.

we have problems. if we vote in ALPA, we trade them in for new problems. I think the majority of us won't make that trade.

Thats the problem, you "think", and your head overheats, the master caution goes off and you pass out. I would hope that when ALPA becomes the collective bargaining agent for the SKYW pilots you will have an anal hemmorage and lose your medical. That way you can spend more time on trying to legitimize your N.A.M.B.L.A. projects!
Please go away, of stick a loaded shotgun in your mouth and pull the trigger with your toe!
PBR

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Unless you quit being a pu$$y and just refuse to do it. You can do that you know, I've done it at ASA. And ALPA just got ASA an industry leading contract to vote on.

Trojan

You hit the nail on the head, pu$$y nails it right on!
PBR

 

[Coloaviator]

New poll numbers indicate ALPA is a long shot at Skywest. I have polled 224 Captains and First Officers at Skywest 84 Yes's and 160 No's. It is not looking good for ALPA's return on investment. It looks like 2 million dollars up in smoke, that is 2 million dollars of our fellow regional airline pilots dues they have worked hard for so that ALPA can get 3000 more members. Man nobody seems to see the light.

 

[jea]

It would be nice if alpa- a business- had financial responsibility to those it serves wouldnt it. Granted I'm sure people see me as anti alpa- at the regional level- but its just sad..... 5 years for a TA... industry leading contracts (comair).... oh that was retraced or something right? I see benefits of pilot groups, just not alpa.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

It would be nice if alpa- a business- had financial responsibility to those it serves wouldnt it. Granted I'm sure people see me as anti alpa- at the regional level- but its just sad..... 5 years for a TA... industry leading contracts (comair).... oh that was retraced or something right? I see benefits of pilot groups, just not alpa.

Jon
Again, you are wrong, but again that is nothing new!
We don't see you as just anti ALPA, we see you as an ignorant, selfish, stupid a$$wipe of a pseudo-human being. That completes the picture.
PBR

 

[jea]

Again, you are wrong, but again that is nothing new!
We don't see you as just anti ALPA, we see you as an ignorant, selfish, stupid a$$wipe of a pseudo-human being. That completes the picture.
PBR

You really are nonstop aren't you? I think you could add a few more names in there.... please give it another shot- show all of us your brilliance... again.

 

[yellowfever]

!

New poll numbers indicate ALPA is a long shot at Skywest. I have polled 224 Captains and First Officers at Skywest 84 Yes's and 160 No's. It is not looking good for ALPA's return on investment. It looks like 2 million dollars up in smoke, that is 2 million dollars of our fellow regional airline pilots dues they have worked hard for so that ALPA can get 3000 more members. Man nobody seems to see the light.

I'm not sure if you understand why the pilots at ALPA carriers feel it is important for the industry to have SkyWest under the ALPA umbrella. Do you understand pattern bargaining? How about scope protection? I know the SkyWest pilots don't like to hear this...but I believe they were the industry leaders (with MESA) on the low pay scales for the larger regional jets. At least MESA did it to leash an alter ego carrier (and they always have had split rates for the bigger jets). Sadly, it appears that SkyWest pilots voted to fly the larger jets for the same rate...only for 18 months right? The problem for you guys is that you don't have a contract and BH didn't want to give you any more money for flying the bigger equipment after the 18 months. Lucky for you that a group of your pilots wanted to organize and, magically, you were handed a BHO (not as good as a legitimate hourly rate, but better than nothing right) and if you are to ever get a decent rate on the bigger equipment, you will get nothing for retro pay (because BH doesn't want to pay it...and you have no choice but to do what BH says). So don't come on here and insinuate that ALPA pilots are wasting their money. They can spend it how they want to. They are trying to have foresight so that this career will be better... not worse.

 

[USCtrojan]

I'm not sure if you understand why the pilots at ALPA carriers feel it is important for the industry to have SkyWest under the ALPA umbrella. Do you understand pattern bargaining? How about scope protection? I know the SkyWest pilots don't like to hear this...but I believe they were the industry leaders (with MESA) on the low pay scales for the larger regional jets. At least MESA did it to leash an alter ego carrier (and they always have had split rates for the bigger jets). Sadly, it appears that SkyWest pilots voted to fly the larger jets for the same rate...only for 18 months right? The problem for you guys is that you don't have a contract and BH didn't want to give you any more money for flying the bigger equipment after the 18 months. Lucky for you that a group of your pilots wanted to organize and, magically, you were handed a BHO (not as good as a legitimate hourly rate, but better than nothing right) and if you are to ever get a decent rate on the bigger equipment, you will get nothing for retro pay (because BH doesn't want to pay it...and you have no choice but to do what BH says). So don't come on here and insinuate that ALPA pilots are wasting their money. They can spend it how they want to. They are trying to have foresight so that this career will be better... not worse.

Yeah, what I find very funny now is that Skywest Mgmt. is resorting to "threatening" company emails to all of its pilots. Nice job, and some of you complain about "ALPA thugs?" What kind of threats did ASA hear before this thing was TA'd?

Trojan

 

[Soverytired]

Unless you quit being a pu$$y and just refuse to do it. You can do that you know, I've done it at ASA. And ALPA just got ASA an industry leading contract to vote on.

Trojan

Actually, it's a good way to get fired. (ASA must be special - - guess your management must be pussis)

Your contract will spell out your grievance procedure, and it will take from months to years to get it resolved.

My experience is you'll be expected to follow it. Mesa had a couple of guys fired in ORD because they took the "I won't be a puss" track. As far as I know, the union was not able to get them their jobs back.

 

[USCtrojan]

Actually, it's a good way to get fired. (ASA must be special)

Your contract will spell out your grievance procedure, and it will take from months to years to get it resolved.

My experience is you'll be expected to follow it. Mesa had a couple of guys fired in ORD because they took the "I won't be a puss" track. As far as I know, the union was not able to get them their jobs back.

If it's in the Contract, it's in the Contract. Fire me, I hope they do, I will get very very rich. You start making up rules, now that's a different story....

Trojan