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