Skywest talking pilot pay raise

[Rekks Inbound]

Ponchus,

Trying to give a 'fair and balanced' education to these guys is like asking a muslim extremist to understand that Americans are not his enemy, of talking sense into a moonie, jesus freak, or any other extreme fundamentalist, close-minded fool. I know we have to keep trying, but boy does it get exasperating at times.

Your (this is to the kool-aid drinking fools) 75-80% prior 121 guys most likely were :

a-furloughed(something ALPA has no control over, but ALPA policy at least gives them recall rights).

b-Other regional guys who were looking for the fast upgrade (again, not something ALPA controls)

c-Other regional guys looking for an easier/no commute (one more time, these points are something your MANAGEMENT controls, not you or ALPA)

Things ALPA DOES do for you:

a-Gives financial aid and other expertise to help the local group negotiate a LEGALLY BINDING contract.

b-Gives inancial support for when MANAGEMENT forces your group to STRIKE for a fair contract.

c-Provides a buffer between MANAGEMENT and the Pilot in the case of potential disciplinary issues.

d-Provides legal and medical assistance when the affected member needs it, at little or no cost.

Think of it this way. How much do you spend on insurance every year? If nothing happens, you never need it. But if something does happen, boy aren't you glad you had it. And by the way, for those of you who are worried about the dues taken out of your aycheck, they are 100% TAX DEDUCTABLE! Helps offset the 'sting' a little.

Peace.

Rekks

 

[ballsdeep123]

SKYWpilot,

Why is $120/hr for a 90 seat jet unrealistic? That was our middle level rate on the Bae 146 before we lost UAL flying to a BLENDED RATE for that size aircraft to a carrier I won't mention. That size aircraft can easily support that rate and higher.

What frustrates the rest of us at the 'evil union' carriers is that every raise SkyWest pilots have enjoyed came at the expense of a hard fought union contract. When the AWAC pilots signed Contract '99 on September 11, 2001 (yea, you read that right) it was the industry leading contract at the time, and still the leader. Skywest pilots were talking union drive at that time, and what did JA do? Matched our hourly rates. Would he have done so if either there was no union drive or AWAC had not signed that contract? NO! Management does not work that magnanimously. Your '18 month pay freeze' is proof of that. Do what ever you guys want as a pilot group, but understand that you are looked down upon by a large percentage in this industry because you all ride on the coattails of the hard work and sacrafice of the union carriers that you yourselves put down.

Peace.

Rekks

That's the smartest thing I've read about this argument so far! It it weren't for all us "evil" ALPA carriers SkyWest would would not be getting compensated nearly as well. It seems there is a very skewed view of how unions work and how they protect their people. ALPA doesn't bring down the pilot group, management does and some day when the fit hits the shan over there at SkyWest you'll see that. Everything is nice and dandy there right now because your company is making money and has low costs. But just like other airlines their costs will start to rise as things settle down and their pilot group gets older, and your management, that you hold so dearly, will come to you and take everything you have and you won't have any say in it at all.

It's also interesting to note that having ALPA's national division allows the pilots, as a whole, to lobby congress for things that pertain to the pilot industry as a GROUP that SkyWest and other non-alpa unions get to ride to coattails of as well. Even carriers that use unions like the Teamsters really aren't looking out for the pilot industry as a whole when they really should be, because at the end of the day, we're all stuck in the same sinking ship.

 

[www.]

Wow, it seems to me we already have compitent people already doing that here at SkyWest, and for free.

To bad you don't have it in a contract.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

You forgot to mention tht you also have " re-flow"
For guys who don't know what that is. Its like getting Junior manned without getting 150% pay.

Have you ever got "reflowed" on a day off? At my company reflow and JM are two totally different things.
Reflow is an unscheduled change to a trip. It could be a change in the destination for an out and back or an extra trip tacked on during a long break. Typically a reflow would occur due to another aircraft having a MX problem or a crewmember getting sick at an outstation.
Anotherwords it's generally not a forecast situation, rather a response to an unforeseen problem.
In over 6 years it's happened a few times that I can recall. In some cases it can actually work out to your benefit. All depends.

Junior man is flying on days that you were not scheduled to fly.
Reflow is an unexpected change to your schedule during a normal work block.
Junior man is voluntary for us. Reflow is not.

When you get a chance you can explain how junior man and reflow are basically the same. Maybe at your company the terminology is different but where I work they are different animals.

From my perspective reflow doesn't occur often enough for it to be an issue for me personally. Unlike excessive junior manning reflows are seldom preventable. It's usually not a lack of staffing causing a reflow.

 

[Coloaviator]

Comparable Pay

I rarely respond to anything on here but why isn't there equal criticism for US Airways, Jetblue, and Mesa as far as their 12 year Captain 90 seat rates are concerned. Please don't get me wrong there needs to be better pay at Skywest when it comes to the 900's but the others mentioned above have rather low rates as well. US Airways=$95, Jetblue=$89, and Mesa=$82 all for 12 year Captain. To be fair Mesa has been given a fair amount of criticism but not the other 2.

Just a point to ponder!

 

[ballsdeep123]

I rarely respond to anything on here but why isn't there equal criticism for US Airways, Jetblue, and Mesa as far as their 12 year Captain 90 seat rates are concerned. Please don't get me wrong there needs to be better pay at Skywest when it comes to the 900's but the others mentioned above have rather low rates as well. US Airways=$95, Jetblue=$89, and Mesa=$82 all for 12 year Captain. To be fair Mesa has been given a fair amount of criticism but not the other 2.

Just a point to ponder!

You make a good point Coloaviator. I agree that the hourly rates across the board are pretty sad, but they can't be compared to Mesa because they have NO work rules. That is a HUGE difference in QOL and pay.

 

[SSDD]

Something else that is generally ignored is that he 900 airframes are limited to 70/76 seats by DAL contract scope.

 

[reno]

1-888-SKY-ALPA Press 1

 

[007]

Wow, it seems to me we already have compitent people already doing that here at SkyWest, and for free. Thanks for shedding light on something that sounded like we couldn't live without it before. I'm sure glad we didn't have that vote before you came along and straightened us out. Whew...dodged the bullet there, huh guys?

You not gonna go to SWA because they have a union?

 

[Morning Wood]

Ponchus,

Trying to give a 'fair and balanced' education to these guys is like asking a muslim extremist to understand that Americans are not his enemy, of talking sense into a moonie, jesus freak, or any other extreme fundamentalist, close-minded fool. I know we have to keep trying, but boy does it get exasperating at times.

Your (this is to the kool-aid drinking fools) 75-80% prior 121 guys most likely were :


c-Other regional guys looking for an easier/no commute (one more time, these points are something your MANAGEMENT controls, not you or ALPA)


Peace.

Rekks

And management controls your commuting how?