SkyWest Vote Winding Down

[cosmotheassman]

How did you guys at Skywest get the deal of flying 70 seat for 50 seat pay in the first place?

 

[turbodriver]

What are you guys voting on actually?

Management is just sitting there laughing letting you guys have your fun.

You'll still take it in the shorts in the end so what's the point of this charade?

 

[FlyboyPhil]

We are voting down a pay agreement from the company for the first time in Skywest history(at least that is my understanding of our history and the progress of the vote so far). Our vote only serves to let SGU know how we feel about the changes they are making unilaterally. Basically their response to our no vote will be the litmus test that tells us
a)the majority of us gambled correctly and they are willing to move back toward the small company/family relationship of days gone by,
or
b)that we should have voted in a union 3 years ago.

Thats what this vote is about...

 

[Texx]

Basically their response to our no vote will be the litmus test that tells us
a)the majority of us gambled correctly and they are willing to move back toward the small company/family relationship of days gone by,
or
b)that we should have voted in a union 3 years ago.

Thats what this vote is about...

If you think that "A" is an option, ask the SWA pilots that have been around for years. When you get to a certain size you can't be the "small company/family" anymore.

 

[FlyboyPhil]

I didn't say which option I thought was likely.. just that we would find out which one it was.... i'm thinking B is our future, but I would love to be proven wrong.

 

[Ben Dover]

We are non-union. We don't have the legal right to take any organized job action if it were to come to that point. Our management is keenly aware of this fact and acts accordingly.

I hear this from time to time from SkyWest folks and I'm always confused. Are there state labor laws that say a group of at-will employees can't have a sick out, or just not show up for work, or all be 30 minutes late on the same day?

I'm no labor lawyer, and honestly don't know. Maybe there are laws against this kind of activity. I'm certainly not advocating this as a course of action. But when I hear statements like the quote above, I wonder if people are mixing up the law. Unions get in trouble for illegal job actions (i.e. American Airlines pilots in 1999 got $45 million fine). But if the group isn't organized/certified by whomever it is NMB/RLA, why is it you don't have the legal right?

 

[Borntofly1982]

skywest new hires... dont just see (pay raise) and vote yes... seriously do more research, if we vote yes we will all be screwed, umm so VOTE NO!!! but of course this is your choice

 

[EUT]

abcdef

 

[Grassstrippilot]

As an outsider (whose only interest is your share value) this comment has me confused (not a difficult task I'll admit).

What is the purpose of a vote if you have no resultant "leverage"? Is this just an informational mechanism to get an offical record of where your employee group stands on the issue?

Thanks.

Essentially it is an opinion poll.

Hopefully they will have a union on property sooner than later so that their "agreements" will be legally binding.

 

[Halo_RJdriver]

What are you guys voting on actually?

Management is just sitting there laughing letting you guys have your fun.

You'll still take it in the shorts in the end so what's the point of this charade?

Here is a copy of the trash we are to vote on. WHEN we have a Union then we will stop taking it over a barrel. YES management is laughing at us. NOTE the no amendable date for this TA. We are also being forced to use PBS bid system that will reduce our QOL. The software is not even a proven product.

All airlines are selling seats for pennies so they can pay us nickels. This industry needs to start charging some real dollars to fly. IF NOT go greyhound.



September 19, 2005

Fellow SkyWest Pilots,

The first draft of this letter was completed on Labor Day 2005, an appropriate day to conclude our pay negotiations. Feedback received since then led to a number of corrections and clarifications. The major provisions of the proposed agreement are as follows:

• Reclassification of Pay Scales

In response to feedback from our pilots indicating that pay scales should not be defined by seating ranges, SAPA proposed a reclassification of pay scales. The company has agreed to eliminate the 50-99 seat scale and replace it with a CL-65 scale; to eliminate the Turboprop scale and replace it with an EMB-120 scale; and to eliminate the 100-149 seat scale.

• Adoption of Schedule Enhancement Period (SEP)

An additional feature of bidding in a PBS environment is the ability to drop and pick up trips using a real-time computer interface (without having to call crew support) after lines have been built. The technology that will allow us to do this is currently in development. SEP will be made available to us as soon as the new software has been tested and is working.

• Extension of Reserve Callout Times in Certain Hubs

In domiciles where showing within 90 minutes has placed an undue strain on pilots, the company has agreed to increase the callout time to 2:00 hours. These domiciles are DEN, LAX and ORD.

• An Increase in Base Pay Rates

The predominant feature of this year’s pay negotiations has been SkyWest’s new performance and margin based incentive plans. In development for over two years, the company’s incentive plans now involve all employees, including pilots. The plans represent SkyWest’s philosophy of providing competitive base rates, plus opportunities for bonus compensation, to its employees. Many of you have indicated that you prefer a larger increase in base rates, as opposed to participation in the incentive plans. In response, we extended the pay talks to explore every feasible way to increase base rates. After considering several proposals from us, management has agreed to an across-the-board increase of 1.2% for all pilots, in addition to our continued participation in the incentive plans. While some may feel that 1.2% isn’t much, and we’d love to have been able to say it’s more, this percentage is consistent with the increase given to other employee groups who were already participating in the company bonus plan. This means that SkyWest pilots received the greatest increase in compensation of all SkyWest employee groups in the past year, consisting of the combined effect of the 1.2% increase in our base rates, in addition to gaining 100% participation in the new, company-wide incentive plans. Attached are tables that show the new rates including, for comparison purposes, the approximate effect that an $800 performance incentive and 6% margin has on our hourly rates. There is no arbitrary end-date. SAPA and management will periodically review these rates, and will negotiate appropriate rate tables when a new equipment type is introduced.

I wish to acknowledge and thank the members of our Pay Committee for their service and dedication to our pilot group during these extended negotiations. You will shortly receive information announcing the pay vote. In the meantime, I and other representatives will be available on the forums and via email to answer your questions. Upon the conclusion of our work with pay, our emphasis will shift to scheduling and reserve issues, and creation of a separate pilot policy manual.

Thank you all for your interest, feedback and patience while we worked through multiple scenarios to reach this agreement with our company’s management, which we now submit to you for your consideration