SkyWest whats the deal??

[CheckandSet]

Line Improvement Windows
Minimum Domicile Rest
Max duty periods
Reserve system
Merger/Aquisition language
Haven't heard of a 401k imbalance
Better vacation
ACARS reassignments
Letters of discipline time limit
1 calender day off for a 30/7, not 24hr on an overnight
Less than adequite reserve coverage, all open time at 150%. No 10 day window.
The list is endless I'm sure!!

And yes a more organized FOM would be nice rather than the generic one on file.

I guess I need to quit skywest and work for xjet !

 

[difete]

Skywest Union

Guess this is a pro vs. con union discussion now?
It always ends there when it starts.

I like Skywest, and working here has been gr8.
I dont know if pro-union or anti-union airlines
are better one from another, or, if "unions" are
any part of the problem.

Managment? perhaps... But managment is under
what the big boys "partners" say the price for us
to fly is... Sad... I say yes to that. I did not come
to this job expecting Major Airline QOL. What they
offered me, they have delivered.

I know the future will change my working enviroment
for better or for worse, and that happens in any job
out there.

I want a better Skywest as much as a better airline
industry, and as long as I keep on growing in this
enviroment I will pursue to put in it my 2 cents.

But as of SkyWest, It has been a good place to work for
me, and I know all other SkyWest pilots pro or antiunion
will agree that they are glad they are here.

 

[starshipdrvr]

difete:

You're right, SkyWest is and has been a great place to work. I'm not sure how long you've been here so I won't attest too how much experience you've had with trusting managements talk. What makes SkyWest a great place to work isn't the working conditions but the people you work with. I may disagree with you on union vs. anti-union but I will still enjoy flying with you and that's the SkyWest way.

Check:

Maybe you need to go work there. Your data is a little flawed. Have you read xjet's new contract? Oh, and remember that they're flying 35 and 50 passenger RJ's, not 50-99 seat

I don't know of a single SkyWest pilot that will argue with you about pay however. A union at SkyWest is not necessarily about fixing the payscale, its about protection. Protection from management constantly changing a policy manual that is already flawed and filled with holes as well as their own interepetations. Protection in case we get bought out, and protection in case we go into bankruptcy.

You use United as an example. Well, lets say for example that they didn't have a union, when management came down asking the bankruptcy court judge for pay concessions, where do you think the pilots would have ended up. No one can say. Why? Because the pilots had a union that had attorneys that were arguing in court. The pilot's union also had an accounting department that could go over the books and see if the financial picture that management was painting was really the facts. What do we have here at SkyWest? I'm supposed to put my trust in people whose first commitment is to the shareholder that they'll take care of me? My own SAPA rep tells me that its useless talking to managment anymore because they're done negotiating and I'm supposed to not want a union?

I'm sorry, I'm not that stupid and trusting. I have no hard feelings towards anyone in management, they're doing their job but I have to look out for myself as well. That's my 0.02 worth.

ALPA '05

 

[Garf]

I am all for it, lets start now! ALPA '05

 

[CheckandSet]

Alright alpa 05! I do need a couple of more days off-I'm sick

 

[bayoubandit]

Difete,

I have spent a considerable amount of time at Coex, and about 2.5 years here at SKW. Overall, both companies have treated me fairly well with regards to progression, although they are quite different culture wise. I will refrain from particulars and absolute hose jobs and what airline is worse.

I can say XJet has seen gains in work conditions while SKW conditions have deteriorated in the past couple of years.

I believe most of us are striving to keep pace with our counterparts, if not have better in some areas. Yes our price is fixed by SKW's partners. It doesn't excuse the fact that the company still increases it's revenue and should provide a return for the employees investment and hard work under the relationship that has been built. Our greatest enemy is ourself.

With growth, relationships change, culture changes, and the airlines objective changes. I have seen what unions can do, both good and bad. I believe a union is an investment in our future. It will not be rosey, it will be difficult and frustrating, but it will protect us from ourselves as well as others.

Best regards

 

[Aerobat007]

heres a loaded question. What would need to be done to get union representation at SkyWest and what would be the response from management...would they start firing pilots? Also how do other companies view skywest pilots looking to move up to union companies??

 

[bayoubandit]

All it takes is 35% interest for ballots to be cast. Once then, its simply a vote. It takes 50%+1 vote to bring union representation on board. Personally, I don't think mgmt. gives a rats butt if there is a union or not. According to 10K filings, they fully expect unionization of one, if not all employee groups. No they would not fire anybody for organizing a union. It against federal law. I haven't heard of any union company not hiring a pilot from a non-union carrier.

Unloaded

 

[Bluto]

I guess I need to quit skywest and work for xjet !

Or maybe you just need to quit displaying your ignorance and admit when you're wrong. Still waiting on a rough longevity estimate so we can compare pay for you.

 

[CheckandSet]

we will be unionized soon! Skywest is in the process of buying ASA or Comair! It will be dirty couple of years.

 

[BluDevAv8r]

I guess I need to quit skywest and work for xjet !

In that above list you quoted...there were many things on there that we don't have at XJT, like "ACARS reassignments." I think the poster mixed some things that Skywest has and some things that XJT has. Bottom line, and I am fairly qualified to comment, XJT has a significantly better working agreement (including the fact that it cannot be changed unilaterally by management on a whim due to the fact that it is a true CBA protected by the RLA).

Here are just a few:

1. Better vacation
2. Significantly higher Company-matched retirement percentage
3. More days off
4. Much better trip trading system
5. Higher hourly pay rates including 2.5% increases every 12/1 until 12/1/08 (not counting one's longevity increases)
6. Real Scope/Job Security language, including language that protects us from a whip saw scenario
7. High Sick Bank accrual
8. No recurrent training on a pilot's bid days off
9. No recurrent training/checking between 0130 and 0400 in the morning
10. 3 hour duty period minimum for calendar day layovers which is built into the trip credit value and protected in the event of a cancellation
11. Line value guarantee
12. Reserve pilots who have their days off rolled get 3.75 hours at 150% (or value of trip flown at 150% if greater) PLUS day off restored
13. Shortened duty time limits for back side of clock flying
14. Company pays for taxi if hotel van isn't curb side within 30 minutes of ACARS block-in
15. If Company needs your trip for training purposes, they only have 1 opportunity to reassign you. If no reassignment by 1200 day prior to start of trip, you are released to days off with pay and can then pick up open time on top of your line value (double dipping)
16. Significantly better Training Section including very good Training Review Board language
17. Line holders never have to sit reserve if they don't want to
18. Guaranteed personal drops if company meets their min reserve levels on that day
19. Long Call reserve lines with 12 hour call-out time (2 hours to call Scheduling back)
20. Defined reserve call-out order that pilot can monitor online, plus a will-fly and no-preference selection.

I can go on...but I won't. XJT's agreement is far from perfect but it is significantly better than Skywest's and the best part about it is that it isn't a "Policy Manual." Good luck to those over there at SKYW, regardless of the direction you go in the coming years. I have several friends there (who used to fly here at XJT but were furloughed) and they seem to like it there generally. I just really hope something happens to your "one rate for 50-99 seats" pay scale.

-Neal


Many pilots talked about the 18 month pay freeze at Skywest and how things would improve once the 18 months expired. Well we are now 3 months past that date...has management offered up significant improvements?

-Neal

 

[CheckandSet]

MAn! You need to call Nig Jerry right now and tell them how much we suck! A lot of things will change in the next couple of years. You will see a Union! also a few skywest emb 170's 190's with a continental paint jobs. Also all those work rules you mentioned , it wouldn't be hard to match or make them a little better.
See ya

 

[CheckandSet]

Another thing ! I really don't want to work for Xjet !I really like working at skywest enjoying my 11 days of with pay. Also your flight attendants are to ugly.
Later

 

[bayoubandit]

Hey Neal, Thanks for the list. I was going off distant memory and left off any kind of description of comparison. Appreciate it!

I never thought I would go so backwards in this profession. Been to BHM lately?

MH

 

[BluDevAv8r]

Hey Neal, Thanks for the list. I was going off distant memory and left off any kind of description of comparison. Appreciate it!

I never thought I would go so backwards in this profession. Been to BHM lately?

MH

No problem dude. But we actually flew to MKE - not BHM. Unless I flew with you right after I had the bejeezus scared out of me by a Captain taxiing in BHM.

-Neal

 

[BluDevAv8r]

Also your flight attendants are to ugly.
Later

Not that I choose a place of employment based on the quality of the flight attendants but I must agree with you here.

-Neal

 

[BluDevAv8r]

also a few skywest emb 170's 190's with a continental paint jobs. Also all those work rules you mentioned , it wouldn't be hard to match or make them a little better.
See ya

Actually, it would be hard to match them or make them better for you...since you guys don't have any contractual right to a bargaining process. As to your first point, I doubt it - CAL just completed a TA which guarantees that CAL pilots will fly anything over 50 seats.

-Neal

 

[Bluto]

Neal, as always, good points.

Also all those work rules you mentioned , it wouldn't be hard to match or make them a little better.
See ya

Yeah, right. I'm starting to seriously doubt you work for SkyWest. I've never met anyone there as clueless and rude as you. Have you even heard what management is offering? Probably not, since you are likely some 7th grade kid playing games. For those who may be interested, the officially unconfirmed (but not refuted) offers were:

#1
1% raise for everyone.
4:10 daily guarantee.
18 duty days max.
2 hour call out for reserves.

or

#2
1.5% raise for CRJ pilots only. No raise for Brasilia pilots at all.

Part of the issue here with the negotiations is that we've been told repeatedly that we've already received a 7% raise. (In the form of a bonus program that the majority of pilots who voted didn't want in lieu of increased pay rates.) Additionally, the bonus program only pays out to those who have been with the company 2 years or more, is tied to the company's profitability, and takes the place of our former profit-sharing plan.

Now, compare that offer to what the Expressjet pilots negotiated and maybe you can see why many SkyWest pilots are disappointed with their current representative structure.

 

[bayoubandit]

No problem dude. But we actually flew to MKE - not BHM. Unless I flew with you right after I had the bejeezus scared out of me by a Captain taxiing in BHM.

-Neal

Don't think that was me. At least you didn't slap me upside the head if it wasI was looking through my little red log a few days ago, and we did both MKE and BHM. I remember BHM because we had a really loud cabin door seal over ATL on a P.M. turn.

I don't think CheckandSet works for the company either Bluto.

 

[CheckandSet]

I'm giving ya a hard time! You guys are so fricking serious on these post! I do work for Skywest! And our contract(fake contract) does suck for now, but this will change with time! The reason we code shared the brasilias with Co is to build a relationship. Of course it is now over, but our head guys will go after your xjet flying! Sounds to me your really proud of your company!

 

[hmmurdock]

eventually i mean fedex...im just saying you never know what the future holds..the next place i work may be the final destination...i hope not but one never knows

Final destination??..The regionals now days are different..You need to plan on being an FO for 3 to 6 years depending. And remember that means the pay for that period of time as well. Its no longer a stepping stone.

 

[Aerobat007]

Final destination??..The regionals now days are different..You need to plan on being an FO for 3 to 6 years depending. And remember that means the pay for that period of time as well. Its no longer a stepping stone.

Exactally thats what i mean i want to make the right choice in regionals cause it may be my carrer company.

 

[Aerobat007]

career company i mean