Drat!! I just spent an hour writing a lengthy (but very civil) response. When I clicked POST REPLY, it went to the hotel hi-speed terms-of-acceptance page and I lost everything!
I think my crowning thought was this:
ALPA whips pilots into an emotional frenzy of entitlement that causes them to do irrational things such as killing all the buffalo or clear cutting the forests. Sustainability does not seem to be a major concern.
And I wrote one long paragraph, the gist of which was this:
It's a bit of apples and oranges because your 70 pilots fly only the 70, whereas we fly both at a higher, blended rate. Your 50 rate averages something like $3-4/hr less than our 50 rate. A higher 70 rate at SkyWest would likely only benefit the very senior, and would likely result in a lower 50 rate more in line with ASA. (No, thank you). There's a lot of rhetoric about "brotherhood" and "unity" from the organizers. Horse hockey! If this were true, senior pilots would not want something for themselves which would cause harm to a larger population of junior pilots, most of whom just want to do their time and get out.
I hear our work rules are more lucrative. In the end, average W2's (the best comparitor I can think of) are probably higher at SkyWest than they are at ASA. When you say "join ALPA," my ears hear "come down to our level." Why would I want to do that?
There was a lot more, and I don't want to spend another hour, but let me end with this. I apologize for the selfishness and harshness, but this is reality and there's no way to sugar coat it.
I take a giant step back and look at the airline industry as a whole. I see one of the (rare) shining successes is SkyWest Airlines. It's one of the few in the country that is really healthy, and it's non-union. Many will argue that these facts are not correlated, but personally I believe this is NOT a coincidence. I believe that the dawn of ALPA at SkyWest will be the beginning of our descent into the same abyss that you're all clamoring to get out of. I'm not about to shut SkyWest down over a couple dollars per hour. It's not worth all the heartache and upheaval it would cause. If you want to shut down ASA, you go right ahead. Personally, I don't believe SkyWest, Inc. would have any qualms about pulling the plug if you guys strike. I think they'd shut the place down, send all the aircraft to SkyWest Airlines, and give preferential interviews to ASA pilots. I don't think many SkyWest pilots will feel very sorry for you if you put an end to your own job. Like it or not, SkyWest pilots stand only to gain from ASAs demise. Those who are unhappy with the details are the militant fringe at SkyWest, and they sound like a broken record. But we have it pretty good here when you step back and look at the whole picture. I wish everything was daisies, puppies, and sunshine at ASA, but it's not. SkyWest joining ALPA is not going to change that. I honestly don't think you'd be any worse off now if you all dumped ALPA and kept the 2% dues as a pay increase. ASAs struggle is not my struggle, and I don't want to be drawn into it.
uke:
