Let me offer a minor correction that had major consequences. The RJ carriers didn't take anything. It was foolishly given to them by mainline pilots. The fault of all this outsourcing lies squarely on the shoulders of mainline pilots, specifically DAL. Comair was the U.S. launch customer for the CRJ and the DAL MEC allowed it.
Couldn't agree more, as a former RJ pilot, The best thing that DAL should have done was to staple the comair guys, one pilot group, and dictate the RJ pay rate, along with quantity restrictions. Comair should have been integrated into Delta at the purchase of them, ie ( staple with fence )
instead ALPA and all their might And Stupidity let the cat out of the bag, and developed a Substandard Pay rate Pilot to effectively take over mainline flying. Then instead of a unification of a pilot union, where each pilot is just as important as the next, they endorse substandard RJ contracts instead, only to be outdone by each RJ carrier in a cut throat whipsaw. They simply just didn't take a enough intrest in preserving the pilot profession, only in the intrest of where the most dues came from ( mainline Pilot ). We as pilots should at least have a standard pay system for all Aircraft flown. This profession has gone down the tubes, and there are many pilots out there that care only about their paycheck and not as a long term investment. We need to stop this Bull &*^%.