TA vote predictions

[wms]

Speaking of Comair:

-The three CEOs involved in it's eventual demise had no emotional or financial interest in Comair.
-Comair wasn't a drop in the bucket of DAL's total assets, revenue or operation.
-As Comair wound down DAL maintained ownership of much of the fleet and those planes were farmed out to other operators with DAL still getting revenue from them.
-Dissolving Comair allowed DAL to eliminate the overhead associated with it without suffering loss.

XJT:

-Is SKYW's largest asset.
-SKYW is almost all of JA's wealth.
-Skyw,inc cannot farm out XJT flying the way DAL did with Comair. It would have to surrender that flying with penalties outlined in the CPA, or let contracts simply expire over time.
-There is no other carrier with the resources or staffing to absorb XJT flying.
-JA is a shrewd businessman and will find a way to make money with XJT no matter its labor costs. He's not in the business of losing money, and SKYW is successful with higher labor costs than XJT.
-After there is an acceptable TA, not this one, SKYW will show XJT with a profit as books are realigned.
-Combined XJT cost $500b, and allowing it to fail will cost Skyw.inc everything before its shareholders and the financial world.

All regionals will shrink as a result of economic and staffing conditions as flying is reallocated to mainline. Those who stay here will have the best contract in the industry while working for a much smaller, better run company. The rest will acheive their goals of moving to the majors with the shift in capacity and increased vacancies.

 

[Gulf-front]

Some will see the light and vote NO! (Oh and no train puns)

 

[Smoke Toliet]

L-ASA 70-30 Yes
L-XJT 60-40 No

 

[jetstream]

Speaking of Comair:


All regionals will shrink as a result of economic and staffing conditions as flying is reallocated to mainline. Those who stay here will have the best contract in the industry while working for a much smaller, better run company. The rest will acheive their goals of moving to the majors with the shift in capacity and increased vacancies.

I agree. I believe that in five years we will be half the size we are now and flying only CRJ 700/900. Staffed by the top 50% of the seniority list. If you are senior you are safe, If you are junior get out asap.

 

[Freebrd]

But but Brad say we be a 500 plane fleet as the World's Largest Regional!

 

[Mr. Johnson]

-Combined XJT cost $500b,

Drug test needed here....

 

[Erlanger]

Actually, as an employee of INC, it does concern me. Also, I never said one way, or the other, how I personally feel about the TA. I just said how I think the vote will go....

You're a SkyWest dispatcher. Yes, I guess you're an "INC" employee. Nice spin.

 

[homerjdispatch]

You're a SkyWest dispatcher. Yes, I guess you're an "INC" employee. Nice spin.

My point being, the outcome affects me too... Not as directly as a pilot for Expressjet, but it does affect me, nonetheless. And Im not sure why you all are being asses about me asking the question. I havent said how I feel about this at all...

 

[Leroy Smith]

I havent said how I feel about this at all...

So:
As a SKW dispatcher - someone on the outside looking in but with knowledge of the company, understanding of the CBA/RLA process and a vested interest in the outcome; how do you feel about it?

 

[ASApuppy]

So, I'm trying to figure out what the play is here in this big chess game. We all know this contract is a cut in pay. Mostly in soft credits for the ASA side and retirement funds for the XJT side. But, I don't understand fully why this got sent to us. This seems like a low ball offer. Both sides agree to that. I also understand that, legally, the MEC must recommend to you to vote for it if it sends it to the population to vote on.

What I am most reserved about from this deal has been how the union is acted so far. Compared to our contract in '07, we are in the dark. Back then we were polled all the time (5 times for me personally), had a strike vote, had some idea what was going on. Now, we are in the dark. Our CNC chair got fired, our Union guys are all but silent, other than to say "ASA is not taking the cuts, XJT is". Now I hear rumors that our Negotiating Comm member is actually sleeping with an XJT attorney. WTF? Putting the contract aside, the method in which we got here absolutely sucks. There are a lot of good guys that do ALPA volunteer work, and I appreciate it greatly. On the other hand, those that we elected to do this work have failed me in a very big way.

So, back to the original thought....What is the play here? If we vote this down, then what? Brad was in the ATL crew lounge serving Turkey last week. He said they will wind this place down if we don't accept this deal. Then he sends out charts on how our contracts up for renewal are up for the next 5 years. Personally, I believe that the pilot shortage is for real and that alone will cause us to shrink over the next 5 years. People need to start lining up at the door of flight schools today in order to be ready for the airlines in 4 to 5 years. That is not happening. So, what's managements play here? If we vote yes, I'm sure Brad will get a 7 figure bonus. I don't think it will win us new flying. Again, it will be a matter of what we can hire. Is the play to eventually offer us Skywest's current pay structure and have us think we beat it out of them? Brad was asked about whether or not they offered our union the Skywest package and he beat around the bush, but eventually admitted as much.

In a time of record profits, I just cannot sit on the front lines and take a cut in pay. I do believe we are being unfairly squeezed by the mainline partners. They need to pay more. $1.3B per quarter? Our best help will come from the smallest of the regionals start closing doors. How long before that happens?

Offer us this:

One Airline
One Contract, no carve-outs
One path, forward