Time for Skywest to Step Up

[homerjdispatch]

How does the cost of living in SGU compare to MRY, SAN, SBA, LAX, PSP, FAT, SMF, SBP, and PDX? How much has the cost of living gone up in SGU compared to these places in the last 5 years?

Cost of living in SGU has SHOT THROUGH THE ROOF!!!! For example, my house has more than DOUBLED in value in the last year and a half. There is no way I could afford the same house in SGU today.

SGU is not a cheap place to live.

 

[pilotdiscretion]

As someone who is very involved in ALPA and has seen the heart of the machine...



By my estimate there are about 200 full time ALPA employees. They are in communications, insurance, lawyers, safety / accident staff engineers and other positions that are interchangable between every pilot group that is part of ALPA.



The other jobs that are done for the pilots and done by pilot volunteers. These are fellow pilots who step up, give some of their time and get bought of some of their flying to work for ALPA. By my estimates there are a few thousand of these positions in the US. When you hear people talk about getting screwed by ALPA they most likely had a bad experience with a councle that didn't have good volunteers. ALPA is only as strong as the pilots who make up ALPA. That is by design.

When my airline had an accident last year the calvary came charging at 3am with out having to be asked. As a small disorganized airline we got help from Northweest, Mesaba, Spirit, FedEx, Expressjet, Comair and America West. That didn't include the big bucks that flowed in without hesitation. There is safety in numbers.

You will only get out of a union what you put into a union. Desicions are made by those who show up.

 

[DrewBlows]

I do have them right but I forgot, YOU KNOW THE DUES FOR EVERY AIRLINE IN THE WORLD!!! How foolish of me... Bow down and worship Puck Mugger! ohh wait, wait, wait... 2% for some at ALPA. I have my facts just fine. Grow up and start throwing trash around... god knows there's enough on you.

Take a deep breath, relax. Three exclamations (four upon further review), was that really necessary? Dues paying ALPA members pay 1.95%, if this is too much for you then don't support the union drive. You don't have to get upset, it's just business. Apparently some at your company want to explore union membership, does this really upset you enough to justify four exclamations?

 

[Steveair]

Take a deep breath, relax. Three exclamations (four upon further review), was that really necessary? Dues paying ALPA members pay 1.95%, if this is too much for you then don't support the union drive. You don't have to get upset, it's just business. Apparently some at your company want to explore union membership, does this really upset you enough to justify four exclamations?

The exclamations weren't about the Union or no union. It was about this forum. Reading the 3 SkyWest threads, there is 70% people being smart (and not in the intelligent way). I need to learn how to use that ignore function....

 

[meatwallet]

...and tax deductible.

hope you don't get audited

In the first place, if your time is correct, you haven't been around long enough to form an opinion about a union.

In the second place, I doubt you would say " teamsters are the lowest people anywhere" to his or her face. They would send you on a trip to meet Jimmy Hoffa, if you're old enough to know who he was.

And third, dues are 1.95%.

Teasmsters have been great in getting me a contract....(insert sound of crickets, me itching my sack...)

Do you drive trucks or something?

 

[DoinTime]

hope you don't get audited

Why? Union dues are 100% deductible (if you itemize your deductions). Schedule A (line 20) of Form 1040 even specifically mentions unions dues as a deductible item.

Another nice thing about ALPA dues is that they are calculated off of your taxable income. So contributions to a 401K or any health plan are withdrawn before they get zapped by the 1.95%.

 

[meatwallet]

Why? Union dues are 100% deductible (if you itemize your deductions). Schedule A (line 20) of Form 1040 even specifically mentions unions dues as a deductible item.

Another nice thing about ALPA dues is that they are calculated off of your taxable income. So contributions to a 401K or any health plan are withdrawn before they get zapped by the 1.95%.

Interesting...because my Teamsters stuff specifically says dues are non tax deductible. I'll have to take another look...

 

[Texx]

Teasmsters have been great in getting me a contract....(insert sound of crickets, me itching my sack...)

Do you drive trucks or something?

Did you have a vote? If you don't like the union that your pilot group is in then change your union. Is it the Teamsters your mad at or your own pilots that are your reps for the union? If you have time to "itch your sack" then take the time to make a change in your pilots leadership if that is were the problem is at.

And no, I do not drive a truck but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

 

[meatwallet]

Did you have a vote? If you don't like the union that your pilot group is in then change your union. Is it the Teamsters your mad at or your own pilots that are your reps for the union? If you have time to "itch your sack" then take the time to make a change in your pilots leadership if that is were the problem is at.

And no, I do not drive a truck but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

We (Lakes) have good pilot leadership. What we do not have is a company that is willing to negotiate in good faith, and a NMB that refuses so far to do what they were elected to do.

Unfortunately, the general attitude here is "get my time and get the hell out", fine nothing wrong with that. But as a consequence many are apathetic or just so pissed off about the contract that they refuse to even think about it. Granted, this does not help Teamsters out much, however they are HIRED by us to negotiate on our behalf, and I don't see a valid excuse for mediation in excess of 5 YEARS!! If we fire them, we are prohibited from hiring new representation for 1 full year. The pilots get updates about once every 3-6 months--never anything changes. We have approached ALPA, they're uninterested.

 

[ShamH85]

This is a huge responsibilty for the pilots at skywest, the outcome can raise the bar for regional pilots for the years to come.

Get errrr done....