selling out FO pay for growth (pay for upgrade)
aewanabe said:
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly with this. It will not last for ever; I wish guys would stop crowing about it. Eventually the music IS gonna stop, and our job next contract is to make sure CHQ is a livable place for everyone here, in every seat.
PS I've been saying this for the last two years, long before I upgraded.
Yeah but did you vote for your current book or not? Even if you were enlightened enough not to, most did. Those who fought in recent history in the regional sector to help the profession (not limited by any means to Comair either) have a problem with that. Your management and union leadership at numerous roadshows told your pilot group if Comair didn't sign Randy's pay cut offer and you signed this contract you would get so much DCI growth it would blow your minds and everyone on property that day would see a 1.5 year upgrade or less, your collective pilot group creamed themselves and went for it. They made a deal with the devil and lucky for them the devil paid up this time.
This wasn't about staying alive, or feeding your family, or making your mortgage or saving your company. Chautauqua was incredibly profitable at the time and did not need such a generous, pro management contract. Your pilot group smelled upgrade and that's all that mattered. Comair fought not only for one of the top contracts this sector of the airline industry had ever had, but long before that, we fought to put an end to substandard FO pay. FO's make 60% Captain's pay just like the majors of olde. We fought to carry that over in our current book, and refused numerous company offers to create a pay for upgrade B scale. Even the pay freeze gave special exception to FO's, making sure they got second year pay on their one year anneversarry even though everyone else won't get a raise. We made sure the pay freeze won't affect a new hire at all, even though those of us already here will take a sizeable hit.
Immagine how much "bargaining credit" we could have gotten by sticking them at first year pay for 2 years. Immagine how much growth we could have bought. And for what its worth, no CHQ pilot has the moral authority to complain about our pay freeze. That right is reserved exclusively for 39% of us at Comair who voted against it, plus everyone at ASA and Horizon and maybe, depending on profit sharing and other things, Xpress-Jet. That's it.
Believe it or not, you are not the only group of aviators who figured out that captains make more than FO's, so its desireable to make captain sooner. You just led the modern era charge to sell out FO rates to buy your upgrade and undercut others to get it if necessary (and it was necessary) not only for the raise but for the resume time as well. By the way, congratulations on keeping your contract down to only 3 years ammendable date. When everyone is fighting to raise the bar, that's an accomplishment.
When you signed your current book however, we as an industry were on the leading edge of the new race to the bottom by very profitable carriers just to get growth, but you were also hot on the heels of a time when everyone fought when it was their turn to help jack up the house. When your current book is expired and you're back in negotiations, good luck trying to shore up those FO rates. You will always have 50% of your pilot group who will do anything for an upgrade (that's why they came there in the first place) and you will have to be "competitive" in the pilot bidding price war not only to get any growth, but to keep what you have. The last year of your contract could very well be your high water mark. That is, unless you are willing to sacrifice growth, which you clearly will not be.
