Without a Regional Pilot's Union......

[Ganja60Heavy]

...we are doomed.

The Companies under whose codes we fly will continue to whittle away our pay and working conditions to nothing.

Just read this quote from Skip Barnette, puppet-figure ASA "President", when asked whether ASA will gain more 70-seat flying after Delta's new scope agreement:

"ASA plans to compete vigorously for the opportunity to increase our 70-seat flying for Delta. However, we will face stiff competition from other carriers, like Comair, SkyWest and Chautauqua for this opportunity, along with other non-Delta Connection carriers."

"Stiff competition" is code for "WHIPSAW like you ain't never seen."

Just remember, there is no "minimum" or "fair" salary for an airline pilot. It's whatever people are willing to work for. However, the current "low-bid" approach completely undermines any single pilot group to where our individual unions are useless. As individual pilot groups, our bargaining power is as close to zero as it can be.

At a time when we are totally being scammed as pilots for wages borne during a different era (turboprop PIC timebuilder-to-the-majors scenario), we face huge impending pay-cuts rather than the 25 - 50% pay raises we all know we deserve to have a reasonable aviation career as jetliner Captains.

....just my $.08 <--- (that's $.02 without a Saturday-night stay)

 

[crashpad]

You tell 'em Fidel!!!!
I left the commuters for a independant airline shortly before 9/11, at the time when my contemporarys were still in the mindset that it was a 'lateral' move. Now they realize the feeders are a long road leading to nowhere. Future hiring at independant airlines will be tight and as evident by the past 2 years, slanted to giving the golden opportunities to the furloughed pilots with tons more experience.
Commuter pilots must look at there place in the aviation industry as the one they will retire at. The only way they will ever get what they deserve is through one national union.
To do this they must first take pride in themselves, before they can achieve pride as a whole. I say this because most of the time I see commuter pilots dressed worse than the bag boys at Pick And Save.
Since when do 'Airline Pilots' where steal-toed boots with thick hiking soles? I see more and more the demise of our public perception thanks to these guys and gals who think they are the casual/cool pilot of tomorrow. If you want respect, you have to earn it. I don't envy commuter pilots', they have the toughest road of all. I firmly believe they can change the state of their woes through a collective effort and through their actions, start the chain of events that will put all airline pilots back on top where they ought to be.

 

[temcgrew]

Ask any company that was a supplier for ENRON why they went out of buisness. Is it not obvious that when you are a contract company for a bankrupt company there is financial risk involved? United and Delta are trying to cut cost. This results in lowering anything they have control over. If they can cut cost with the contract companies then they will. Sure it hurts alot of people, but that is the state of our lives right now. It only hurts us to keep whining about it and "picking at the wound". For a regional to keep its buisness right now it has to undercut the competition. This is just BUISNESS 101, why do most people think that the airlines are imune to regular buisness practices?

 

[prattzl]

This is just BUISNESS 101, why do most people think that the airlines are imune to regular buisness practices?

AMEN!!!

 

[WhiteCloud]

This is just BUISNESS 101, why do most people think that the airlines are imune to regular buisness practices?

Of course the airlines are not immune to the realities of the marketplace.....they just seem to ignore the "ethics" part of the curriculum.

 

[Ganja60Heavy]

Ethics, not Market Forces

This is about shrewd business. Not about fairness or ethics. Ethics and business are incompatible.......big companies care about law and nothing else. If they can get away with it, they do it.

Whipsaw tactics are unethical, but widespread. No use whining about it, but action is necessary. The protection from these tactics includes pride and solidarity.

Already seems to be a lost cause when a thread discussing someone's grammatical errors on a post gets 45 replies, and a topic such as this which addresses real career issues gets ignored.

Ostriches with heads in sand!

Good luck to all regional pilots in the coming years. Ain't looking good.

 

[WhiteCloud]

This is about shrewd business. Not about fairness or ethics. Ethics and business are incompatible.......big companies care about law and nothing else. If they can get away with it, they do it.

Whipsaw tactics are unethical, but widespread. No use whining about it, but action is necessary. The protection from these tactics includes pride and solidarity.

Actually, large and small companies that are in any business for the long haul need to have a reputation of trust or they will be out of business. Sooner or later your reputation catches up with you. It will certainly catch up to UAL, I think sooner (like early next year) rather than later.

 

[Skyrtr]

National Standards of Pay and Benefits

I have posted similar sentiments regarding a need for ALL pilots to unite with some national representation that has teeth. It's ridiculous what regional pilots go through to get a position that pays less than virtually anything else they could do. There isn't another type of "business" in this country that enjoys the enviable position of being excrutiatingly selective, overwhelmed with applicants, and promising poverty wages at the same time. Even the starving artist actors have national unions that establish some minimums don't they? I know that they do in Hollywood (and that's across film companies, not a separate contract for each company). I use actors as a comparison because they are another group of people that try to earn money at what they LOVE.

Saying that it's just business-sense to pay these wages is ridiculous. No other business in this country would dare to try to pay these wages for comparably skilled labor, because they would have no employees and no business in short order.

I am on furlough from an airline (although I never even got to the plane...). However, I have 15 years of experience in the business world. I can tell you that NOBODY going for a job interview at a fortune 500 company for a $75,000/yr job even comes close to preparing like we do for our airline interviews and our careers in general. They also don't risk life and limb, watch their alcohol consumption like monks or work on Christmas either. I love airplanes, flying and being a pilot, but we do need to find some pride.