X-Jet Comments from 2003

[VABB]

Keep raising the bar. One day, a senior RJ pilot will be making a little more than minimum wage.

 

[Britpilot]

Keep raising the bar. One day, a senior RJ pilot will be making a little more than minimum wage.

Ahh, the creature from sh1t lagoon raises it's fugly head again.

 

[nimtz]

Ohhhh so it's someone elses fault now!

Look pal, I've gone on record many times as saying our people were out of line when they trash talked you guys over your contract and claimed we would do so much better. Perhaps even I said something chest thumping every now and then (over 300 posts I really don't remember but go ahead and find it if you have that much spare time). The simple fact is the management friendly NMB put us in a box with all the other small jet providers when it came time to determine who was being unreasonable at the bargaining table. Management had a simple card to play by whipping out CHQ and Mesa rates and unfortunately that lead to the junk payrates we see today.

You guys can gloat all you want if we vote in this TA, but it is really sad for all of us. I'm sure you are creaming your shorts cause your a jet captain after 18 months, but all I can say is get use to that seat and the 'lucrative' pay/benefits it provides. The sad fact is we have priced ourselves so cheap from 37-99 seats that we will never see our compensation approach being what it should be. All this as we suck-up both flying and jobs from the majors with bigger and still bigger jets. I fear that five years from know we will look back at what Comair made in amazement of what could of been. Collectively we all have lost in the small jet game. That's not something to be gloating about...

 

[aewanabe]

Nimitz: agreed, 100 percent.

CHQ guys/gals... why gloat about this? Remember most of us talking about all the improvements to OUR contract; and feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the payrates, but feeling like it's the best we could do? Now the shoe is on that foot with the X-Jet guys/gals. Sadly, right now it's looking like Comair IS the "glass ceiling" in RJ contracts, and we all know Bedford et. al. will be beating the "competive" bandwagon for the next 2.5 years before we go back into Section 6.

 

[jaybird]

Look pal

Don't call me pal, buddy. It's just frustrating when $hitbags like mctinkle spew their garbage.

 

[AFELLOWAVIATOR]

Pilot groups like chawaw and mesa have made it very hard for any pilot group out there to negotiate fair wages. I hope you realize this.
Threads like this are wrong. It's like breaking a mans legs then laughing at him because he has trouble walking. If they don't get Comair plus 1%, it is not because they did not try, but because the chawas and mesas have fu cked them by agreeing to prostitute themselves out.

 

[JetLinkin Park]

All very valid points in original post. XJT guys talked about raising the bar for the past 2 years +. Now most are happy with substandard wages. You guys have a right to piss, moan, and judge comments from the past.

Just know that they're are plenty of NO VOTES here. I will gladly give up retro pay for a continued climb in 50 seat pay.

 

[BluDevAv8r]

Just know that they're are plenty of NO VOTES here. I will gladly give up retro pay for a continued climb in 50 seat pay.

I'm not sure who you are, but your risk/reward analysis is interesting. Are you sure that by voting this contract down, you will gain a continued climb in 50-seat rates? I know what happens if we ratify this TA. I do not know what happens if we don't. Food for thought.

-Neal

 

[Britpilot]

Pilot groups like chawaw and mesa have made it very hard for any pilot group out there to negotiate fair wages. I hope you realize this.
Threads like this are wrong. It's like breaking a mans legs then laughing at him because he has trouble walking. If they don't get Comair plus 1%, it is not because they did not try, but because the chawas and mesas have fu cked them by agreeing to prostitute themselves out.

At least someone gets it.

 

[JetLinkin Park]

I'm not sure who you are, but your risk/reward analysis is interesting. Are you sure that by voting this contract down, you will gain a continued climb in 50-seat rates? I know what happens if we ratify this TA. I do not know what happens if we don't. Food for thought.

-Neal

To re-iterate Neal, my words were "I will gladly give up retro pay for a continued climb in 50 seat pay." Wouldn't you??? I didn't say that if the TA gets voted down, we would get those rates for giving up retro. I just made a fairly simple straight forward comment, which I stand by. Do you honestly believe this is the companies best offer? I'm willing to bet my retro check that it's not.

I'd also gladly return the 10 minutes of customs pay and the extra day off to futher increase the pay scales. That's just me and my $27/hr opinion talking though.

In the end, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I can rely on the idea that the conducted polling has steered you and the rest of the NC in this direction. If that's the case, the voting will speak for itself.

 

[sgu]

Pilot groups like chawaw and mesa have made it very hard for any pilot group out there to negotiate fair wages. I hope you realize this.
Threads like this are wrong. It's like breaking a mans legs then laughing at him because he has trouble walking. If they don't get Comair plus 1%, it is not because they did not try, but because the chawas and mesas have fu cked them by agreeing to prostitute themselves out.

thank you!

 

[FlyChicaga]

I don't think you can put all the blame on Mesa, Chautauqua and Mesaba. It also has a lot to do with JetBlue and MidAtlantic... airlines which fly 70-110 seaters at rates below what the starting goal was in this contract. You can't get $100/hr for a 5-year captain on an Embraer 145 when MidAtlantic is paying 5-year captains $66/hr for the EMB-170 and JetBlue is paying 5-year captains $77/hr.

Heck, go to www.airlinepilotpay.com and compare the $100/hr ERJ goal with Spirit, Midwest, ATA (LRJ), Independence, and Sun Country... all "major" airlines.

 

[I.P. Freley]

I.P. Freley vbmenu_register("postmenu_223460", true

Man, talk about dredging up the past... It took me ten minutes to even figure out what thread my original post was on.

 

[BluDevAv8r]

To re-iterate Neal, my words were "I will gladly give up retro pay for a continued climb in 50 seat pay." Wouldn't you??? I didn't say that if the TA gets voted down, we would get those rates for giving up retro. I just made a fairly simple straight forward comment, which I stand by. Do you honestly believe this is the companies best offer? I'm willing to bet my retro check that it's not.

I'd also gladly return the 10 minutes of customs pay and the extra day off to futher increase the pay scales. That's just me and my $27/hr opinion talking though.

In the end, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I can rely on the idea that the conducted polling has steered you and the rest of the NC in this direction. If that's the case, the voting will speak for itself.

Yes, I think it is the best package we will see. To your point about customs pay and a day off for reserves, giving that back would equal roughly $747,000 per year in savings, not even 0.5% in rate. I am not willing to gamble $30,600,000 in retro money to even try get another point in rate, but that is just my personal opinion.

-Neal

 

[AFELLOWAVIATOR]

thank you!

\\



Don't get me wrong. I still believe that voting yes to the first offer MAY be a mistake. Mgt. has been known to hold back in case the TA is voted down. What we finally voted yes to was WAY, WAY, better than the "first final offer".

Before each vote, they threatened us with every thing. They told the news papers they might be forced to close the doors if we voted the TA down because they simply could not afford any more. They sent color brochures with pie graphs and comparisons to other contracts line by line to our homes, even Fred Reid, then Pres. of Delta, came to CVG and had a press conference the day before the "second final offer" was to voted down threatening all sorts of doom and gloom if we said no. Well, we said hell no and a couple of weeks later, they were back at the table.

Good luck and we are 100% behind you.!