You're Welcome SkyWest

[Jack-O-Lantern]

UH! And Delta is now DALPA/ALPA because???? Must be management treated them so well, the voted in a union in gratitude. SKYW, you have lowered the bar for everyone, showing management that there is no unity in the pilot groups. It will catch up with you someday, in the meantime, I flew with a lot of great guys/gals over there and sincerely wish everyone good luck in the future.

Yogi

I wasn't referring to the pilot groups. Anyone who has been around this industry for any period of time knew I was referring to the many other employee groups and there unions ie IAM AFA ect. at Delta and Eastern. One of which was greatly unionized the other not!

 

[SkyWstman]

Actually the talk about pay increase here has nothing to do with ASA or any other airline. It has to do with supply and demand. The reason they're talking money is because they can't get enough new hires. That is my understanding.

 

[Jack-O-Lantern]

I understand that also.

 

[SkyNation]

you both understand correctly.

 

[CFI2766]

Of course if Skywest had voted in ALPA, it would be 3-5 years before there were any pay increases.... Instead they get them immediately.... and don't have to pay 1.95%....

One could also opine that your 1.95% contributed to their raise.

Good job!

My point? Recognize ALPA, warts and all, as not necessarily the most evil entity on the planet.


Now seriously, why would SKYW have to wait 3 to 5 years? Let's see, as a new hire which option is more attractive: Lower current pay, contract in progress (SKYW), or, Higher pay, contract in place (ASA)? If SKYW could not attract pilots, while ASA, et al, could, the contract would get wrapped up much quicker than 3-5 years in the future.

 

[CFI2766]

you both understand correctly.

Is it your understanding that the pay increase, theoretical, at this point, will be offered out of the benevolence of Mr. Atkin's heart?

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I would feel much better about the whole situation if it were, "We're making millions of dollars in profits, and would like to share it with one of our hardest working employee groups."

Rather, it seems to be driven by, "We can't find anybody to fly our aircraft, so we'll have to throw more money at them".

 

[sqwkvfr]

Would someone please post what the "new" new-hire pay is?

 

[DX Rick]

Who do we all thank when we take pay cuts and work rules get thrown out the window?

 

[Oakum_Boy]

I thank mamma for the cookin', daddy for the whoppin', the devil for the trouble that I get in to....

 

[SkyNation]

Is it your understanding that the pay increase, theoretical, at this point, will be offered out of the benevolence of Mr. Atkin's heart?

where do you get that?

he said "The reason they're talking money is because they can't get enough new hires" and I agreed with him.

 

[duck_killer]

OK so let me get this straight. An ASA pilot gives us rates if/when we catch up to them. But when they catch up to us on 401K, etc. somehow it's not coat tail riding? And Trojan find a better word than asinine, it makes you sound childish.

 

[skyhogg]

It's much better than Communism. Capitalism and the market economy have been wonderful to me.

Not what I said and not the point. I made no reference to any other system. Point is that there are many different opinions out there but when someone agrees with skynation...he "gets it"...

 

[skywav8r]

Hey skywesters,
Skywest voted down alpa in 99. Management, out of the goodness of their hearts gave everyone a raise. Comair went on strike and raised the bar. Skywest matched what they had. Skywest pilots, since then have lowered the bar. Asa pilots struggle to get a new contract being whipsawed against skywest pilots. They finally get a contract which includes higher pay for first year pilots. Skywest pilots once again are rewarded for work done by union pilots. Sapa, the entity not the people, should get NO credit for the recent gains. Thank you ASA. Comair, and every other regional out there that has tried to raise the regional pilots quality of life. Sorry the majority here don't seem to want to help.

 

[Gandalf]

For all of those $19.25ers out there.....

A little history lesson.....

"The 18 Month TA dated July 1, 2003 through December 31,2004 - SAPA President CA......
......The Tentative Agreement
-18 month duration
- Current pay scales for current aircraft
- All longevity increases remain intact
- 50-99 seat rates (current 50 seat rates) - so in order for us to get the 70s on property management asked and SAPA agreed and endorsed freezing pay for 18 months.

At the end of 18 months...."SAPA President DL's pay letter to BH ~2004
Dear B,
I am writing to you in my capacity as President of The SkyWest Airlines Pilot's Association (SAPA) regarding the pay scale that SAPA proposes to become effective January 1, 2005.....
......The CRJ 50 and 70-seat pay scales submitted herewith are reflective of the top industry scales that will become effective in 2005. Adoption of these pay scales will meet the expressed desire of the company and SAPA. Further, the submitted pay scales reflect year over year percentage increases of 2.5%, 3.0% and 3.5% in order to keep them at the top of the industry during the term of the agreement.....

.....With regard to the pay scale for the EMB-120 aircraft, SAPA proposes a percentage increase of 4.7% to account for the increase in the cost of living since the current pay scales were adopted in June, 2002. This scale also reflects year over year percentage increases of 2.5%, 3.0% and 3.5% in order to keep it at the top of the industry during the term of the agreement.
.....SAPA notes the continued profitability of the company as announced on July 21, 2004. SAPA is gratified and encouraged by the results our management team has achieved with the help of this pilot group and all employee groups of SkyWest Airlines......"

And then...."President DA's pay TA letter dated September 19, 2005
Fellow SkyWest Pilots,

The first draft of this letter was completed on Labor Day 2005, an appropriate day to conclude our pay negotiations.....
.....Many of you have indicated that you prefer a larger increase in base rates, as opposed to participation in the incentive plans. In response, we extended the pay talks to explore every feasible way to increase base rates. After considering several proposals from us, management has agreed to an across-the-board increase of 1.2% for all pilots, in addition to our continued participation in the incentive plans. While some may feel that 1.2% isn’t much, and we’d love to have been able to say it’s more, this percentage is consistent with the increase given to other employee groups(NOT OTHER PILOT GROUPS IN THE INDUSTRY) who were already participating in the company bonus plan.....

We said no thanks....

Meanwhile we had been working on QOL....."Enter the work rule proposal (Initially Proposed to mngnt December 2004):

2 hour Short-Call for all domiciles for reserve pilots
• Establish a 12 hour Long-Call for reserve pilots(Hasn't happened)
• Max 18 duty days per bid period, i.e. 12-13 days off for all pilots(Hasn't happened)
• 4:10 Minimum Daily Guarantee for all pilots(Hasn't Happened)
• Establish a Minimum Staffing Level Requirement formula coupled with monetary incentives, i.e. 150% pay above 87 hrs, if the average credit per domicile with PBS is above 90 hours at the beginning of the bidding process.
• Establish a reserve list transparency able to be seen by all pilots, i.e. any pilot will be able to see the current reserve staffing levels system wide and at each domicile.(Hasn't happened - even with implementation of Sked+)
In a July 2006 Fights Ops meeting with BH and the SAPA Executive Board, BH conveys to the EB that there might be some room for pay."(Thanks B, might be some room - nice!)


Here we are still working on those QOL issues...."Along with pay scales we also discussed 401(k) issues, anniversary date pay adjustments, pay for passport renewals, electronic flight bag, reserve transparency, and long call reserve, performance rewards /financial rewards into the crew member policy manual and 11 days off per month for reserves...."

Then....."November 14, 2006
Fellow SkyWest Pilots,
SAPA is pleased to inform you that a recent vote regarding the attached pay proposal was conducted among your Regional Representatives. The proposal was approved by the Representative Board.
......The pay proposal provides for a base jet rate and a base turboprop rate effective January 1, 2007. The base jet rate will be our current 50-99 seat scale, plus 1%, and will apply to the 40-59 seat jets. The base turboprop rate will be our current turboprop scale....Credit time for the CRJ-700/900 will be adjusted by using the Block Hour Override (BHO)..."

And now in November 2007 - "....It appears that first year pay rates are some of the lowest in the industry. Next we talked about how the Brasilia pilot’s base rates were left out of the last pay package.....As for the jet rates, it looks like the 50 seat rates are near average while the 700 and 900 rates are starting to fall below average...."

SAPA OUR "Bargining Group" WERE THE ONES WHO AGREED ON THIS WITH MANAGEMENT AND SENT US THE ORIGINAL PAY PROPOSAL A YEAR AGO AND ARE NOW SAYING THAT OH, NO....JEEZ....YOU MEAN, LIKE OMG FIRST YEAR PAY SUCKS, OH, YOU MEAN LIKE OMG WE MISSED THE BRO GUYS, OH, YOU MEAN, OMG...HMMM....THE 70/90 RATES ARE STARTING TO FALL BELOW AVERAGE.....

So, at the end of 2004 you asked for a 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5% pay increase, a 4.7% increase for COLA for the Bro guys - a year later you were cheerleading for a 1.2% across the board increase, a year later, we get "we are PLEASED to give you 1% over 4 years", and now we get a letter that all of you are drooling over and saying yee haa we are getting more money.....

Ok, the problem is attracting new hires...What's to say they just increase the first year pay without anything else....remember at-will, no contract...they can do that....

And further more, what is to say that management is going to say yes to anything that SAPA wants....It's been pretty obvious that management doesn't really care what SAPA asks for, or proposes.

So, before you all go nuts and go out and buy a new car because you think that because we got some email saying that we are getting a raise by Jan. 1. - You might want to think twice about it.
You really think that we are getting anything, and if we do how can it be anything appreciable, because we have already proved to management over the last 3-4 years that SAPA has no say in the matter. With a union drive going on management could have satisfied a lot of us with a good faith raise along with some QOL improvements and they couldn't even do that. But suddenly, supply and demand is going to drive them to pay us more.....They have been dealing with supply problems a long time...with no great results.

So, I for one am happy to have a job, but certainly not getting too excited by this.