ghilis101

ok alpa makes money. guess who else makes money? your management, your shareholders, and everyone else except YOU. dont you see anything wrong with that picture? You may be right about UPS and SWA, not so much AA (they still have their A plan but they have a ton of pay issues and still got a long way before they get back to where they were). But hey if your supporting an in-house union then good for you. You care about your industry.

and lets not forget about all the non-money related benefits you get with a union, which are more important than the money

BassFishr

Just a money making machine?? I bet there are a couple 100,000 pilots that think different. And this whole regional carrier not making enough money has been put to rest a long time ago. And yes those companies do have good contractats, and arn't ALPA, but i think you forgot one FedEX. How did ALPA screw up there pilot group? I'm sure you have some "facts" on that, there contract is just horrible.

YAKflyer

Your personal attacks questioning my intelligence are amusing and so that I am not confused with you I will not respond in kind.

Facts are SKW is not interested in the long term well being of the majority of their employees and that is verified by their unwillingness to keep wages up with inflation when they have the resources to do it. I understand very well why companies buy back their stock and frankly the stock buy back rarely increases the market cap value as much as is spent on the buyback. In my opinion buybacks are a waste. If management wants to reduce their cash to avoid a run on the company, either distribute it to the stockholders or the employees or both. It would be just as effective at emptying the treasury and probably more appreciated by those stakeholders affected.

SKW has no internal conspiracies, their low wages are part of their business model. They have decided (and I'm not referring to just pilots) it is cheaper to pay starvation wages and shoulder the cost to train new employees rather than make the jobs they offer good enough jobs where someone can afford to work there long term. No conspiracy just business. That explains why they have hired more people to work at SKW in the past three years than are currently employed by the company. Walmart has better retention than SKW. For those few who are able to rise to management jobs life is better. I'm not saying how they conduct their affairs isn't good business for stockholders. I am saying the company could be a much better place to work if management had different priorities. Who knows, if they had different priorities maybe they would be even more profitable. I am not using scare tactics, just pointing out the facts. If I am scaring you it is from the conclusions you draw from the information I supply.

If you think you are being treated well enjoy the Koolaid, SKW is the best I've ever seen at pouring it.......

skystruck

I'm a little confused here, is there a better regional to work for than SKW? I'm not saying they are "IT", but who is better and why? Union or not.

YAKflyer

SKW is one of the better looking puppies in what is unfortunately an unbelievably ugly litter.......

Airsupport

Anyone who doesn't want representation needs to seriously think if they want a carrer or future in aviation.. ALPA is there to support us and help build a strong future for us.. "ALPA isn't right for skywest", is one of the lamest excuses i have ever heard... so what you are saying is you dont want representation and you don't want to pay for the future of your job now because everything is FINE where you are at this moment??? come on, give me a break... I have said it before, you guys will sit back and just reap the benefits off the hard work of union members... you never know if your anti-union stance will catch up with you one day.

I encourage you to read the following articles and judge for yourself on how you WILL BENEFIT from the efforts of ALPA and their UNION MEMBERS!

US House bill would shield workers in bankruptcies

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Workers' and retirees' wages and pension benefits would be protected in corporate bankruptcies under a bill to be introduced on Tuesday by Democratic U.S. lawmakers with support from labor unions.

House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement he will offer the bill to "make it more difficult for the companies to use bankruptcy as a way to gut workers' wages and benefits."

Conyers said he will be joined at a news conference on the bill on Tuesday by Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO labor coalition, and labor leaders for airline pilots, steelworkers, auto workers, flight attendants and machinists.

"Workers have been bearing more than their share of the pain when their companies file for bankruptcy," Trumka said.

"This legislation restores balance to the bankruptcy process, moving workers up in the line of who gets what they're owed, ensuring outrageous CEO packages don't trump things like pensions and living wages, and slamming shut corporations' back door route to gutting workers' rights," he said.

An aide to Conyers said the bill would seek to amend the U.S. bankruptcy law and declined to provide further details ahead of the news conference. (Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh)

ALPA Hails Bankruptcy Reform Legislation Introduction


WASHINGTON—The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) president Capt. John Prater joined other AFL-CIO union leaders and key members of Congress today to announce new legislation that would remedy the unjust bankruptcy code that helped airline managements strip workers of their hard-earned pensions, salaries, and work rules following the events of 9/11.
“Managements and bankruptcy judges used the law to force America’s workers to give too much after terrorists attacked this nation on that dark day in September,” said Prater. “But now that the emergency is over, it’s time to fix the bankruptcy code, and this bill is a good first step.”
The “Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2007” would close loopholes that enabled managements to gut workers’ contracts during tough economic times, and would put workers and retirees on equal footing with businesses and banks when companies go bankrupt.
“Since 2001, pilots have given more than $30 billion in concessions, sacrificing an enormous amount to save our airlines and our jobs,” said Prater. “This bill promotes economic fairness and requires shared sacrifice among all company stakeholders—that’s something we can all embrace.”

The legislation is being introduced by U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and U.S. Senate Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).
Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union representing more than 60,000 cockpit crewmembers at 41 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org for more information.
###
CONTACT: Pete Janhunen, Linda Shotwell, Molly Martin, (703) 481-4440


http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/09/21/ho...nsport-system/


The House legislation also includes new worker protections for cabin crews. Patricia Friend, president of the Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), says the bill makes significant headway on worker safety and health and sets


a mandate that flight attendants deserve workplace safety and health requirements that protect those of us whose office is 30,000 feet in the air.

The bill also addresses the issue of pilot fatigue. John Prater, president of the Airline Pilots (ALPA), says:


Pilot fatigue is an increasingly serious issue for ALPA members.…[The legislation] directs the FAA to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on pilot fatigue, and then to consider the findings of the academy and update, where appropriate, its regulations with regard to flight-time limitations and rest requirements for pilots.

The Senate is expected to act on its version of the reauthorization legislation soon.


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...17/ai_57598160

http://www.judiciary.house.gov/media...ater070906.pdf

http://www.aaae.org/news/200_Airport...ml?ReportID=90

http://cf.alpa.org/internet/alp/2000/sept00p10.htm

ExperimentalAB

You and I must be thinking of different companies...last time I checked, SKW was one of the best paying regionals?!?!

The pay should absolutely be better (as it should at all regionals), but come on man, you're painting such an elaborate picture in your post, I think you even got lost in it's colors.

Dash8Pilot

[quote=ExperimentalAB;237898]You and I must be thinking of different companies...last time I checked, SKW was one of the best paying regionals?!?! quote]

How would an airline where new hires are paid under $20 per hour be considered high paying? Other airlines like ExpressJet, Air Whiskey, and Horizon all have rigs, good retirement and benefit packages, and higher hourly rates. How are SkyWest pilots making more?

ExperimentalAB

[quote=Dash8Pilot;237906]Don't mention the plethora of other regionals paying low first-year pay with no rigs, lousy benefits, and then even lousier second and third year pay.

I've decided ya'll are out to get SkyWest...very sad, considering there's little reason for any of it (besides ::gasp:: we're not union)

Please, we're tired of hearing about it.

ghilis101

nobody is out to get you experimental. i still want to know the logic behind your thinking that skw shouldnt have a union.

so you dont support a union at skywest. but you WILL support your union (probably alpa) at your next airline. why? and does that really even make sense to you?

Ive come up with the top reasons skywest pilots dont want a union:

1- Dont want to pay 1.95%

2- Fear of management backlash

3- Completely fallen in love with and been brainwashed by managements letters and emails. How thoughtful of them to write you and check up on you every once in a while, while throwing in the occasional chief pilot's threat on rwy incursions and altitude violations.

4- Bitterness from being former ASA and Mesa which oh by the way would have been 1000 times worse if alpa wasnt protecting those pilots

5- They are anti-labor because somehow they think they are managers? Wake up you are LABOR, youre not youre own boss!

6- Ignorance

7- They project that skywest will never have a "rainy day" and will never ever do anything to hurt their pilot group with poor pay packages and weak benefits. and not to mention skywest would never ever fire their pilots for false allegations of sexual harrassment or anything like that. the company lawyers will take care of you right?


experimental, you might be tired of us trying to get the information out to you, but its all we can do so that a few years from now you dont say you wish you would have known. i dont like to see any fellow pilots get put in a bad spot. and im sure you do realize that this union drive is the best thing to ever happen to your pilot group because it has kept your management at bay. the union drive has also exposed the illegality of SAPA (cant be company funded and still be a pilots association) and allowed for freedom of expression at your company.

For those of you at skywest who support the drive I am glad that you can openly support it (took a lot of hard work from ALPA and this was handled in court) and although your efforts will most likely fail, the impact you will leave will be vital to the protection of your pilots.