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Nationwide Pilot Union?

Old 08-31-2011, 11:32 AM
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Default Nationwide Pilot Union?

Would anyone else on here be in favor of a Nationwide Pilot's Union and therefore a Nationwide Seniority List??? Okay, so if you're at Delta, Southwest, Fedex, UPS, etc. or you have lot's of seniority where-ever then probably not. But hear me out . . .

Imagine a master seniority list. For most of us our airline will get sold, merge, or otherwise fail and we'll find yourself out on the street. With a master seniority list perhaps we don't have to start back at the bottom. It might also discourage the growing trend where management subcontracts out work from the majors to the regionals, and then from one regional to a lower cost regional.

So how would something like this work? The devil is figuring out where everyone would start out on the seniority list. For guys who just got hired somewhere this isn't really a big deal. For guys who have 30 years in someplace, this is a huge deal. Perhaps a plan which would factor in each pilot's years of service and then use age as a tie breaker. Also, there would have to be some crazy formula to prevent a senior guy from getting furloughed at a one airline and then going right tot he top of somebody else's seniority list.

The goal of this whole thing is to help stabilize this career and stop management from exploiting the pilots. Remember Eastern, TWA, PanAM, etc. At one point those airlines were the best of the best and everybody wanted to work there. If you had 20-30 years in and were getting ready to retire when they went under . . . well you get the idea. Or how about the guys who have 10 years in and a family to support? How about this Midwest guys when they got bought? Anyone know where the Frontier thing is going? How many of us UAL guys are still on furlough?

If you've got seniority at a great airline there is very little incentive for you to join a Nationwide Union with a Master Seniority List. However, what would there be to lose? You sign up, and as long as your airline and union are strong the Master List doesn't really come into play.

Sure we might lose a bit of seniority from time to time but at least we wouldn't lose it all!
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Old 09-01-2011, 12:10 PM
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Never going to happen. Welcome to the airline biz.
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Old 09-01-2011, 12:30 PM
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I would love to see a list of mandatory minimum wages, based on type/size of aircraft. Australia and other countries that aren't deregulated have this...
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Old 09-01-2011, 08:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Laxrox43 View Post
I would love to see a list of mandatory minimum wages, based on type/size of aircraft. Australia and other countries that aren't deregulated have this...
And how many airlines are in any of these countries... anywhere in the world? Then, how many do we have?
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Old 09-01-2011, 08:47 PM
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Tony, if I can find the list I'll post a link on here. If I remember correctly, the list is broken down by plane type/size. C-152 (or similar) all the way up to Jumbo's. I don't think it should matter how many commuter airlines or major air carriers there are in the US. I think there should be a nation-wide minimum base pay for each type/size aircraft. Then, the individual carrier unions can improve upon that "base pay."
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Old 09-01-2011, 09:04 PM
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Default I like where this is headed

It's not a nationwide seniority list but a minimum wage is better than where things are now. Anybody on here know anything about how trade unions work, like Electricians or Plumbers, etc.???

I know Actors have a union which benefits members and non-members alike. For example if you, as a non-member, get picked out of the audience and appear on say David Letterman then you get a certain amount. But if you actually speak on air then you get considerably more. Doesn't matter what company you work for. I don't all the specifics but I do recall some generalities.

Lets keep this discussion going. The only people who lose are management and those management represents.

Last edited by elssaw; 09-01-2011 at 09:05 PM. Reason: Typo
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Old 09-02-2011, 05:01 AM
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Default Why not?

Originally Posted by TonyWilliams View Post
Never going to happen. Welcome to the airline biz.

I'm sure this isn't a new concept, and it's been discussed before, but why couldn't it happen? After all, what if two pilots agree, then three, then five, then ten, etc. If enough pilots agree then why not?
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Old 09-02-2011, 08:55 AM
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You'll never get enough to agree. You can't even get enough pilots in one union to get it all together. Look at the US Air mess, next is the SWA/Air Tran merger.
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Old 09-02-2011, 09:15 AM
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Originally Posted by elssaw View Post
I'm sure this isn't a new concept, and it's been discussed before, but why couldn't it happen? After all, what if two pilots agree, then three, then five, then ten, etc. If enough pilots agree then why not?
Because enough pilots will never agree, and a nationwide union would mean that the union won't have to be worried about being replaced with another union, and thus become lazy, unproductive and suck. ALPA is a great indicator of this... they've become too big and now they're totally junk.
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Old 09-02-2011, 02:35 PM
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Yeah cause pilots have been known to play nice with each other...
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