Originally Posted by
boxer6
Ask anybody who has interviewed at the majors (DAL/UAL etc..) if they didn't have a Capt. interviewer...maybe along with an HR interviewer. The line pilot does have veto power just as the HR person would. Plus, I think some of these majors have a pilot board that interviewees must pass.
Now add a dynamic of a regional partner flying struck work, if a strike should happen. What do you think the odds are of said pilot at said feeder flying struck work being hired?
Now, if said feeder was non-union and therefore could not refuse flying only because said pilot group voted down representation a few years ago that would otherwise allow them to refuse flying struck work, how do you think that goes over with a mainline pilot?
Granted, its not a highly likely scenario but then think about the 70 seaters in IAH or EWR on the UCAL system. What would those pilots do if UCAL suddenly puts CAL code on those flights in clear violation of CAL scope language? Would pilots in a unionized shop have more leverage to refuse flying than the non-union outfit? I think the answer is obvious.
There's a difference between non-union and scab. I agree that a scab would be at high risk of getting not hired. But the Captain interviewer may not be a line pilot, or he may be hand-picked by management (ie not a union sympathizer).
In the past SKW has not forced pilots to fly controversial work. I can attest to that personally...a couple days before that SKY IAH stuff started I called the company and told them I was not going to be be flying my leg into IAH the ways things stood with the legal issue at that time. They didn't give me any grief about it. Shortly thereafter the MEC wrote a letter absolving the SKW pilots of blame for that business. I had already told the company "no" but with a permission slip from ALPA, I didn't have a leg to stand on.
It's theoretically possible that you could get bad blood over something like that, but a lot of things would have to go wrong. Also a lot of pilots in good conscience would not want to punish all pilots from a certain airline over the actions of a few. I voted yes on the last drive and refused the IAH flying...the guys on the opposite end of the spectrum are mostly lifers who are not going to be applying to any majors!
Majors will not want to ever allow any sort of union hiring preference...that might encourage more unions at the regionals and drive up their costs! But even if all regionals were alpa you would still need a national seniority list to take pilots out of the competitive equation.