Of course I'd rather put it into a 401k, but as I have said before unions are necessary in this industry. Of course I recognize that SKW's policies are based on union negotiated contracts. Every industry has room for one or two companies that voluntarily meet the standard without a union. I have paid union dues in the past and will likely do so again. My current problem with alpa is not the 2%, it is:

1) The damage they would likely do to SKW. I have seen alpa at work at my previous airline and don't want that in my life now. If SKW descends to the level of other regionals (no it's not there yet) then maybe a union would be necessary (hopefully in-house)

2) The fact that the alpa implementation at the regional level is an abject failure (and a lot of major guys aren't much happier). They appear to have disregarded the regionals and left them to flounder, or possibly even sabotaged them to the benefit of the majors.


On the positive side, the new guy Prater has made all the right noises and appears to recognize the problems on the regional side. Maybe he will make some headway, but we'll have to wait and see.

I would be interested in alpa if they able were to:

1) Fix mesa, and the other jacked-up alpa regionals.
2) Establish a NATIONAL plan and standards as to where this profession is headed, and then enforce it.

v/r,
R