Originally Posted by
bullmechum
The IBT seems to follow the traditional airline union model in that they;
1. Take care of themselves.
2. Take care of the senior pilots.
3. Take care of management (indirectly through the concessions the give to accomplish items 1 and 2.)
Just my impression of how things ended up at Cape Air. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pro union, just a little disillusioned, or maybe feeling some buyer’s remorse.
I'm just curious, what would you consider concessions at Cape Air? I think you should have listed at least one thing when making a statement like that. And buyer's remorse? Which union would you have rather "purchased", CAPA? That would have been a disaster, in my opinion. It sounds to me like they were formed with the worst of intentions, and they wouldn't have had anywhere near the resources that the IBT gave us and continues to give us. Stay tuned to your email for a good example of that. Or maybe you would've preferred to stay non-union, I don't know. But then you could kiss all of this goodbye:
-increased sick time which accumulates bi-weekly
-long and short term disability
-scheduled duty breaks
-a 401k contribution from the company
-increased min guarantee for the week and for the day
-increased per diem
-extra pay credit for unscheduled overnights
-extra pay when you have less than 10 days off
-vacation slide
-an open time pool
-improved vacation bidding
-increased bereavement leave
-full coverage for jury duty
-an ASAP program
-a HIMS program
-improved base bidding
And that's just off the top of my head, there's probably more that I'm forgetting about.
Overall the IBT has done a great job considering the size of our airline. With a seniority list of just under 250, ALPA wouldn't even give us the time of day. But like some people said, we got off to a rough start with Local 747, to the point where we voted them out. I think that was probably one of the catalysts that led to their dissolvement. From day one with Local 1224 though, they made it clear that they wished to be judged by how they treat their smallest airline. I always view Unions and their Leadership with a skeptical eye, but so far I have been impressed by Dan Wells and how he runs the Local. We had great representation in negotiating our first contract, and there are not really any items that I view as concessions, unless you are talking about the end our A and B payscales. But feel free to discuss what you view as concessions, I like to hear different viewpoints. Coming from another regional airline with a terrible contract has given me a better perspective, I think, as to how good our contract is. I know time will be the best test, but for a first contract, I think we did very well for ourselves, and we could not have done it without the assistance of Local 1224.