Originally Posted by
slowplay
Nope, but you know that.
As a regional guy care to answer the original question on conventional wisdom?
Maybe you have some additional facts for us to consider to support the position you've advocated here in the past. I'm not trying to be argumentative here...show me a better path, one that actually works, and I'll help get us there. But we've got to start from where we are, with our current contract and company, not from where you wish we would be.
Let me take a stab at this.
You currently have a cap of 255 for the 70/76 seat planes correct. Is there anything stopping mainline from getting additional 76 seat airplanes in your contract. The answer is yes and no. Yes in the fact that they can't go to the regionals without scope relief. No in the fact that there is nothing that says Delta can't buy as many as they want as long as Delta pilots are flying them. You guys already have the pay scales in the contract for crj900. (one version of a current 76 seat airplane) Mainline wants to dump some of the 50 seaters and says they need an order of 76 seaters to allow that. If you guys flew them how is this not a way to allow this to happen? How is this not a plan?
Yes the pilot costs are more than what is being offered at the regionals but do you feel that those are fair rates and then ask yourself do the regionals have any leverage to actually raise them on their own? The answer to both is no. If they raise bar they lose them to the next flavor of the week regional. As for the rates and being too expensive what was the payscale for the dc9-10? It was the same as all the other dc9's out there and your current payscales for the emb195 and emb 190/crj900 are well below that of the current dc9 payscales. Isn't that already a concession? Why is more needed than that?
Why is it ok to dump more 76 seaters on pilots that hold virtually zero leverage and expect them to do the lifting which everyone knows can't happen. The regional pilots don't have any say when flying is taken away but the majors do.
The problem that some see is that because it costs more for you to fly them there is less in the piggy bank for you. That could be and if that's the case, aren't the pilots at the majors basically saying it's all about me and my paycheck and **** on the rest of you. Yeah I know that sound harsh but isn't that what loosening scope does? Allows for larger pay rates at the majors being subsidized by the pilots at the regionals? Has anyone ever said what it would "actually cost" to have those flown at mainline? How much of a % in pay would it cost? (per pilot)
One last thing. How much more are pilots at the mainline making because they have allowed all of this outsourcing?