Generally, a scab is someone who crosses a picket line or flies struck work. By the Merriam-Webster definition, a scab is also someone who works on a non-Union basis for less than Union wages. (You'll get some divergent opinion if that applies to the airline industry here! )

That would put Skybus, jetBlue and Virgin America pilots in the "scab" catagory. However, I'll concede the point that the name "scab" is probably too harsh for those guys. POTENTIAL scab is probably more accurate.

Why? Because the justification these pilots use to accept employment at companies who seek to undercut Union labor is the same justification that scabs use when they cross picket lines.

So, no matter how you choose to whitewash it, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck.