Originally Posted by
Velocipede
Let me address both your points.
1. As Union members, they should have known better than to accept employment at a non-Union carrier which AT THE TIME was paying well below legacy wages/benefits. They opportunisticly took advantage of their furlough to "jump ahead" in seniority, hoping B6 would be a survivor. They UNDERCUT EVERY UNION PILOT IN AMERICA!!! And they knew full well what they were doing when they were doing it. Then, they tried to justify it saying, "I had to feed my family." That's how scabs justify crossing picket lines.
2. The current pay scales for narrowbody Capts. at legacy carriers is a direct result of B6 pay scales. How can you not see that. B6 was going great guns, making money and was the darling of the industry, BASED ON LOWER LABOR COSTS AND SWEETHEART AIRBUS LEASES. Legacy managers used the Bankruptcy Code to dump their retirement obligations and gut Union pay scales. The early success of B6 was the impetus for the suffering UAL and USAir pilots experience today.
Extend 'professional courtesy' to these guys? I think not.
V, do you really believe that B6 single handedly brought the current airline industry to it's knees? Surely not. Nobody could stop what the current airline management groups did to their respective carriers. The bankruptcy courts obviously favor management and despise labor. I will agree that B6 started out so well due to their lower labor costs and good leases. However, the compensation and benefits package was enhanced at the end of Dec. 2001 with 100% retroactive pay to October 31, 2001. That particular pay scale is for the Airbus only. Yes, the pay scales for the 190 jet are dismal at best, honestly they are criminal. One of the men behind that particular pay scale was an ex VP of flight ops at DL. A man that was a line pilot with DL who eventually climbed within DL management and ended up with B6 as our VP of flight ops. He too was an ALPA pilot and spent many years as one. My point...another example of legacy management making it's way into the degrading of a labor force. With ALPA on the property and the respective carriers NOT in bankruptcy I fully believe that the legacy scales would still be at an acceptable scale. Once in bankruptcy...it does not matter what B6 scales are, there are plenty of other carriers that have lower pay scales for similar equipment types...B6 is not the bottom. B6 never had to turn a wheel for the pay scales to end up where they did.
I disagree with your opinion that B6 destroyed the industry. The wheels were already in motion and 911 perpetuated the downward spiral. Bankruptcy and the management friendly courts put the nails in the coffin. Many of the current pilots at B6 are still ALPA. I still remain a current and up to date inactive member since my last ALPA carrier. My last carrier was an in house union. I recall being chastised when I started there as well because CA's across the board were only making 80K per year on everything from 727's to 747's. Now, that same company pays their CA's in excess of 200K per year. You have to start somewhere.