Bottom line: you will get no more than the market will bear. You won't even get that if you don't fight for it.

Right now, it appears that (maybe) there will be a pilot shortage in the next few years. This all depends on how many airplanes are added to the fleets. In any event, I don't see $200,000 regional captains any time soon. As long as the various companies are subcontractors and can be played against each other, no where near $200,000. You have to realize that as subcontractors, you have no clout at all with the major airlines that employ you. If you somehow succeed in getting pay concessions from the company you work for, the contracting airline will just dump your company and go to another, lower cost one, or even establish one. If you don't think so, just look at the way the cargo industry grew up in the last 20 years or so. History has a way of repeating itself. Most regional pilots haven't even heard of Spirit of America, Interstate, Rosenbalm, Custom Air, ExpressNet, or even Emery Worldwide. These are only a few of the airlines that ceased to exist when the contracting companies decided to go to somebody cheaper. This isn't a rocket science and the management of these major (and some not so major) airlines has it figured out too. Why else would they hire contractors instead of operating the airplanes themselves?

The only answer is a nationwide union with a nationwide seniority list. That's not likely, but I wish you well in establishing one. Otherwise, the various pilot groups are pawns that will be played against each other. ALPA severely dropped the ball when they didn't see this at the outset. The RJ's should have been on the same certificate as the bigger jets, and the pilots on the same seniority list. 20/20 hindsight notwithstanding, it was a huge mistake to allow the current setup.