Originally Posted by
CptGSXR
..........ok I edited this part out about what I said to make it shorter and next is their response to every 121 op requiring ATP (RAH SKW AE and Express Jet).........
"But those guys are MAJORS We don't operate on that scale, you can't compare us to them. Pilots come here to get to the majors quicker with Captain time."
And comments like that illustrate just how out of touch there regional airline managements are. They pay their guys (literally) the equivalent of a minimum wage worker. A guy making 8 bucks an hour at McDonald's makes about $16,000 per year working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. A guy working as a Great Lakes F/O makes $16/hour which is around $16,000 per year. Oh wait. They don't get paid during training, so they'll make less than a minimum wage worker their first year at GL. And they can't understand why they can't guys to work for them????
It's a stupid argument anyway. If I were an average software engineer working at an average small company vs. an average large company, would I be earning 10 TIMES less than the average software engineer at a large company? An accountant? A nurse?
Well, one of two things will happen at Lakes assuming they don't "get lucky" with an economic downturn. They'll either raise pilot compensation, or they'll park a bunch of airplanes for lack of pilots- their choice.