Originally Posted by
Captain Tony
I still laugh how you guys call it "negotiating". You don't have a union or a contract. Your lap dog student council takes whatever management gives them, then goes to you and makes it look like they put up the good fight. You're only "negotiating" if you can affect the outcome!
You don't have a pay rate on it yet because WE don't have a pay rate on it yet! DUH!
Actually you are 100% wrong, been drinking too much of your own brand of koolaid.
Skywest and their pilots have a signed contract and we periodically discuss and agree to amendments (also signed). This is a perfectly and completely legally enforceable contract, just like a contract to rent a home or buy an car...I never needed ALPA for that either.
There are two differences...
Without a union, enforcement of said contract would require a lawsuit, either by an individual pilot or some sort of class action. But based on my previous experience I'm not sure that's any worse than a union grievance process which usually dilutes the issue, drags it out for a few years and then pays you one credit hour.
SKW pilots cannot hold the threat of a strike over management's head, but the reality is that no other regional group can either. NMB (even with a labor friendly regime in DC) won't release you and even if they did most majors "spread load" their regional schedules so no single regional could lock out any one hub or destination, ala COMAIR. And even if you did, you'd wind up like COMAIR in the end.
The regional game is rigged and the funniest part is that your mainline brothers reap some of the fruits of that. They sure don't want you to make more money because the pax or management sure ain't paying for it...that means they would have to.