OK Dirty,

You make some good points. Believe it or not, and as much as a union supporter I obviously am, it wasn't my intent to make this specific thread about unions or lack there of.

EAS seems like a very nice place to work, with the only complaint that I ever hear on here being your schedule. And you know that when you get hired. The very fact that RI, who I believe was a member of your Chief Pilot's office, is still on here and is still helpful and is as supportive as he is speaks volumes about him and your Company. It is obvious that he still loves the Company and its pilot group even though he's moved on and it's also obvious that your pilots respected and revered him.. I think it's him.

But what pulls my string on this thread, in particular, are blanket statements about unions that I wholeheartedly disagree with. To say that I am a supporter and defender of pilot unions would be an understatement, so it is true I make posts on here all the time about when I see something dumb said against unions or any American's right to organize.

About the only disagreement I have with RI is how there will never be a union at EAS... While that may be true, and personally, I think that would be great if things are that good there why organize? But anyone who has been in this business long enough, and maybe you and RI have, too, knows that anything can change overnight. How many times has pay, QOL, work rules, etc. gone South OVERNIGHT at airlines with a new CEO, or other management change? I've been suckered twice in my career and caught up in a pleasant CEO's cult of personality, thinking twice about whether to send in a Union card, only to have a new CEO from Mesa (whose mantra was "pilots are like tires... You wear them out and get new ones". I can tell you that all the warm fuzzies, faerie dust, and cumbayahs towards our pilot group went away overnight. Immediately, pay, schedule, QOL, and morale were affected. I can also tell you that when I first showed up there, if someone even mentioned the words "union" or "ALPA", they were schooled by all the former EAL, Pan Am, etc. pilots there (pilots who sounded much like RI). And they were like "Hey, things are so great, why would we want to screw up what we already have and **** off Management?" Well, don't we wish we had a contract in place when the new CEO took over? Fool me once...

One only has to look as far as XOJET in your segment of the industry to see what may happen to an unrepresented pilot group when new management takes over. When Siegel took over as CEO of XOJET, he left the same trail of destruction there that he had a US Airways. XOJET was a great place to work, just like EAS is today... Then, two weeks before Christmas, one-fifth of the pilot group was terminated with no notice... Not furloughed, mind you, but terminated which is a box they will have to check on their online applications for the rest of their careers. Airlines understand furloughs, but terminations, accidents, incidents, DWI's, etc. are often filtered out before you even get to an interview. Sure, pilots need to be fired from time to time, but with the level of professionalism of all pilots I find it very difficult to justify firing one-fifth of your pilot force on one bloody morning. Wouldn't it have been nice for the XOJET pilots to have had a CBA with a written furlough by seniority policy? Of course, pilots at Netjets and Flight Options never have to fear these atrocities as they are protected by their respective CBA's.

Chime in if you want, RI, but please tell me that if a Johnathan Orenstein, a Frank Lorenzo, or a David Siegel took the reins at EAS and started to treat pilots like crap that you would want to see the pilots there stand up for themselves and organize? Would you rather them just leave to Company rather than fighting to preserve it? If I don't like the Affordable Care Act, should I leave the USA? Or should I fight it by electing representatives that share my beliefs. I know America is worth fighting for to preserve and improve, and I feel that many companies are also.

This is why I feel that it is obtuse to say that there will never be a union at EAS. You just never know what will happen in aviation.