Originally Posted by
Wemacboost
I know I'm gonna get criticized for this but this is just my take on Regional Airlines, Unions and Management as they relate to the Real world....I have many years of experience with real world management at a fairly large corporation as well as better than 30 years in the flying world. No I'm not employed by any of the airlines as a pilot or in Management.
The Corp world lives by the Golden Rule.......He who Holds the Gold rules!!
So lets relate that to the Regional's. The ruler (Gold Holder) would be the mainline carrier as they award the runs for all the Regionals. They will only release so much of the Gold to do this job. So the next Gold Holder in line is Management at the Regional level. They take their Gold in and distribute it as they see fit. But it is a set amount of Gold. The only way to increase the Gold at the bottom of the chain (us Pilots) is to take it away from other employees at the same company. Thus why getting an outstanding No vote is virtually impossible most of the time. I have not read the latest TA for either airline but my guess is that it has enough meat in it for the 10-20 year Capt to keep him complacent and vote yes. The mid term capt is complacent just trying to move to the mainline. Thus leaving the 1-10 year F/O (because of the retirement age being extended 5 years) as the main No voters.
This would be the same at every Airline and works in all Corporations be it airline or railroad or Grocery Chain. The Golden Rule will always be in Play. Us Pilots do not have a way to get to the Gold to Rule. We only get to occasionally play in the big boys sand box, we never get to own it!!!! This system has been in place much longer than any current pilot at any Regional or Mainline. The rulers of the Gold would just as soon shut down as to release any of the gold they have. So unless management just decides to screw the entire pilot pool so they can keep the gold for mechanics, flight attendants and front office personnel then the voting will always be swayed toward management.
Don't get me wrong I hope you can find a way to join together and beat down the T/A and make the profession a better place to be. Thus attracting more young guns to fill the seats.
While most of what you said maybe true, I think you should also look at what the XJT pilots did recently. We have voted our equally industry leading TA down with an 83% resounding NO votes. This is not meant to toot our horn, but to let you know that this included the senior and mid term pilot group that you had mentioned.
Any pilot who has some self worth and thinks themselves as a professional, has understood that the bar should not be lowered any more. No one that I know of, myself included, wants that pot of Gold that is entrusted to the corporate elite.
The 83% from XJT would want our peers at Eagle and Republic to take a stand along with us to let our managements know that while they take their pay increases, we feel that we, as professionals, should be compensated properly with better pay, benefits and quality of life. I feel that if ever there was a time to take a stand for our profession, it is now. This is not only for us who are in the industry now but for those who will come after.