Originally Posted by
Skyvector
You haven't prevented a race to the bottom. AA will award flying to another Regional with much lower costs and no career progression.
That Regional will stumble over themselves to accept that flying. The pilots will pretend to be "reluctantly" performing those flights while really excited at flying an American Eagle E-175. Most if not all of your junior FOs will bail for these other Regionals who are getting the new flying. Your mid-level FOs will stagnate while junior Captains will displace back to FO.
So what have you accomplished, exactly? Had this been voted through you would have had AA on the hook for 170 aircraft MINIMUM which is far beyond any fleet guarantee that any Regional has.
If/When staffing became an issue AA would have had no choice but to raise first year pay.
So again, what have you accomplished? I know many of you are real giddy right now. It always feels good to poke management in the eye. But you need to realize the concepts of "unity" don't exist in the way you hope.
Even if someone accepts the flying, where will the pilots come from? We could take a bottom feeder regional in the UA system to accept the flying, but have you seen their performance numbers? A cheap operation translates into delays, cancellations, and poor performance. Simply look at the numbers for some of the UA feed operating on a margin and you'll see that.
If Republic continues the collective No Vote, then I believe we will have leverage on the table. There are other variables involved as well than simply another carrier taking the flying. Not all brand new regional FOs are enticed by SJS, some actually rather go to a place that has a better contract, pay rates, and perhaps a livable base if that is on the agenda.
Also in regard to FOs at other companies bailing for the bottom feeder with the new jets, their mgmt is also involved in self-preservation and will not simply wish to implode by an exodus. They will realize a pay raise is in order at this point.
Its about leverage. In any other industry, supply and demand work in a logical manner, however with the regional carriers it takes us sticking together in order to develop the leverage needed to expose supply and demand economics. If pilots continue to have Stockholm Syndrome and feel like mgmt paying them 35/hr to fly our friends and family on a CAT II approach, then we will continue to make garbage money. Realizing your self-worth is an important step in the right direction.