Thread: Mesa
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Old 09-03-2014 | 11:40 AM
  #2923  
flapshalfspeed
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I don't want to stoke the trolls on here, but I'm in agreement with them on one point--it seems really, really hilarious that Mesa pilots--the lowest-paid CRJ pilots in the country--are some of the biggest supporters of the ALPA PAC fund.

Mesa pilots are paying to protect 777 jobs at United from Emirates & Ethiad. United has hired something like 2 or 3 Mesa pilots in the last year, and it'll be a decade or more before they upgrade or even touch a widebody.

Meanwhile, Emirates & Ethiad are hiring Americans in droves, straight onto 777s, A380s, & A330s, with better pay & benefits, and if they ever penetrated the US market to a greater extent, they'd very likely setup crew bases in JFK/LAX/ORD/IAH/etc..

ALPA PAC is doing zero--zilch--nada to address things like the Railway Labor Act, scope at legacies, determinations of "common transportation system," or a minimum wage for pilots. WHY are Mesa pilots of all people paying to protect widebody jobs at airlines that aren't hiring them, in an attempt to hurt airlines who WILL hire them to fly widebodies?

If ALPA PAC were fighting for the QOL/pay/career of ALL pilots, their core focus would be getting airlines out of the Railway Labor Act, or at least getting airline pilots the full benefits of it (i.e. an Airline Retirement Board/pension like the railroads have). And instead of trying to block competition from higher-paying foreign airlines via cabotage/foreign ownership laws, they'd be pushing for legislation allowing them to do unlimited flying in the US as long as they hired US pilots at or above current US legacy payrates.

Last edited by flapshalfspeed; 09-03-2014 at 11:51 AM.