Originally Posted by
bedrock
I would think that is obvious. The whole regional model relies on the shell game where one airline offers quick upgrades in exchange for pilot contract concession. Then others follow suit. IF 10,000 pilots are taking a stand against this, it becomes impossible to shift a large amount of flying around to the lowest bidder. If a pilot group of 4,000 says no, it makes it easier for the group of 2,000 to say no, since they know they won't be undercut and they feel a sense of dishonor if they try to undercut the others through concessions.
Finally, the puppy mills aren't cranking out the pilots like they used to so there is no way to use the SJS to attract enough newbies. It should also be painfully obvious by now, that never ending rounds of concessions just ensure regionals will persists, and fly ever larger aircraft at the expense of mainline jobs.
The first problem with sticking together, is that our unions are held hostage buy this railway act. It allows management to drag out negotiations, instead of negotiating in good faith. Being able to drag out negotiations for 8 years is just absurd.
Since the union path takes forever, the only way for anything to change is for pilots to do it themselves. Say I not going to follow those jets to the other company. But then reality sets in, and when the furlough comes we realize that outside of aviation, we are unskilled labor (unless you have a degree in something else you can use). So the choice for many is follow those jets and make 25k year one, or go work retail for the 18k.
Management knows all this and that's why they continue to whipsaw us.