All very fair points made here. A union at an airline with management that does everything possible to pinch every penny from their pilots is without a doubt a necessity. Yes, the union is more than a medium to negotiate a contract. It enforces the contract, it mediates grievances, and it provides legal resources, amongst other things.
And I agree that I may be wrong, but I intuitively feel like the management here will work with us. Every time I've called scheduling out on something, they have complied. It may have taken an MOD to resolve it, but they always have.
I've been at a union airline, and when I had a disagreement with scheduling the answer was always to grieve it. And when I did, nothing happened - not until 50 other pilots did the same. It was always a slow process and there was a huge divide between the pilots and the rest of the company. Again, just my experience.
Originally Posted by
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I left an ALPA carrier to come to Skywest, and at that time it was like day and night. I never had a problem getting something addressed or fixed. Scheduling was working with people and they were not treating me like a stepchild. Now fast forward a few years and skywest is starting to be run just like the rest of the regionals. Scheduling will purposely try to hose you and there is no one to hold them accountable.
I have noticed that there is a great devide between the 12+ year pilots and the rest of the group. There is a "good ole boy" club here that know everyone and think that nothing can change in their world. Over the next couple of years I feel the situation only getting worse when staffing falls even more short.
I feel that no matter where you are, scheduling will always try to pull a fast one on you, especially if you're on reserve. You just have to recognize it and call them out. I only spent one and a half years on reserve here- and it was less than desirable - but I never had a situation that I couldn't resolve with the scheduler or the MOD. Maybe I was lucky - who knows. I just feel like the policies here are more than reasonable.
Bringing in a union to this airline would only create bureaucracy and cost the pilots more money. It would do little, if anything to improve our QOL. The company is a regional airline. The margins are small and the major partners have other companies willing to work for less. Until that changes, don't expect much to change no matter who represents us.
We can agree to disagree, but I think this is good place to work. I'm grateful the company has always worked with me. They do many things that other regionals do not do.
The regional airlines have their hands tied by the major partners. It is frustrating that half of us are flying regional jets making a fraction of what we are worth. But if I have to be at a regional, I'm glad it's skywest. And I personally believe that being an FO at skywest, living in my base, and holding a line is better than being a new hire at some of the lesser paid airbus operators.
I'm not trying to bring us all together in some kind of skywest kumbaya here. I'm just trying to tell it how I see it.