Originally Posted by
tinman1
Go back and read my post again. I said industry average. It would be one thing to demand outrageous, unprecedented pay rates at the regional level, or to demand firm raises when the whole industry is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But neither of those is going on right now. Mainline is posting healthy profits and other regionals have figured out how to pay better than Mesa and still successfully do business.
I'm not anti-union and I don't want the company to fail, but at the same time this is a free market economy. If we price ourselves out of existence by voting in industry average pay rates, then that speaks volumes of the business model here at MAG. And IMO if that puts the company under then they shouldn't be doing business. This is basic economics at work.
There's nothing unprofessional about demanding a respectable wage with the current labor and economical situations. In fact that would be the professional thing to do if you value skill and competency.
I am ALL for getting a better contract. I am specifically taking those to task who consider sinking a company (because that
is what was stated) to either get what they want or no one does attitude.
There are a number of issues I have against Mesa. BUT, I feel we all have to have a pragmatic approach to what we expect from a new contract. I think the biggest struggle in the future is of course to attract new FO's as we grow and attrition picks up. Currently, we are able to staff because of our growth. That is coming to an end quickly so we have to have something better to offer people to fill these classes because the quick upgrade is gone. If we cant staff our planes, we get no additional flying and we might even loose contracts in the future. We have to pay new hires better and offer better benefits.
Again, I am ALL for improving our contract. But I dont buy into burning the place to the ground to get everything we think we deserve.
On the topic of basic economics... here is the sad part of the industry. Look at what happened at Envoy. They thought they had a lot more power over mainline then they actually did. They though no one could staff the additional flying so AA would have to play ball. Well we all see how that worked out. Mainline will just shift the flying to someone else. Then the guys will jump ship to the current hot regional with the quick upgrades and life goes on.
Lets work on a reasonable contract with good work rules and things that will attract new hires in the future when the quick upgrades are over (like now) so we can continue to fly and get our time and get out!