Originally Posted by
casey135
In the town-hall meeting last week Mr Campbell stated a couple of things when I asked about attrition...paraphrasing, attrition is a reality in the regional airlines and ours is not out of line with he others. 12-13 year upgrades were ridiculous but a reality nonetheless. He thinks they will stabilize at about 3 years, (I'm betting it drops to around 2 first). The Board has approved a signing/retention bonus but Mr Tilden doesn't see any need to execute it as long as classes are full. It also seems to me the company is avoiding pay rates for the pilots as a negotiating tool but keeps mentioning work rules without saying exactly what hey want. My guess is they want break release vs door closure for start of pay. Time will tell...
They are looking for all ways possible to get the pilot group to approve productivity (i.e. cost saving) measures that do not affect hourly pay. Just look at the guy that posted on this thread about $40 an hour! Tons of potential new hires out there that will sell their souls for a couple bucks. SAP vs PBS? Duty/trip rigs? A lot of them don't even know what that any of that means! I'm not saying they're not intelligent (FAA gold seal guy is an idiot but he doesnt represent all 1500.1 TT newbies), but these changes to work rules will by and large not deter them from coming here.
Fact is, overall they are meeting their staffing goals, so why would they offer a signing bonus? They're offered time off without pay next bid. It'll catch up here eventually though. There are just not enough applicants for everyone to meet their staffing goals in the years to come.