Originally Posted by Jared
The problem with unions at the regional level isn't concessions... it is that new FOs can't vote. That is my explanation for why we get paid .40 cents more to fly a bigger airplane while a first year captain gets 10 dollars more. That is a 2% difference for us and a 20% difference for them. One great term that I've heard to describe this phenomenon is that the union eats its young. Another is "I've got mine, who cares about yours."
You don't want pilots with less than one year's service to vote...their general attitude is that they will do ANYTHING to keep the job they just earned. This is understandable (we've all been there), but in many cases a contract change or strike resulting in a short-term downsizing may actually produce longer term benefits for all the pilots, even though the brand-new ones don't necessarily see that from their perspective.
Many regionals have only one payscale for jet FOs. I agree this is BS...it should be incremented for larger aircraft at the same percentage as the CA's.