Originally Posted by
Knobcrk1
Why do we accept this notion that we are in the minors and are paying dues and are not worth the guy at the "majors"?
We fly aircraft that are as sophisticated, if not in some cases more so than at some of the "majors". We fly 200 some times 300 passengers a day. There's really nothing "regional" about our flying. We do the same exact thing as the guy at the next gate making 200k. Why?? Because in 1970s they flew props and were called regionals and somehow that correlates to today? It makes 0 sense. The money is coming from the same place that pays the 200k guy, so how come you're only getting a tiny fraction?
I can't tell if this is a troll or a honest question.
The reason regionals are paid less is that they are contract carriers. They don't own the flying. Any one of them is free to start their own airline I would imagine. Their sole purpose is lower wages and increase profits for the mainline company. This is done by whipsawing contracts. IMO the mainline pilots mistakenly gave up scope.
Pilots only get what the union can negotiate from mgt. If the flying can be easily moved to another company then the threat of labor unrest carries little water. Thus lower wages.
I would imagine the major airlines would prefer to have every pilot work at a regional and have no employees themselves, just contract labor. Why have any union with ability to cause problems.