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?
Because it's an unregulated free market. Do you think there are stockbrokers, carpenters, truck drivers, insert whatever job, that make more or less than someone else who does the same job employed by a different company? You get paid what you (or your union) has negotiated with your employer. That's all the "sense" it has to make.
I agree in many cases you're essentially doing the same job. It's your option to accept the situation, get your employer to charge more for their sub-contract with the mainline and pay you more, get a bigger cut of what's being paid now or take your services elsewhere.
You see the market forces acting on the RJ airlines now with bonus and pay increasing in order to attract pilots. So, it's not a stagnant situation. But the fact is that no one is "owed" a certain level of compensation simply because another company pays their workers who do that same job more.