Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Sounds like somebody needs cheese to go with their whine.
Like airplanes, sims are very expensive to own/lease, so the company needs to get max utilization out of them.
Airline crews frequently end their day after midnight and start at 0400 or even worse if time zones are in play.
Don't see how anyone is entitled to pick his own sim hours. I could see if he found someone willing to trade, but whining and hoping to get somebody forced to swap your sim slot sounds like buddy-screwing to me.
The difference is that you can have rules as to who is forced to training during red-eye times. For example, at xjt, unless you agree, only re-train events can be scheduled at that time.
Originally Posted by
Blackwing
Hmm, well, care to explain why ExpressJet had Soft Landings 2.0 before we did, when SAPA were the ones to negotiate it? Seems like everything we get, XJT gets first. Why do you suppose that is?
If I had to make a guess, management approached the union MECs with Skywest soft landings program and offered it for free. And the MECs agreed to accept free money for nothing. Not sure it's going to help much though.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Newsflash: alpa can't really do much in regional-land because any significant success will make you more expensive than your bottom-feeding competitors...and then "your" flying will go elsewhere.
Flight instructors have more leverage than regional pilots, because they can vote with their feet.
The only way to win is to get out (or get really lucky and a catch good wave such that you retire before your regional reaches the end of it's natural life cycle).
You have to decide for yourself whether the benefits they do offer are worth 2%. But they'll happily take your money either way.
Newsflash: airline unions are a lot more than pay rates in the contract. That's just ONE thing they do. But people conveniently ignore that as they go through KCM or file an ASAP.
Anyway, it's not 2%, never was. It's now 1.85% and it's tax deductible. So your effective dues rate can be as low as around 1.25%. I see it as insurance premium, just like health insurance.
Originally Posted by
GearUpHeadDown
We don't need a union here. The others aren't any better off and the argument could be made that they have it worse.
It's not about better or worse than others. It's about being the best that your potential allows. If you had hostile management like mesa or owned by a wholly owned and shutdown like comair, or had to endure a bankruptcy/reorganization like endeavor, mesa or xjt, you wouldn't have your QOL you have now. But all those places are better for having a union than going through those circumstances (beyond the control of pilots) without a union.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I don't get why this is an issue? The company wants us to achieve a higher block (they get paid by the hour too), so I try to accommodate them. I don't get paid until the door is shut, so there's plenty of time to do most of my job after that. Not trying to rip anybody off, that's just the way the accounting is set up.
His point was that that issue alone made up the 1.85% in dues money. But as an example, at xjt, we do exactly as you do, try to fly at least scheduled block in order to increase revenue to the company. The difference is that if we can't, for whatever reason (making up time after running late, etc), we don't lose pay.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Those of us who have worked at union regionals and subsequently come to SKW know better.
Union regionals violate the contract all the time, and the "law" never gets involved. You are generally NOT allowed to refuse an assignment in violation of the contract, but you can grieve it after the fact. The grievance process will take many months and if you win you'll typically get one hour of pay as penalty to the company.
So naturally the company doesn't care one whit if they have to pay you an hour next April if that's the cost of forcing you to cover flying today.
This depends on your management. So if you believe your management is fair (they are at xjt when it comes to grievances), then you wouldn't have this problem. But imagine your previous regional without a union? They would "violate" the policy manual without impunity and not have to pay that one hour in April.
Originally Posted by
SMACFUM
Not true. ALPA is still very interested in assisting SkyWest. Yes, the initial organization effort needs to start internally, but ALPA is willing and able to assist in getting the ball rolling. In fact they already are.
That's what I meant. All the other union drives that resulted in ALPA being voted in after Skywest voted down 10 years ago, has been hands off at first until there is a strong organic push for it. I wasn't referring to any non-boots on the ground organizing effort (consulting, advise, etc).