Originally Posted by
SkyWestPilot1
You guys are right. I decided to listen to both sides of the argument before I voted, even though I was originally opposed. The last 3 weeks I've asked everyone I've flown with and more their opinion. There were great arguments for both a union and no union. To be perfectly honest all my life I've been a "shopper". I don't buy on impulse. Whenever I'm looking at something I'm thinking about getting I do research, ask others who already have or had what I'm looking at, then make a decision. The truth here is that after all my research what I'm finding is that all who have had a union previously except one guy are dead set against it. Now I ask you, if you were looking at a car to buy, and everyone except one who had the car previously hated it, would you buy that car? That's a legitimate question right? I would bet money that 80% of the guys at Skywest who want a union here have never worked for one in the past. I certainly may be wrong, but of the 18 guys I asked about the union in the past 3 weeks only 1 who was voting for the union had worked for one prior, and he was just over the fence. I'm sorry but I would be a fool to buy a product if its got a bad performance history. Bla Bla,,, I have to ask, have you worked for a union carrier before? I'm just curious, no harm meant. Everyone is entitled to their opion.
You are doing the right thing, getting informed. No, I have not worked for a union before.
Yes, unions have their problems.
Skyw is a good place to work right now infact, as you have probably heard it’s better than a lot of unionized regionals. However, most of the guys you talked to have worked at a sub par airline, and have moved to skyw to improve their pay and quality of life. Remember, they are coming from mesa, tsa and others so yeah, they have a bad taste in there mouth. But, there are a lot of great Unionized regionals like Express Jet, Horizon etc. You don’t see many of those guys coming over to skyw because they are content at there unionized airline.
I would caution you in making a decision based on those who came from sub par companies. Look at the industry as a whole, why not ask some guys from Express Jet how they like their union? They have a great relationship with management.
Remember a union cannot fix bad management i.e. Mesa, but with a solid company like Express Jet it gives the pilots a voice in there future. The union came to the Express Jet pilots, and got approval for the ONT flying it took less than a week to have a vote yes and get it set up.
Look Im not one of those guys who yaps all day long about unions at work, Im not even on the oc. But as you can tell I do feel strongly about a union here at SkyWest.