Originally Posted by ladder1423

So if I vote for a union and can expect to wait 5 years for a new contract when I am no longer at Skywest how would voting for a union benefit me and most of the other pilots at Skywest. Most pilots I talk to plan on moving on to other airlines after 3-5 years. It took ASA 5 years to get a contract. So if this is the case we will pay 5 years of union dues and get nothing in return. If someone comes back and says "it's for the industry as a whole, it's for your fellow pilots, blah blah blah" I am going to puke. It would be ignorant for someone to try to say they are only thinking of the industry and not themselves or their families. People work for themselves and for their families, nobody else. So trying to convince me that me voting a union in will help my fellow pilot at some other airline who I will never meet will not cut it for me. If someone can convince me that ALPA will put money and benefits in me and my families pocket directly then I will seriously consider it. I would need this as a guarantee because 5 years of bargaining and telling me to be patient does not cut it. When I pay ALPA I expect to get something in return immediately. I don't go to the gas station give them money and have them put gas in my car 5 years later. I don't go to the store and pay for groceries and expect them to give me food 5 years later. When I pay ALPA I want something in return for my money, not an empty guarantee, not a promise someone will back me up if I violate a rule or get in trouble, I want something "hard" in return. 5 years is much too long to wait and I am sure ASA pilots will agree. I bet there are some ASA pilots who are dead and buried waiting for this contract.