Originally Posted by
HermannGraf
We’ll see what happens. Skywest has the most anti union pilot group in the world as it has been very successful in attracting pilot’s that do not understand Unions and see them as Socialism or Communism only out to destroy companies or steal your money. To say that the IQ and information level is low among those pilots is an understatement as they do not even understand what the different words or terms mean but they heard it so many times over and over again with a meaning as something like the “devil” that it becomes a mantra and belief not matter what you try to tell them. That in combination with that the company knows very well what kind of pilot group it has and takes advantage of it by lying in their face over and over again does not make the situation easier. The Company with help of SAPA makes this pilot group believe what ever they need to get exactly the pay packages they want which has happened over and over without the pilot group learning anything from it. Thanks to SAPA the Company has a great tool to enforce, sell and push down the throat pay packages that can only be voted “yes” at Skywest. I do not blame the company for any of this. They are excellent at their part of the game. Their part is to make the most profit possible and no one does it better than Chip and Co. No other airline in the world has grown more, expanded more than Skywest no one has open more new hangars, bought more airplanes kept more hundreds of million of cash in the bank while at the same time telling it’s pilots that they are winning highly paid primadonas that actually do not even work and that the company can’t afford to pay them more if they want to keep their jobs. Skywest has a very skillful and greedy Management that is supposed to be balanced by a strong organized pilot group that is supposed to save the company and management from themselves in times like today. Skywest is again managed by the most skillful management that can beat any competitor when it comes to run an airline but what they are not good and never has been is Staffing and Staffing is the only thing that can and will take Skywest down and it starts like we have by becoming the lowest paying operator. I know that the TA’s out there are waking up even the most anti union people at Skywest and for now they think and say that the company will adapt and do the changes they need themselves and that a Union is not needed but that is more of believing the “boss is a good guy and cares about us” mentality. I am certain that in the near future even these hard core John Wayne’s anti Union guys will change their mind. It is only a matter of time. The company won a short term victory by lying and Using SAPA to sell to the pilot’s again an insulting and in these times criminally low pay package using tools like letting first year employees vote for the first time, buying the votes of the most senior lifers by giving them the highgest 401K increase etc etc but in the long run they may loose big by this last pay package as it is exactly what this pilot group needed to wake up and see the right face of management. Skywest has been until now the world fastest growing airline in the history of aviation and the money comes from the profit that they long ago should have shared with it’s pilots. Nothing wrong in growing, nothing wrong in being greedy and nothing wrong in trying to make the highest profits by not even paying its pilot’s fair salaries but it is wrong not to adapt to the new market climate and make us the “New Mesa” that when the Aussie pilot mill runs out will not attract many pilots here in the US. We need the company to correct the pay at all levels of seniority to attract but more importantly retain the pilots. Our attrition is growing from around 40 to 60 per month and that is a %50 increase and even if we fill classes for now with the Skywest 2.0 more are leaving. Staffing will take Skywest down if the pilot group does not wake up and stops management. Management shows for now clearly that we need a Union.
Just like me, Hermann writes posts so long that nobody reads them. When will we learn? I have not met any Skywest pilots that are not sharp and intelligent. From the parts I read, it seems like Hermann has not been to other airlines and assumes they operate wonderfully in every way. Perhaps I could introduce Hermann to Mr Hulas one night and we could all sit down for a beer? Hermann could learn that pilots should not even be paid because they are gaining the experience to become a pilot at a major where they will make more money. Just like you have to pay to go to a college, Mr. Hulas could explain how pilots should therefore pay to work and build that experience.
On the other hand, the Skywest pilots voted in 1% at the best time ever to negotiate a big big raise. Maybe Hermann knows a lot more Skywest guys than I do? On the other side, maybe Skywest will get those planes and have to give a big raise to keep them in the air.