Originally Posted by
Slow2Final
For at least one of the wholly-owned regionals, the FOs with the requirements to upgrade were there, they just weren't willing to do it for the pay/quality of life hit/various other reasons. Instead of addressing those factors, the company chose to work with the union to let them know they were less interested in fixing whatever may have been preventing a voluntary upgrade than forcing people to upgrade.
Damn, that's almost like hiring scabs. But most of these DEC's would have no idea that's the case. It's assumed that they don't have enough qualified FO's to fill their CA positions, thus the outside hiring.
I know some FO's don't want to upgrade because they'll have to commute, but sometimes "you just gotta do what you gotta do", and take the upgrade and commute, get that PIC time, and hope to be able to transfer back to your preferred base. Life is full of sacrifices.