Originally Posted by
Urban achiever
Awesome write up, and explains the hatred of envoy vs psa. Yikes... with that being said, all those that voted yes to the 900s that were at PSA in 2013 are no longer there.
Disclaimer: the following is from memory and what has been told to me by a former chief pilot and union members that have already flowed to AA, and friends that were at PSA prior to 2013.
The merger of AA/USAIR was being held up by PSA. Initially they did refuse, but were warned that if they refused the planes they would be liquidated, and the 600 pilots at the time would be without jobs in a months time. They were faced with a choice. Accept concessions, get planes, and grow... or disappear. Maybe it was a bluff but more than 50% of the pilot group didn’t want to find out if they were bluffing just for a few extra $$$ when the planes meant immediate growth and movement.
Now I’m sure there’s plenty more to the story but hopefully this fills in some gaps from the other side. For what it’s worth, after the failed AIP, everyone at PSA is rooting for you guys.
I don't know about being "held up," but the reality is that the pilot group at PSA did have a gun to their head, and begrudgingly made a strategic retreat (the concessionary 900 LOA only passed by 61%). So my beef with Envoy is that it's easy to hide behind the rhetoric of "standing up for the industry" when your job is not the one at stake.
In the end, as of 4/1 Santa Claus showed up and dropped a big win in our laps, but it's also worth noting that our union leadership has been trying to cultivate a good relationship with management for the last few years, after pressuring the company to force out some senior leaders a while back. Now I hear they're working on some middle management...…
The difference between the current state of PSA and Envoy might be more about the differences in DF and PF more than anything else.
Oh, and those dogged out 700s you lost? As I recall yall gave up rights to those in whatever LOA created the "Protected Pilots," i.e. you allowed those 700s to be transferred off the Eagle certificate to the AA certificate in exchange for a mainline job guarantee for everyone on property at the time.
But, fast forward a few years and all those no voters who are still here who railed against the LOA of late 2013 have seen massive increases in pay as the recent pay agreement for PSA included lifting the pay caps for those hired prior to that agreement. In some cases that raise was very near $20/hour. 2013 hires (you know, the ones without a vote in this thing) all flowed in just over 5 years. 2014 hires should all flow in just under 6 according to our union excel dude. Everyone else is now getting paid far and above our supposed virtuous betters at Envoy, and flowing unlike EDV and RAH.
So much for bringing down the industry.