Originally Posted by
Cujo665
You're in a regional thread explaining mainline leverage. Regionals do not rely on scope for negotiating leverage.
What strips the regional pilots of leverage is they can get ANY regional to do the flying. Scope just says how large a plane the regional can fly, and in some cases limits destination pairings. Who does that flying is a matter of winning a contract bid.
So, there is nothing preventing them from telling PDT pilots to take these concessions or we are transferring the flying to TSA. THAT is the whipsaw game at regionals, not scope.
As long as the flying farmed to the regionals is transferable, regional pilots have very limited leverage.
Scope does not just say how big a plane can be or restrict certain routes. It also restricts the company from entering joint venture or code share deals where some foreign partner does most of the international flying. The size of the plane is important, but the most important part of scope is a hard limit on how many planes can be used. Since scope limits the amount of flying that can be farmed out, the bulk of the flying has to remain at the parent company and flown by legacy pilots. That is where scope gives legacy pilots leverage and much better working conditions and pay. Since scope is maxed out, the company can’t whipsaw them. Scope is everything, and that is why the legacy pilots are not going to budge. I know that the UAL negotiating committee has made it clear that the pilots are not giving relief for one plane, one seat, or one pound. You are absolutely right about the whipsaw at the regionals. Unfortunately it is working well for the company and will most likely continue until the market forces a change.