Originally Posted by
Excargodog
A rational defense of low first year pay. While I may not agree with it - in fact I don’t since to me it sort of still boils down to a defense of avarice by the senior people that can only undermine pilot group unity - I can at least admire someone willing to toss his opinion out for public consumption rather than hide behind Sophist diversions and ad hominem attacks.
I would say the “a living wage” issue is subject to interpretation. Is $15 an hour a “living wage”?
Assuming what you desire in a new hire is someone with meaningful regional experience, one must ask what $57 an hour buys, especially after a couple of months of that first year being training pay which will reduce the overall pay for the first year considerably. It will make the pay less than most first year regional FOs get (counting their signing bonuses and training pay) and less than most second year FO’s get and for damn sure less than the average regional captain gets.
So yeah, if that’s what your MEC is shooting for, telling new hires your pilot group values them less than regional management values their new hires, you will be successful. Will you still get people? Oh h€|| yeah, Atlas is still getting newbies to sit in the right seat of a 747 for $40k first year. Are those the people you really want? Time will tell I guess.
As for what arbitrators will and will not order, I’d suggest you talk to some of the older Alaska pilots about the Kasher ruling.
But you at least had the cojones to state your case, not bluster, demean (very much anyway
) or evade. Though our opinions differ I respect you for that.
Well in the end the Fact is the NC/MEC polled the entire pilot group many times, prioritizing what PILOTS ON PROPERTY wanted in their next contract. Conspiracy theories aside, the NC/MEC used that as a template and worked to secure what they could, for as much as they could, with what they had.
Regardless of what people think about "We should have got....," never once did I hear anyone say on a conference call that we needed "FO pay at $90/hr" or "Legacy FO pay" or anything of the sort. Guys were calling for higher pay for senior FOs, junior CAs, a 12 year pay scale, increased top end pay, retirement that doesn't involve a match, true LTD, trip and duty rigs, etc.
Hyperbole of "worth less than what regional management views pilots" is a joke. Nobody values you less than your regional overlords over there at Hula's Compass.
Im sure you are trying to get out of there and are angry that Spirit doesnt pay $80/hr first year because you would like to come here. I assume 1.5 years in the right seat at a regional isnt blowing down doors at Legacy carriers. You and everyone else has choices to make. If you dont like the first year pay, dont apply (although im betting you have because its still more than Compass and our jets are huuuge). In the end, I dont care. Really don't; guys will apply or not, planes will fly or not, and the world goes round and round.