Originally Posted by
furloughfuntime
To be fair, Skywest has a virtual monopoly in the western US. If you live in or west of Colorado, Skywest is virtually your only choice of regional. Yes, there's Horizon in the PNW and Mesa has a PHX base, but those are the only options. If someone lives in California and wants to stay in the area, I think it's understandable to go to Skywest. I chose Expressjet even though I was from the west coast, but I don't have a family to worry about. I have friends with kids who chose Skywest because any alternative involved uprooting the family or commuting with no end in sight. I don't like Skywest as a company, but I also don't look down on my friends with kids who chose Skywest because of where they live.
So, sure, it's a choice, but if that is a choice between working for a non union carrier close to home, or endless 3+ hour commutes to work for an ALPA carrier, I can see why some opt for Skywest.
As someone that lives California and has kids, I still chose XJT over skywest. But everyone has different priorities. Mine were to work for a good regional even if it meant I had to commute to IAH. In hindsight, it was the right decision, even by looking at it by days at home since XJT has a better vacation bidding system that doesn’t require any staffing requirements.
Anyway, I have lots of friends at skywest or that were at skywest. And if the majority of them are like my friends, being non-union didn’t even enter into the equation as a factor on where to work. I understand that as we all were once uneducated to the importance of pilot unions at some point when starting our path to the flight deck. Some of us just learned it earlier than others. I had the good fortune of having a Delta and FedEx captain as mentors before I was a CFI who both told me of the important work their unions do for the entire profession and aviation in general.
On the other hand, they have voted down unions on three separate occasions. Although the last being in 2007 timeframe. And there has been crickets ever since despite the obvious benefits since then (KCM). Not to mention all the other behind the scene safety and security benefits gained throughout the decades. So it’s hard to oversee that, to me at least.