Originally Posted by
TankerDriver
Because the senior end of the list full of people who have been furloughed multiple times, been through multiple chapter 11's, multiple mergers, spent 20 years in the right seat through the "lost decade", etc. didn't want to entertain a pay cut. Plain and simple. This has come straight out of more than one union reps mouth during several town halls I've listened in on over the last couple months and I believe it. I think they think this furlough is going to be short-lived and they just don't want to give up pay in the last handful of the most lucrative years they'll have in this career. Regardless of covid-19 the movement here over the next decade is still going to be pretty good.
TankerDriver has hit the nail on the head. I am retired AA via US Airways and I consider myself lucky to have gotten out intact. I retired just about 2 years ago, and have been talking to my peers who can't believe they are watching another train wreck in progress. First it was the "B scale" . Most of you on this forum don't even know what that is. During the 1980's, when we were hired, we were hired on a contract where we earned half of what those hired months before were earning. The original AA, "B scale" was for life. Under that contract you would never earn what more senior members earned. After the United Strike of 1985, the B scale was reduced to 5 years.
After dodging that bullet along come the RJ's, first just a few and then the RJ's grew to encompass over half the mainline fleets. The greatest increase was immediately after the dot.com crash, there were pilots on the street for almost 7 years. The first US bankruptcy included a loss of pension, and paycuts. Then at US a second bankruptcy, more givebacks, more RJ's. I was never furloughed but I gave up my left seat twice and lost over $100K per year in pay.
Then comes the AA merger and "Dugwizer" has spent all the money on stock buybacks. The senior guys have a 2000 yard stare. There has never been a really stable period in our careers. Guys just want a chance to get out intact. I spend almost 20 years in the right seat. I got hired on the "B scale" . It took me 5 years to break 50K at a major. Then a big raise followed two years later with more pay cuts and loss of pension. The in chapter 11 x 2 more pay cuts. I went from a line holding MD-80 captain to bottom reserve AB in my base and then the base closed. I was able to end a 32 year career as a middle of the list block holding group 11 captain. I am not complaining. Like the "Trucking Song", "What a long strange trip it's been."
This is not an excuse or a plea for sympathy. It is simply an explanation of the mindset of those who live through the turmoil in the industry over the last 30 years. When I was hired at US Air there were major carriers called Eastern, Pan AM, TWA, Piedmont, North West, Republic, Ozark, PSA and even People Express. Many of them merged but there was also a great loss of jobs along the way. The relatively stable Airline market that exists today, absent the Corona Virus epidemic, is as the result of massive blood letting and carnage over the last 35 years.