Originally Posted by
av8or
MIGHT have been a good idea for Alaska pilots to look outside of the PNW bubble back in the 90’s and watch what was going down at Delta with Comair etc and get out ahead of it with a scope LONG before RJs ever hit the property at Horizon. Nearly every other major airline started scrambling for scope in the late 90’s.
So, yes economics plays a role…. But sure seems like a healthy dose of naivety as well. “They’d never…”
As a matter of point Horizon flew F-28’s(26 of them)from 1984 into 2004 so the “Jet threat” has been real for a long time. It was the “all CPA move” in 2011 followed by the removal of the remainder of the CRJ-700’s from Horizon that lulled everyone asleep….Turbo-props at Horizon and only 6 CRJ’s at Skywest for most was proof that Brad Tilden had spoken truthfully in 2009. Perfect set up to quell the “Scope” drive that was building and “Contract 200”(2013) sailed through without a whimper…That was the last chance we had…We would have secured the changes to scheduling/reserve, we would have secured competitive pay rates, we would have secured defined scope language…all of this in Contract 2018. The company lies and the proliferation of E175’s at Skywest and Horizon were in full swing, the change in attitude at even the highest levels of seniority had occurred …But all that was swept away with a merger and Alaska managers were successful at pitting the “Red Tails” against the “Eskimos” in all work groups. Nothing productive has occurred since then…The “Eskimos” have only themselves to thank for the swamp we find ourselves in today…..Ignorance, naivety and a skilled anti-labor executive suite have ruled the day…