Exactly.

I'll probably shock someone with this statement, but Pilots have big egos.

Management plays into this personality trait by convincing pilots that we can make or break an airline based on what we're paid. Since we already believe we're the center of every universe, it's not a big step for us to believe that our salaries are critical to the survival of our airline. Fact is that decisions far above our heads will determine the profitability and ultimately, the survival of our airline.

We should earn market wages. NOT "discount pilot" market wages as ALPA national and our bosses would have us believe. MARKET WAGES. We fly between 180 and 236 passengers at every departure. Pilots flying 180 to 236 passenger aircraft should be our market comparator. Our compensation should include all forms of compensation: Profit Sharing, Hourly Wages, Retirement Contribution, Per Diem, Time Away from Family... (rig), Days off, etc. We absolutely SHOULD NOT accept the premise that we are sub-standard pilots because we fly for an ULCC and therefore should be paid less. Alpa National bought this premise in our contract the last time and we are therefor not compensated appropriately. I was told face-to-face in front of a crowd during recurrent ground school by a negotiating committee member (here at F9) that we are actually paid more than same Legacy narrobody pilots because we have the ability to work more each month and we're paid at 125% for everything over 82 credit hours. I was flabbergasted and questioned his logic, but he stood firm. That about sums it up.

I'm hoping that the combination of our two airlines will provide for more, ahem... seasoned... representatives on the negotiating committee. I'm also hoping that our group of 4500+ pilots versus the tiny 2018 group of F9 pilots will be sufficient to garner more vigorous representation from ALPA national.